2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 353: ‘All right, smart-arse.’ [...] The smart-arse thus honoured couldn’t help the smirk reaching her lips.at smart-arse, n.
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 160: So keep the smart-arsery under control.at smart-assery (n.) under smart-arse, n.
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 156: ‘Maybe you remember the symptoms. Constant stream of headaches, constant pains in the arse’.at pain in the arse, n.
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 356: ‘A simple case of collecting a disgruntled party [...] Even given the pig’s arse they made of the initial attempt’.at pig’s arse, n.1
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 198: ‘We’ve all placed our faith, temporarily, in snake-oil artists’.at -artist, sfx
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 57: ‘So this is independent of the current government?’ ‘No, it’s the PM’s baby’.at baby, n.
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 41: Malcolm Kyle – currently carrying bags for the deputy manager of the cabinet secretary’s office.at carry a bag (for) (v.) under bag, n.1
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 50: [T]he respect of his peers for a job not bollixed.at ballocks (up), v.
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 234: ‘[H]e’s two-thirds bullshit to every one-third bollocks’.at ballocks, n.
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 6: [O]n the main road, a quarter-mile away, a lorry banjaxed the quiet,.at banjaxed (adj.) under banjax, v.
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 51: Not just any old bash, though: [...] one of the infamous Downing Street garden parties thrown during the first lockdown.at bash, n.1
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 299: ‘You know who the Park usually sends on these bean-counting missions?’.at bean counter (n.) under bean, n.1
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours ‘I said, you bucking for a promotion, Sir Winston? [...] Because you’re certainly the eager beaver today’.at eager beaver, n.
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 89: ‘There was no entrapment, no black-bagging. Just routine surveillance’.at black bag (n.) under black, adj.
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 312: [O]ne of the bottom feeders, who stamped on faces or broke fingers.at bottom feeder (n.) under bottom, n.3
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 119: The other possibility was Anthony Sparrow, but Sparrow was a busted flush.at busted flush, n.
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 386: ‘I’d be on the carpet, he’d be in the wind, and you’d be writing a eulogy’.at on the carpet under carpet, n.1
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 314: ‘Christ on a fucking bicycle. He’s got teeth. What else do you need to know?’.at Christ on a bike! (excl.) under Christ, n.
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 250: ‘Not that many clapped-out spooks, in the grand design of things’.at clapped(-out), adj.
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 214: ‘Risking life and limb for Her Madge [...] air enough, she’s clocking on, can’t be expected to do it herself.’.at clock on (v.) under clock, v.3
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 234: ‘Anarchists and deadheads, yes. And artists of every kind, from piss- to post-apocalyptic’.at deadhead, n.
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 224: ‘You know why they call diplomats “dips”? [...] Because they’re all pickpockets. Steal your name, nick your boyfriend, rob you blind’.at dip, n.1
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 316: ‘[W]hatever [his agenda] is, it’s dirty enough that he needs me dirty too’.at dirty, adj.
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 361: Which meant ushering Singer from the main drag before he hopped into a cab.at main drag, n.
2023 M. Herron Secret Hours 216: ‘[I]f you could sub me for a couple of nights? I just need to get my ducks in a row’.at have all one’s ducks in a row (v.) under duck, n.1