FIRE ON THE FENS a gripping crime thriller filled with stunning twists
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Council: local government
Dan Dare: hero from Eagle comic
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
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
Geordie: from Newcastle
Garden Centre: a business where plants and gardening equipment are sold
Gob: mouth/ can also mean phlegm or spit
Gold Braid: higher ranks of the police
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
Holiday rep: someone employed by travel company to look after people on vacation
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
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
Mispers: missing persons
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
PACE: Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
Pan as in flushed down: flushed down the toilet
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
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
Wa
sh: 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
Detective Inspector Nikki Galena
Nikki is a brave, honest and dedicated police officer who started at the bottom and clawed her way up through the ranks. Although once a loner, hardened by personal tragedy and some of the terrible cases that she has dealt with, the formation of a new, close-knit team has given her drive and enthusiasm.
She is based in the Lincolnshire Fens and her ‘patch’ includes miles of agricultural farmland, massive stretches of dangerous marshes and Greenborough, a big market town with as many criminals as some urban areas. Nikki is divorced and her only child Hannah, died tragically in her teens. Although it is not common knowledge, she has entered into a relationship with her sergeant, Joseph Easter.
Detective Sergeant Joseph Easter
Joseph had a middle-class upbringing, good education, went to university, then left to join the military. He keeps this fact a secret from his colleagues as he became bitterly disillusioned after an operation went wrong and innocent people died.
He has a quiet way and a calm, reasonable attitude, and he is completely unaware that he a very attractive man. He is divorced from wife, Laura, and has one daughter Tamsin, who is married one of the uniformed officers, Sgt Niall Farrow. Joseph lives in a small cottage close to Nikki’s farmhouse on Cloud Fen, and over the years they have progressed from being close friends to a full, loving relationship, but one that they dare not speak of at work, for fear of breaking up the team.
Detective Caitlin ‘Cat’ Cullen
Cat is tough and shrewd and the most street-wise copper on the team. Since joining Nikki’s team she had redeemed a failing career and is now an excellent and dedicated detective. Cat is a chameleon and works brilliantly undercover. Nikki recognises her skills and knows that she can trust her. One of Cat’s strengths is that once she gets her teeth into a problem she never gives up. Another is her keen interest in technology and computer skills. After a string of failed romances she is now going out with another member of Nikki’s team, DC Ben Radley, and for the first time in years, is happy.
Dave Harris
Dave was good old cop and a proud man who chose to hide serious family problems in order to cope alone. Nikki found out about his background, helped and protected him, and now he has repaid her with years of faithful service. He is now officially retired but has returned as a civilian interviewing officer, so he can still offer Nikki a wealth of local knowledge and years of experience.
DC Ben Radley
Transferred from Derbyshire, both to work with Nikki, whom he admires enormously, and to be closer to Cat Cullen. Ben is a tough-looking man, but beneath the hard exterior he is a very sensitive and caring policeman. He, like Nikki, lost his only daughter and his marriage ended in divorce. In a very short space of time he has become a valued member of the team.
WPC Yvonne Collins
Yvonne has spent almost two decades as a uniformed officer on the streets of Greenborough. Although a highly decorated police woman, she loves being a ‘beat bobby’ and knows more about the town and the surrounding Fens than anyone else on the force. She has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the law, but relies on her good instincts that come from experience. She is now in her final year before retiring. She lives alone with her rescue dog, Hobo.
Acting Superintendent Cameron Walker
Cam has been a friend of Nikki’s for years, and due to the closure of his own station at Beech Lacey, has been offered the post of superintendent at Greenborough. He had never wanted to rise higher than DCI but after the death of Greg Woodhall, he decides to take the helm. He lives in Beech Lacey with his wife, Kaye, who is a lecturer in linguistics. Cameron is a kind man, gets on well with strong minded women, and has a lot of time for Nikki and her mother Eve.
Professor Rory Wilkinson
Rory is the area’s Home Office pathologist, and after being closely involved with Nikki Galena in some terrifying cases, he has become her friend. 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.
Eve Anderson
Eve is Nikki’s biological mother and although they have not been in each other’s lives for long, they have built up a very strong bond. Eve was in the RAF and went on to work for the Ministry of Defence. She is now retired but remains a strong, fit woman, not one to mess with!
Wendy Avery.
Wendy is a close friend of Eve’s from her RAF and MOD days. She joins Eve to live in the converted chapel called Monk’s Lantern. Together they form a pretty formidable duo.
John Carson
John is a retired fire-service investigator who has spent his whole working life fighting or investigating fires. He has an incredible memory for the fires that he had dealt with in the past and is the first person to believe that there is an arsonist at work in Greenborough. He becomes pivotal in Nikki’s investigation.