Mask of the Verdoy (57 page)

smother -
an overcoat [ it smothers the wearer, but also ? from Yid.
shmatte
, rags]

snide -
counterfeit [? from German
schneide
, to cut, as in to cut fake coins]

snow -
cocaine

soup -
thick London smog [its resemblance to pea soup]

spieler -
an illegal gambling club [German
spielen
, to play]

spruce –
to tell lies, to cheat, to flatter [i.e. “sprucing up” the facts]

squirter -
a gun

staunch -
trustworthy, loyal, safe; able to keep secrets [see
people
]

steamer -
a fool, a gullible person, a punter [rhy.sl
steam tug
= mug]

stir -
prison [Rom.
sturiben
, prison]

stone-ginger -
an absolute certainty [Stone Ginger was a celebrated champion racehorse in New Zealand; the meaning is emphasised by the use of
stone
to mean “absolutely”—e.g.
stone blind, stone-cold sober
etc.]

straight-cut -
a respectable woman

stripe -
to slash with a cut-throat razor

take stoppo -
to be obliged to run away [acting on the lookout’s cry of “stop!”]

tightener -
a substantial meal [its effects on the stomach, especially if it is a rarity]

tomfoolery -
jewellery [rhy.sl
tomfoolery
= jewellery]

top-storey man -
a cat-burglar

trade -
a prostitute’s clients

treyf -
not kosher [Yid.]

troll -
of a prostitute, to work the streets looking for punters [Pol.]

tub -
an omnibus [from its resemblance to a bath tub]

tut -
(pronounced like
put
) rubbish, worthless items [probably a corruption of
tot
, bone as in
totter
, rag-and-bone man; from German
tod
, dead]

vada -
to look at [Pol. Venetian
vardia
, a look]

vodeodo -
money [a playful rendering of
dough
]

whistle -
a suit [rhy.sl
whistle and flute
= suit]

wide -
sharp-witted, shrewd; also (of clothing) flash, ostentatious [
wide
awake]

wide-boy -
petty criminal, wheeler-dealer, minor villain

wind pudding, to eat -
to go without food

work the black -
to blackmail

yews -
the eyes [Pol. French
yeux
, eyes]

yiddified -
anti-Semitic

yok -
a gentile, a non-Jew [backsl. see
goy
]

George Harley returns in:

THE GRIMALDI
VAULTS

To discover more about the George Harley Mysteries visit:

www.georgeharley.com

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books used in the general research for creating the George Harley Mysteries:

Allingham, Philip,
Cheapjack
, William Heinemann Ltd 1934

Blumenfeld, Simon,
Jew Boy (1935)
, London Books Ltd 2011

Blythe, Ronald,
The Age of Illusion (1963)
, Phoenix Press 2001

Branson, Noreen,
Britain in the Nineteen Twenties
, Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1976

Burke, Thomas,
Limehouse Nights (1917)
, Daily Express Fiction Library 1930

Collins, Norman,
London Belongs to Me (1945)
, Penguin Classics 2008

Curtis, James,
They Drive by Night (1938)
, London Books Ltd 2008

Curtis, James,
The Gilt Kid (1936)
, London Books Ltd 2007

Fabian, Robert,
Fabian of the Yard
, The Naldrett Press Ltd 1950

Frost, George ‘Jack’,
Flying Squad
, Rockliff Publishing Corporation Ltd 1950

Gardiner, Juliet,
The Thirties
, Harper Press 2010

Greene, Graham,
Brighton Rock (1938)
, Penguin Books 1991

Glinert, Ed,
West End Chronicles
, Penguin Books 2008

Hamilton, Patrick,
Hangover Square (1941)
, Penguin Books 1974

Hamilton, Patrick,
The Slaves of Solitude (1947)
, Constable 2006

Hamilton, Patrick,
Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky (1935)
, Vintage 2010

Kersh, Cyril,
The Aggravations of Minnie Ashe
, Pan Books Ltd 1971

Kersh, Gerald,
The Angel and the Cuckoo (1967)
, London Books Ltd 2011

Kersh, Gerald,
Fowlers End
, Simon and Schuster Inc. 1957

Kersh, Gerald,
Night and the City (1938)
, London Books Ltd 2007

Kersh, Gerald,
Prelude to a Certain Midnight (1947)
, Blackmask.com 2005

Kohn, Marek,
Dope Girls
, Granta 2001

Litvinoff, Emanuel,
Journey Through a Small Planet (1972)
, Robin Clark Ltd 1993

Maclaren-Ross, Julian,
Of Love and Hunger (1947)
, Penguin Books 2002

Morton, James and Parker, Gerry,
Gangland Bosses
, Time Warner Books 2005

Overy, Richard,
The Morbid Age
, Penguin Books 2010

Pugh, Martin,
We Danced All Night
, Vintage 2009

Smithson, “Gentleman George”,
Raffles in Real Life
, Hutchinson & Co, 1930

Taylor, D.J.,
Bright Young People
, Vintage 2008

Westerby, Robert,
Wide Boys Never Work (1937)
, London Books Ltd 2008

Books used in the specific research for MASK OF THE VERDOY:

Basford, Kathleen,
The Green Man (1978)
, D. S. Brewer 1998

Grigsby, John,
Beowulf & Grendel
, Watkins Publishing 2006

Grigsby, John,
Warriors of the Wasteland
, Watkins Publishing 2003

Frazier, J.G.,
The Golden Bough (1922)
, Papermac 1987

Pugh, Martin,
‘Hurrah for the Blackshirts!’
, Pimlico 2006