BURIED CRIMES: a gripping detective thriller full of twists and turns (25 page)

Acknowledgements

The Beaumont Society
(www.beaumontsociety.org.uk) is the UK’s leading support organisation for transgender people. The society has a network of voluntary "Regional Organisers" across the country who can help with problems. The author wishes to thank members of the society for their help with parts of this novel. Similarly, the author would like to thank Bailey at the NTPA (the National Trans Police Association) for her help in supplying background information about the experiences of police officers with gender identity issues.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM
) is still a serious problem throughout the world. For more information visit the websites of these three charities: 28 Too Many; The Orchid Project; Desert Flower. I would like to thank Alice Newton-Fenner for increasing my awareness of the mutilation of young girls from some ethnic communities living in Britain today, and for showing me where to look for information.

Thanks
to Anne Derges for her painstaking editorial work.

THE FIRST THREE SOPHIE ALLEN BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE NOW:

Book1:
DARK CRIMES

http://www.amazon.co.uk/CRIMES-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01B1W9CIG

http://www.amazon.com/CRIMES-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01B1W9CIG

A young woman’s body is discovered on a deserted footpath in a Dorset seaside town late on a cold November night. She has been stabbed through the heart.

It seems like a simple crime for DCI Sophie Allen and her team to solve. But not when the victim’s mother is found strangled the next morning. The case grows more complex as DCI Sophie Allen discovers that the victims had secret histories, involving violence and intimidation. There’s an obvious suspect but Detective Allen isn't convinced. Could someone else be lurking in the shadows, someone savagely violent, looking for a warped revenge?

BOOK 2
DEADLY CRIMES

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DEADLY-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01DL5CGRK/

https://www.amazon.com/DEADLY-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01DL5CGRK/

A young man’s mutilated body is found on top of the Agglestone, a well-known local landmark on Studland Heath 

It seems that he was involved in a human trafficking and prostitution gang. But why is DCI Sophie Allen keeping something back from her team? Is it linked to the extraordinary discovery of her own father's body at the bottom of a disused mineshaft, more than forty years after he disappeared? 

Book 3:
BURIED CRIMES

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SECRET-CRIMES-gripping-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01F6FAR06

https://www.amazon.com/SECRET-CRIMES-gripping-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01F6FAR06

Two women
 go away for the weekend, but only 
one
 comes back alive. Was it just the music they were into? And who was the man the victim met at the festival? 
DCI Sophie Allen
 is back in charge after the emotional upheavals she suffered in 'Deadly Crimes,' but is she really in control? And Detective Constable Rae Gregson joins the team and immediately faces challenges that put her life in peril. 

Glossary of English terms for US readers

ACC:
assistant chief constable

Asian:
someone who (or whose ancestors) originates from India, Pakistan or Bangladesh

Beaker:
glass or cup for holding liquids

Bladdered:
drunk

Bob:
money

Bod:
person

Boffin:
smart person, scientist

Boot:
trunk, as in car trunk

Bother:
as in bother, means in trouble

Charity Shop:
thrift store

Caravan:
camper or small motorhome

Carrier bag:
plastic bag from supermarket

Care Home:
an institution where old people are cared for

Chat-up:
flirt, trying to pick up someone with witty banter or compliments

Chinwag:
conversation

Ciggy:
cigarette

Comprehensive School (Comp.):
High school

Copper:
police officer (slang)

Cotton wool:
raw cotton

Childminder:
someone who looks after children for money
CID:
Criminal Investigation Department

Coach:
a bus, often used for travel, holidays or trips

Cos:
because

CPS:
Crown Prosecution Service, body which decides whether cases go to criminal court

Council
: local government

Deck:
one of the landings on a floor of a tower block

Diary:
appointment book

Dinner lady:
lunch lady

Div:
idiot (offensive)

Dodgy:
not to be trusted, illegal

Dosh:
money

Double glazing:
insulated windows with two layers of glass

DC:
detective constable

DI:
detective inspector

DS:
detective sergeant

ED:
accident and emergency department of hospital

Estate:
/files/11/13/75/f111375/public/social housing estate (similar to housing projects)

Estate agent:
realtor (US)

Fag:
cigarette

Fancy:
find attractive

FE:
further education college

Freshers:
Students in their first term/year at university

Garden Centre:
a business where plants and gardening equipment are sold

Gas people:
company selling consumers gas for heating and hot water

Gobsmacked:
surprised

Get off:
make out

GP:
general practitioner, a doctor based in the community

Gran:
grandmother

Guest house:
a private house offering rooms to paying guests (in the days before Airbnb!)

Hard nut:
tough guy

Hatchback:
a car with an upwards-opening door across full width of back

Home:
care home for elderly or sick people

Home Office:
UK government department in charge of domestic affairs

Inne:
isn’t he

Into care:
a child taken away from their family by the social services

Jobcentre:
unemployment office

Jumper:
sweater

Kosher:
genuine or legal

Lad:
young man

Lamped:
hit

Lay-by:
an area off a road where cars can pull in and stop

Lift:
as in give a lift, drive someone somewhere

Loo:
toilet

Lounge:
living room

Lorry:
a truck

Mobile phone:
cell phone

Net curtains:
a type of semi-transparent curtain

Newsagents:
shop selling newspapers, confectionery, cigarettes etc.

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)

OCD:
Obsessive-compulsive disorder

OS:
Ordnance Survey, detailed map

Overalls:
dungarees

Pants:
underwear

PC:
police constable

PM
: post-mortem

Petrol
: gasoline

Petrol station:
gas station

Piss off:
as exclamation, go away (rude). Also can mean annoy.

Planning Department
: the local authority department which issues licences to build and develop property

Plod:
policeman

Posh:
upper class

Punter:
client of prostitute / can also mean gambler

Randy:
horny

Ready meal:
prepared food which only needs to be reheated

Rock:
a sugary candy often on sale at the seaside

Semi:
semi-detached house, house with another house joined to it on one side only

Skinful:
enough alcohol to make you drunk

Skip:
a large container for building rubbish

Services:
Shops and gas station by highway

Sixth-former:
student in the final two years of high school (16-18 years old)

Sod:
an annoying person

Sod it:
expression meaning you’ve decided not to give a damn

Solicitor:
lawyer

Squaddies
: soldiers

Tea:
dinner (Northern English)

Till:
cash register

Tipsy
: a bit drunk

Toerag:
loser
(insulting)

Ton:
a hundred pounds

Torch:
flashlight
Tosspot:
wanker, an idiot

Tutor:
university teacher

Tower block:
tall building containing apartments (usually social housing)

Two-up two-down:
house with two bedrooms upstairs, and two rooms downstairs

Uni:
university/college

Uniform:
a police officer wearing a uniform, usually a police constable

Van:
a vehicle for carrying goods

Warrant card:
police ID in the UK

Wests:
Fred and Rosemary, notorious serial killers

Young offender:
criminal between 14-17 years of age