Ring of Guilt

December 20, 2010
At the start of Cutler's entertaining third Lina Townend mystery (after 2010's Silver Guilt), Lina, who's on the road with a van full of antiques, phones the police after spotting the body of a well-dressed man lying in a field about 50 yards away. A brambly hedge tangled with barbed wire discourages her from getting closer. By the time the police arrive, the body has disappeared. As Lina probes the mystery of the missing corpse, she must contend with increasingly vicious personal attacks from sources as different as Sir Douglas Nelson of the British Museum, who suspects her of stealing two rare old rings, and shady dealer Arthur Habgood, who claims to be her grandfather. Her relationship with her disreputable biological father, Lord Elham, remains precarious. Lina, whose checkered past includes foster homes and self-harming behavior, grows in strength as she fights to save her reputation as one of Kent's honest antique dealers.

January 1, 2011

Sorely beset antiques dealers whose merchandise isn't the only thing with a distressed finish run amok.

Lina Townend, a divvy who just knows when a really valuable bauble can be found lurking amongst dross, is driving home from an auction with her latest treasure when she's sidetracked by a body she sees lying near a path. Too scared to investigate, she calls the coppers, who think she's putting them on; after all, the corpse has disappeared. Her business partner, Griff, an aging gay man with posh connections, coddles her, then suggests they take the ancient ring she's found to Sir Douglas Nelson at the British Museum for authenticating. Before you have time to remind yourself that Lovejoy would be a lot smarter than that, Sir Douglas accuses them of pilfering it. A similar ring turns up, but Lina soon finds the dealer who was selling it brutalized in the loo. And no sooner has a tea service suddenly appeared in the antiques stall Lina is manning than a punter shouts to all the world that it's stolen. Finally it occurs to Lina that she and Griff are being set up, though the why and the who continue to elude her. The answer, when it comes, beggars common sense and makes one long for the skills of Jonathan Gash.

Griff, with his mannered syntax and dramatic flair, is far more interesting than waiflike Lina, with her language deficits and romantic mishaps (Silver Guilt, 2010, etc.).

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2011
British antiques dealer and restorer Lina Townend spots a body in a field while on the way home from an estate sale. Because she is alone, she doesnt stop, but she does notify the police. When the police arrive, however, the body is gone. Soon she is accused of stealing a pair of Anglo-Saxon rings, and it looks like someone is trying very hard to ruin her reputation in the antiques world. With the support of her partner and mentor, Griff Tripp, she investigates, solving the mystery of the missing body as well as figuring out who is trying to sabotage her career. Along the way, she draws the romantic interest of two men and cares for her reclusive father. Lina, who grew up in a string of foster homes, is an endearing but tough character with a great deal of integrity. Her first-person account includes details of antiques restoration and the world of British antiques.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)