The Castle Mystery
Page 20
His lordship sighed. He wondered if the colonel had a cook that knew how to make real spotted dick with custard. He’d have to get himself invited over . . .
‘Oh, look, there she is,’ she said, craning her neck. Below them, solitary rucksack in hand, Jenny walked briskly across the lawn. Her bright cherry-red van was currently in the village, lodged in the local mechanic’s front garden, getting itself a good overhaul.
‘She’s headed for the shortcut to the village,’ his lordship muttered, his voice thick with emotion. ‘I do hope she hasn’t felt too put out about all this,’ he added worryingly.
Lady Vee watched the cook put down her rucksack and suddenly veer off to the left, heading unerringly towards Seth’s carefully fenced-off vegetable plot.
She blinked. ‘I rather think, George, that she does feel a little bit bitter,’ she said mildly, her tone wavering on the verge of laughter. ‘Look who she’s just picked up.’
His lordship, a trifle far-sighted, leaned forward and peered closely. ‘Well, it looks like — good gad, it is. She’s got Henry! Vee, our cook’s kidnapping our tortoise!’ he yelled, aghast.
Vee bit her lip, laughter gurgling at the back of her throat. ‘I don’t think that’s what she has in mind, dear. Watch.’
He watched.
As she neared the carefully protected rows of beans, carrots, cabbages, lettuces, beetroot and radishes, the large, shapely cook stopped and looked around furtively. Then she quickly hoisted the tortoise over the chicken-wire fence and set him down firmly in the nearest row of lettuces.
THE END
ALSO BY FAITH MARTIN
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JENNY STARLING SERIES
Book 1: THE BIRTHDAY MYSTERY
Book 2: THE WINTER MYSTERY
Book 3: THE RIVERBOAT MYSTERY
Book 4: THE CASTLE MYSTERY
DI HILLARY GREENE SERIES
Book 1: MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL
Book 2: MURDER AT THE UNIVERSITY
Book 3: MURDER OF THE BRIDE
Book 4: MURDER IN THE VILLAGE
Book 5: MURDER IN THE FAMILY
Book 6: MURDER AT HOME
Book 7: MURDER IN THE MEADOW
Book 8: MURDER IN THE MANSION
Book 9: MURDER IN THE GARDEN
Book 10: MURDER BY FIRE
Book 11: MURDER AT WORK
Book 12: MURDER NEVER RETIRES
Book 13: MURDER OF A LOVER
Book 14: MURDER NEVER MISSES
Book 15: MURDER AT MIDNIGHT
Book 16: MURDER IN MIND
Book 17: HILLARY’S FINAL CASE
DI HILLARY GREENE BOOK 1
MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL
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MEET DI HILLARY GREENE, A POLICE WOMAN FIGHTING TO SAVE HER CAREER.
Not only has she lost her husband, but his actions have put her under investigation for corruption.
Then a bashed and broken body is found floating in the Oxford Canal. It looks like the victim fell off a boat, but Hillary is not so sure. Her investigation exposes a dark background to the death.
Can Hillary clear her name and get to the bottom of a fiendish conspiracy on the water?
DI HILLARY GREENE BOOK 2
MURDER AT THE UNIVERSITY
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A pretty French student is found dead in her room at an exclusive Oxford college. Everyone thinks it is another tragic case of accidental drug overdose.
But Detective Hillary Greene has a nose for the truth. She quickly discovers that the student was involved in some very unusual activities.
With a shocking cause of death found, the case becomes a high-profile murder investigation.
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First a shooting, then a grisly discovery on the common . . .
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A NEW CRIME THRILLER WITH A COMPELLING DETECTIVE WHO WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO AVENGE HER DAUGHTER
Glossary of English Slang for US readers
A & E: Accident and emergency department in a hospital
Aggro: Violent behaviour, aggression
Air raid: an attack in which bombs are dropped from aircraft on ground targets
Allotment: a plot of land rented by an individual for growing fruit, vegeta
ble or flowers
Anorak: nerd (it also means a waterproof jacket)
Artex: textured plaster finish for walls and ceilings
A Level: exams taken between 16 and 18
Auld Reekie: Edinburgh
Au pair: live-in childcare helper. Often a young woman.
Barm: bread roll
Barney: argument
Beaker: glass or cup for holding liquids
Beemer: BMW car or motorcycle
Benefits: social security
Bent: corrupt
Bin: wastebasket (noun), or throw in rubbish (verb)
Biscuit: cookie
Blackpool Lights: gaudy illuminations in seaside town
Bloke: guy
Blow: cocaine
Blower: telephone
Blues and twos: emergency vehicles
Bob: money
Bobby: policeman
Broadsheet: quality newspaper (New York Times would be a US example)
Brown bread: rhyming slang for dead
Bun: small cake
Bunk: do a bunk means escape
Burger bar: hamburger fast-food restaurant
Buy-to-let: Buying a house/apartment to rent it out for profit
Charity Shop: thrift store
Carrier bag: plastic bag from supermarket
Care Home: an institution where old people are cared for
Car park: parking lot
CBeebies: kids TV
Chat-up: flirt, trying to pick up someone with witty banter or compliments
Chemist: pharmacy
Chinwag: conversation
Chippie: fast-food place selling chips and other fried food
Chips: French fries but thicker
CID: Criminal Investigation Department
Civvy Street: civilian life (as opposed to army)
Clock: punch
Cock-up: mess up, make a mistake
Cockney: a native of East London
Common: an area of park land/ or lower class
Comprehensive School (Comp.): High school
Cop hold of: grab
Copper: police officer
Coverall: coveralls, or boiler suit
CPS: Crown Prosecution Service, decide whether police cases go forward
Childminder: someone who looks after children for money
Council: local government
Dan Dare: hero from Eagle comic
DC: detective constable
Deck: one of the landings on a floor of a tower block
Deck: hit (verb)
Desperate Dan: very strong comic book character
DI: detective inspector
Digestive biscuit: plain cookie
Digs: student lodgings
Do a runner: disappear
Do one: go away
Doc Martens: Heavy boots with an air-cushioned sole
Donkey’s years: long time
Drum: house
DS: detective sergeant
ED: accident and emergency department of hospital
Eagle: boys’ comic
Early dart: to leave work early
Eggy soldiers: strips of toast with a boiled egg
Enforcer: police battering ram
Estate: public/social housing estate (similar to housing projects)
Estate agent: realtor (US)
Falklands War: war between Britain and Argentina in 1982
Fag: cigarette
Father Christmas: Santa Claus
Filth: police (insulting)
Forces: army, navy, and air force
FMO: force medical officer
Fried slice: fried bread
Fuzz: police
Garda: Irish police
Gendarmerie: French national police force
Geordie: from Newcastle
Garden Centre: a business where plants and gardening equipment are sold
Gob: mouth/ can also mean phlegm or spit
GP: general practitioner, a doctor based in the community
Graft: hard work
Gran: grandmother
Hancock: Tony Hancock, English comedian popular in 1950s
Hard nut: tough person
HGV: heavy goods vehicle, truck
HOLMES: UK police computer system used during investigation of major incidents
Home: care home for elderly or sick people
Hoover: vacuum cleaner
I’ll be blowed: expression of surprise
Inne: isn’t he
Interpol: international police organisation
Into care: a child taken away from their family by the social services
Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher, applied to any strong woman
ITU: intensive therapy unit in hospital
Jane Doe: a person whose identity is unknown/anonymous
JCB: a mechanical excavator
Jerry-built: badly made
Jungle: nickname given to migrant camp near Calais
Lad: young man
Lass: young woman
Lift: elevator
Lord Lucan: famous aristocrat who allegedly killed his children’s nanny and disappeared in 1974. Has never been found.
Lorry: a truck
Lovely jubbly: said when someone is pleased
Luftwaffe: German air force
M&S: Marks and Spencer, a food and clothes shop
Miss Marple: detective in a series of books by Agatha Christie
MOD: ministry of defence
Mobile phone: cell phone
MP: Member of Parliament, politician representing an area
MRSA: A strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Myra Hindley: famous British serial killer
Naff: lame, not good
Naff all: none
National Service: compulsory UK military service, ended in 60s
Net curtains: a type of semi-transparent curtain
NHS: National Health Service, public health service of UK
Nick: police station (as verb: to arrest)
Nowt: nothing
Nutter: insane person
Nursery: a place which grows plants, shrubs and trees for sale (often wholesale)
Old bag: old woman (insulting)
Old Bill: police
OTT: over the top
Owt: anything
Pants: noun: underwear adjective: bad/rubbish/terrible
Para: paratrooper
Pay-as-you-go: a cell phone you pay for calls in advance
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
Proms: concerts held at the Albert Hall
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 o
f 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
Skell: tramp or homeless person
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
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)
Twoc: steal a car, often just for joyriding