Guilt Edged

July 22, 2013
A slew of personal problems preoccupy Lina Townend in Cutler’s bustling sixth mystery featuring the Kent antique dealer (after 2012’s Guilt Trip). Business partner and mentor Griff Tripp is having a major heart operation; boyfriend Reginald Morris is ignoring her calls; her father, Lord Elham, is being even more demanding than usual; and the police are watching both Lord Elham and her mentor, antique dealer Titus Oates, for shady dealings. In addition, Lina is sure something is wrong with the Beswick model horse she’s being offered, and she’s getting strong vibes from a couple of miniature portraits buried in auction lots. When more of both start cropping up in various places, Lina’s curiosity attracts dangerous attention. The antiques trade draws all kinds of interesting characters on both sides of the legal divide, and Cutler limns them all well, particularly those who straddle the line. Fans of Jonathan Gash’s Lovejoy series should especially enjoy Lina’s adventures.

Starred review from April 30, 2012
In Cutler’s well-done fourth Lina Townend mystery (after 2011’s Guilty Pleasures), Lina and Griff Tripp, her elderly mentor, try to fathom an unpleasant stranger they meet at a Kent antiques fair, who’s much too aggressive in demanding Lina use her considerable talents to restore his damaged china. Meanwhile, Griff’s scheduled medical procedures have Lina fearful, and his participation in an amateur theater production has her crazy—the extra driving and the diva director, Emilia Cosworth, are just two of the annoying features. More serious trouble arises after an escalating series of humorless pranks dog the actors, and Lina encounters a handsome man known only as Paul, who tries to warn her—but about what, exactly? Lina’s disreputable father, Lord Elham, and his comrade-in-fraud, Titus Oates, make cameo appearances as the threats to Lina ramp up. Lots of action and clever writing make this an exceptional addition to this traditional series.

Starred review from September 1, 2013
An antiques restorer gets in a dither when a herd of porcelain horses gallops across her horizon. Lina Townend (Guilt Trip, 2012, etc.) has enough on her youthful mind. Her current beau, Morris, is in France and can't be bothered to phone her. Her pixilated Pa keeps running out of champagne and sending her round to Marks and Spencer for more. She has a growing pile of battered china to repair for numerous well-paying clients. And her partner and self-adopted grandfather, Griff Tripp, is in the hospital for an urgent heart bypass. So when a middle-aged matron drops by with a white Beswick pony she's ready to part with for a mere 600, Lina doesn't have time to figure out what's off about her; she just sends her packing. Soon, other dealers report offers of similar white horses, more valuable than other colors of Beswick because they're relatively rare. Lina reports her uneasy feelings to DCI Freya Webb, who can't do much about them because she's laid up in the end stages of a difficult pregnancy. So Freya turfs her over to DC Carwyn Morgan, the local police art expert. Morgan is gorgeous enough to make a worthy replacement for the unreliable Morris. But he's interested in more than just ponies; he's looking to make a case against Titus Oates, whose partner in forgery is none other than Lina's Pa. Getting the goods on the pony pushers without grassing up Titus forces Lina to walk a fine line. And life gets still more complicated when Griff is released from the hospital to convalesce under her watchful eye. Gentle humor and deft plotting make Lina's sixth outing a treat.

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