by Joy Ellis
PC: police constable
Pear-shaped: go wrong
Petrol: gasoline
Pictures: movie
Pillbox: a concrete building, partly underground, used as an outpost defence
Pillock: fool
Pips: police insignia indicating rank
Piss off: as exclamation, go away (rude). Also can mean annoy.
Pissing down: raining
Playing field: sports field
Pleb: ordinary person (often insulting)
Portakabin: portable building used as temporary office etc.
Post: mail
Planning Department: the local authority department which issues licences to build and develop property
PNC: Police National Computer
PSNI: police service of Northern Ireland
Prat: silly idiot
Premier League: top English soccer division
Public Analyst: scientists who perform chemical analysis for public protection purposes
RAF: Royal Air Force
Rag: newspaper
Ram-raiding: robbery where a vehicle is rammed through a shop window
Randy: horny
Recce: reconnaissance
Red Adair: famous oil well firefighter
Resus: resuscitation room
Right state: messy
Ring: telephone (verb)
Roadworks: repairs done to roads
Rozzers: police
RSPB: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
RTC: road traffic collision
RV: rendezvous point
Royal Engineers: British army corps dealing with military engineering etc.
Rugger: rugby (posh American football)
Sarge: sergeant
SCO19: Specialist Crime and Operations Specialist Firearms Command
Scrote: low life
Section: to have someone committed to a mental hospital under UK mental health laws
Semi: Semi-detached house, house with another house joined to it on one side only
Shedload: a large amount
Shop: store
Shout the odds: talk in a loud bossy way
Sickie: day off work pretending to be ill
Sixth-form college: school for high school students in final two years.
SIO: senior investigating officer
Skip: a large open container used for building waste
Slapper: slag
Smackhead: heroin addict
Snout: police informer
SOCO: scene-of-crime officer
Sod: an annoying person
Sort: to do or make
Solicitor: lawyer
Sparky: electrician
Spook: spy
Spuds: potatoes
Squaddie: a soldier of low rank
Stag do: bachelor party
Stunner: beautiful woman
Super: superintendent (police rank)
Surveyor: someone who examines land and buildings professionally
Sweeting: endearment, like sweetheart
Tabloid: newspaper
Tea: Dinner (Northern English)
Tea towel: drying cloth
Till: cash register
Tip: a mess
Tipsy: a bit drunk
Top himself: commit suicide
Torch: flashlight
Tutor: university teacher
Tower block: tall building containing apartments (usually social housing)
Upmarket: affluent or fancy
Wacky baccy: cannabis
WAG: abbreviation for wife and girlfriend, especially of a well-known sportsman.
Wally: silly person
War Cry: Salvation Army magazine
Wash: the washing machine
Wash: the Wash is an estuary and bay on the east coast of England.
Water board: company supplying water to an area
Web-foot: Native of Lincolnshire Fens
White van man: typical working-class man who drives a small truck
WI: Women’s Institute, organisation of women in UK for social/cultural activity
Widow’s weeds: black clothes worn by a widow in mourning
Wilco: will comply i.e. yes
Wreckers: someone who tried to bring about shipwrecks to plunder the wreckage (historical)
Wrinklies: old people
Yellowbelly: native of Lincolnshire
Yob: a rude or aggressive youth or person
Character List
D I Rowan Jackman
Jackman is a gentleman; tall, slim, erudite, and has come into the police force with a degree in Anthropology. His one passion, other than his work, is horses. He is a fair boss and has a knack for pinpointing the varied strengths within his team and therefore bringing out the best in his staff.
DS Marie Evans
Marie is something of an Amazon; she is 46 years old, tall with long chestnut hair and she always reminds Jackman of a Pre-Raphaelite in racing leathers, because she is a very adept motorcyclist. She is widowed, her husband having been killed racing a vintage bike. Marie works on gut instinct. She is well liked and well respected by her team who give her the nick-name of Super Mario. Although from very different backgrounds, she and Jackman gel perfectly.
DS Carter McLean
Carter is a talented detective who gets results. The problem is that he is totally driven to put the bad guys away, and often bends the rules to do it. He is an old friend of Marie, having been a crewmate to her late husband. He is a rich man but he is also haunted by tragedy. As the only survivor of a light aircraft crash that killed his four best friends, he is struggling to cope, but also desperate not to lose the only thing that he has left, his beloved job as a police officer.
DC Max Cohen
Max is a young Cockney detective. He is not averse to voicing his opinions and has an ongoing feud with his younger partner, Charlie. However, his overconfident approach to life comes from being the youngest of a large East London family and having to find ways to hold his own. And whereas he can have a go at Charlie, heaven help anyone else who tried it. Max is fiercely loyal to the team and would be a good man to have beside you in a tight corner.
DC Charlie Button
Charlie is a scruffy ‘Just William’ look-a-like. He is the youngest member of the team but he is willing and eager to learn. He is good-natured and copes well with having the mickey taken out of him. Charlie’s growing strength is that he has occasional flashes of brilliance, seeing something blindingly obvious that everyone else has overlooked.
DC Robbie Melton
Robbie transferred to Saltern-le-Fen after his friend and colleague DS Stella North was shot in a bungled raid. He had not managed to settle after the shooting, but transferring to work with Marie and Jackman put his career firmly back on track. He looks more like a teenager, even though he is in his thirties, has an easy way of talking to people and is all set to be a valuable asset to Saltern CID.
Superintendent Ruth Crooke
Ruth has worked her way up the ladder from being a fearless WPC, and has found a real penchant for flying a desk. She is a wizard at budgets and keeping the station running smoothly. She is not an easy woman to work for, being abrasive and short tempered, but she is very fond of Jackman and is the only one who he let’s get away with calling him by his first name, Rowan.
Professor Rory Wilkinson
Rory is the area’s Home Office pathologist, and is well liked by all the detectives. He lives with his partner, David, and is happy to share the fact that he is gay with anyone who will listen. He has a wicked, dark sense of humour, but is fiercely intelligent and treats all the souls that end up in his care with the utmost respect and sensitivity.
Laura Archer
Laura is the force psychologist and an expert on trauma-induced stress and coping mechanisms. Carter is one of her clients and she is particularly protective of him. His case is both intriguing and worrying and she sincerely wants to help him, but has doubts about his ability to do
such a demanding job.
Orla ‘Orac’ Cracken
Orac works in the cellars beneath the old police station. She is in charge of the IT unit and is an expert in computer programming and technology. She is incredibly striking with white-blonde hair and strange eyes. She is something of an enigma as no one knows anything about her, or why such a genius should be working for a rural police force.
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