The Mystery of the Missing Book

The Antique Shop Mysteries #1

by Judith Cutler

Antiques Roadshow meets Agatha Christie! Discover your next favourite cozy mystery series, featuring a funny, feisty antique dealer turned amateur sleuth who lives in the cosiest corner of Kent.

Meet novice antique dealer Lina warm, independent and blessed with an uncanny nose for a bargain . . . and a talent for sniffing out trouble!

Lina is finding her feet in the antiques trade, working alongside her eccentric mentor Griff. Attending a bustling local fair, Lina makes a thrilling a single page from a rare medieval manuscript.

Not only is the missing book priceless, but it could hold the key to a mystery Lina’s spent her whole life trying to solve — the identity of her father. If she can find it.

But Lina’s hunt quickly turns dangerous. A string of break-ins suggests she’s not the only one after the treasure. Is a jealous rival dealer trying to steal her prize, or is something far more sinister at play?

Lina must summon every ounce of her courage if she’s to track down the missing manuscript, protect frail, kind-hearted Griff — and solve the riddle of who she really is.

This delightful traditional mystery series is perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Lovejoy, Clare Chase, M.C. Beaton, Simon Brett, Margaret Yorke and The Thursday Murder Club — and anyone who enjoys a good rummage in an antique shop!

Please note, this book was previously published as Drawing the Line, and has been lightly edited for language.

READERS LOVE THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING BOOK:

‘Thoroughly sharp, modern, witty, and literate.’ Margaret Yorke

‘In Cutler . . . we are undoubtedly dealing with the crème de la crème.’ The Times

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Really enjoyed the drive through the English countryside with quirky antiques dealers. Found the antiques trade fascinating and the storyline engrossing.’ Susan

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Delightfully engaging characters and an excellent plot line. Has overtones of a modern Dorothy Sayers.’ Sandra

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mysteries, interesting stories and great characters. I'd love to read further adventures of Lina and Griff.’ savvyshoppers

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Really engaging plot, believable characters and a satisfying ending. Some good twists too.’ Kindle Customer

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Well written, good characters and plots. I discovered Judith Cutler late last year and have been hooked on all her books and characters since.’ Derek

MEET LINA TOWNEND
Lina Townend is not your average antique dealer. Warm, clever, and endlessly curious, she has an uncanny ‘divvy’s nose’ for spotting treasures among the bric-a-brac, and a knack for sniffing out trouble where others see only clutter. Living and working alongside her eccentric mentor, Griff Tripp, Lina spends her days at bustling village fairs, in her cosy shop, and trawling auctions for hidden gems.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Contemporary, Amateur Sleuth, Books About Books, Crime

316 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 19, 2025

About the author

Judith Cutler was born and bred in the Midlands, and revels in using her birthplace, with its rich cultural life, as a background for her novels. After a long stint as an English lecturer at a run-down college of further education, Judith, a prize-winning short-story writer, has taught Creative Writing at Birmingham University, has run occasional writing course elsewhere (from a maximum security prison to an idyltic Greek island) and ministered to needy colleagues in her role as Secretary of the Crime Writers' Association.

Reviews

[Kathy]

I had a hard time with the way this story was presented. I am too old, perhaps, to relax my expectations of a sane delivery of plot and dialogue. It was like reading a comic's notes in preparing a dialogue for a cartoon, Maybe?

Kindle Unlimited

[Sara Townsend]

I quite like the premise of this series - the main character, Lina Townend, is a young woman who grew up in foster care, and after reaching adulthood was passed into the care of a friend of her last foster mother - an elderly gay man, Griff Tripp, who runs an antique shop, who takes on Lina as an apprentice and cares for her like a granddaughter.

The mystery in this first book involves someone stalking, and occasionally attacking, Lina and/or Griff or people close to them, clearly after something in their possession. Lina sets out to find out who the villains are, and what it is they are after.

Griff is a great character, but initially Lina was very hard to like, and she's the star of the series. However, she's had a difficult life, so I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt.

The writing style I didn't get on with, though. It's like there are big scenes missing - you finish a chapter in one place, and the next chapter starts some time later, with only a passing mention of what happened since the end of the last one. I found the narrative quite difficult to follow at times.

However, the book ticks all the boxes for classic cosy crime - especially if you're the sort of reader who doesn't like gruesome deaths, as there are none at all here - so if that's your genre you might quite like this one.

[Donna McKenzie]

Antigue shop mystery book 1

A young woman and an older man deal in antiques and stumble across a rare page of a book. During the investigation into the page it becomes apparent that someone else also wants it. Also of a personal note the main character searches for her birth father having grown up in foster care.

[Chris]

Really struggled with this one. It’s was a difficult story to follow and I find myself going back to reread things thinking I’d missed something. Oh well you have to try new books and new authors but this one’s not for me.

[Henry]

This was one of the most boring books I have tried to read. I made it half way through and couldn’t go any farther. It was boring nothing of any relevance was happening. The characters were flat and unbelievable. Child services recommended an elderly alcoholic to be a teenagers guardian. The teenager just happened to suffer from self abuse and anger issues. She had very little education, but she was restoring antiques in the shop her guardian owned. She is on a quest to find her biological father who turns out to be titled and odd ball like her. There is an excessive amount of details about which highway to take and how to get around in a rural village. The story was all over the place. Lina and Griff frequently spoke about overcharging customers and underpaying sellers.

Overall boring and unbelievable. I realize it is the first in the series and there is character development, but the author isn’t even doing that. This series is off my list.

[Kate]

This is the kind of story I expected to enjoy and while I did, I found it difficult to read. The main character was not easy to like and the style of writing meant big, significant things to the plot happen and can be easily missed. I found myself having to go back and still not entirely knowing how the story got to where it was next.
I will still read the next one in the series but I will be more prepared for the writing style.

[Terri]

This book was difficult to stay interested in...the vocabulary was odd, probably a lot of British language usage, and most of it not explained. Disjointed paragraphs. Sentences that didn't make any sense where they were. Odd.

[Randi]

This book has a good general premise. The main character is good and I liked her. Her companion is annoying, dear heart, as he would say. So twee it was distracting. It was very grating and ruined the book for me.
I made about 1/2 way through before giving up.

[Delores Johnson]

Only read 26 pages.

[Doug Ward]

After her single mother died when she was young, Evalina (Lina) Townend grew up in the foster care system. As a young adult, she lives and works with antique dealer and retired actor Griff Tripp, who is teaching her the antique business. In her spare time she searches for the identity of her biological father, relying on a handful of early childhood memories.

Her search intensifies when another dealer offers for sale a familiar-looking page from a book she remembers seeing at her father's house. The book, Natura Rerum, was published in 1589 and could be worth a fortune. She finds a way to purchase the page, hoping to learn where it came from. As she continues her search, it soon becomes apparent that others are also looking for the book and will go to great lengths to possess it.

This is an engaging story, with an appealing protagonist in Lina. It was originally published in 2005 as Drawing the Line.

[Kirsten]

I was really torn when rating this book. The writing is worthy of a four. The mystery is worthy of a four. However, this book was billed as a cozy mystery to me. And there was a lot of violence and abuse within this book. Which took it out of the cozy realm for me. And therefore I knocked off a star.

The mystery is incredibly well written. And there's a lot of emotion in a lot of different directions for the main character. Who quite honestly you don't know whether you like or you don't like for a long time in the book. In the end I very much liked her. But I do not think I can continue on with the series because of the violence within this book.
Warning to other future readers there is self harming, and other abuse in this book.

[Anne Herbison]

This series was recommended by a friend. I was disappointed to find it isn't available at my local library - although many others by this author are, many as ebooks - so I downloaded the whole series on my Kindle app. I'm pleased I did as I'm in for some engrossing reading if this first book is anything to go by. The main character makes the book. She is an unusual detective and I cheered her on as she overcame all manner of difficulties from her background, her current situation, her tendency to over-react - all those character flaws that are built-in to the best detectives in this genre.

[Diane]

This somewhat raunchy cozy mystery series is set in England (of course) and stars a young woman, Tina, who was raised in the System but now lives and works with an elderly antiques dealer, Griff, who was a friend of her last foster mother. Griff is gay and very amusing at times and Tina is an antiques savant. The series has great potential but the writing is a bit clunky. The author slips things in which this reader misses and then doesn't know what the hell is going on. Feels like I'm developing dementia which takes all the fun out of the read.

[Faith Davies]

And fun was had by(nearly) all!

I think the term "jolly jape" best sums up this book. It reminded me most of an Ealing comedy, with no one being who they purported to be & bad guys seemingly replicating at will! There was such an air of innocence about it & with the two central characters, Lina & the quite glorious Griff, being a charismatic duo, I'm looking forward to following up on their subsequent adventures. I did lose track of who was who a couple of times as there was a surprisingly large cast of characters but I will be better prepared for that next time.

[P.]

A cast of interesting characters

I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy mystery! Yes, it took a bit to get going, but I didn't mind one bit. What really drew me in were the characters—Lina and Griff felt so real and likable. The antiques world was fascinating, though I will say it felt a little less rooted in village life than some cozies I've read. Still, the people and relationships made this thoroughly enjoyable. Highly recommend for a relaxing, engaging read!

[Joanne]

lovely read, interesting plot twist.

Lovely mystery story about about a missing book whilst also touching on family is what you make it. Lina an aged out foster child works with Griff an older eccentric gentlemen learning the antique trade. If you’re interested in tales with missing books, octogenarian lovers, strong female lead and some quirky little plot twists you’ll love it. Would appeal to Agatha Raisin fans.

[Julie Powell]

I enjoyed this entertaining mystery about antique dealers and a valuable book.

I liked both Griff and Lina, each distinctive and well-developed characters. Lina has a paticularly troublesome background but Griff's fatherly love helps her through the battles.

It was interesting to have a peek into the antique world alongside the twists and turns of the mystery.

Well-written with an easy flow and certainly engaging.

Recommended.

[Denise Melick]

I’m giving this 3 stars but I enjoyed it. Being a mystery I expected something big to happen early in the book. But it didn’t so sometimes I wasn’t sure what we were solving or where the story was going. I really liked the 2 main characters, Lina & Griff and I’d enjoy talking with them at an antiques fair. I’m enjoying British cozy crime books right now and I do plan to read the next book in the series to see where it goes.

[MS M ADAMS]

That was a bit different in terms of a cozy mystery.

Although there are lots of mysteries set around the antiques business this one was a bit different. Lots of fun but lots of tension too. Lots of the would be heroes turning into potential villains so let Lina it was hard to know who to trust! Xxx

[Michelle]

I stumbled across this in a kindle sale, a 'you might like this, because you read that' sort of deal.
And to be perfectly fair I did. I got involved with the characters almost at once which is a good sign.
Good cosy read for these long dark nights. Fun and not to taxing to read. Has its fair share of drama. Im going straight on with the next one in the series.

[Leslie]

I wasn't sure, at first, if Lina was a reliable narrator. This book was a slow burn and took a bit to stick with it. Things finally started to come together and make sense, although the number of criminals increased more than expected. Learning a bit about antiques is a nice side benefit to the book. This ended up being a pretty good read.

[Suzanne Bredemeier]

A challenging read, but hard to put down

The heroine (who is the narrator), along with all the other characters are quite complicated, often very witty, funny individuals. One has to really concentrate on the storyline as she tells it. She flits in and out of scenes making one feel almost as if watching a movie. It is really worth the effort. I will definitely read Book 2!

[Larry]

This was a strange story, part antiques, part forgery, part robbery, and a dash of finding one's family. People were hurt, others were betrayed, and the main character learns a valuable lesson or two. The characters are interesting, the plot is meandering, and the premise is finding out if a page from a purportedly priceless book is authentic. I do recommend this book.

[Paul C. Turner]

Fantastic book

I immediately liked Lina, and her trying to figure out who she could trust and who she couldn't. She was stubborn in her quest to find her biological father, but kind and trustworthy to her friends. An exciting look into people whose business is restoring and selling old, valuable things, and how competitive it is.
.

[Janice Clark]

Who'd have thought an antique dealer searching for a rare book could result in a challenging, fast-paced and very dangerous adventure? The fact that she was also searching for family adds to the suspense. Will her vague childhood memories result in connecting with her father? And will she be happy with the results? The plot is full of twists and turns and it's hard to sort out allies from enemies.
I enjoyed this immensely and found it hard to put down.

[Valerie Bray]

This was a very intriguing tale. I found the characters to be well drawn and the mystery compelling. I would have given it 5 stars, were it not for some rather glaring errors which should have been picked up in the proofreading stages. I pointed them out as I went along.

[Mark]

Ok

Thought this would be rubbish by the camp stereotypes and young woman who has murky past in every sense. But really enjoyed it light easy read . Ok some bits a bit over the top . But really enjoyable.

[Catherine Belles]

Quite a Good Read

Surprisingly excellent character development for the main character. The narrative has a few gaps, but not as much as other mysteries.
Western European history is presented through artifacts, a clever literary device.

[Ida Anak]

Interesting story

I hate to say it but it was a very difficult (for me) book to read. I very often had to read a whole page twice to understand what was going on, go over the paragraph ...
But I kept reading to find out the Mystery of the Missing Book.

[Rodney Michel]

zA slow starter with a grand ending

I found the start to be laborious and almost boring.
Once I get to the three-fifths way through the book, I couldn’t pout it down. What a fun read and a happily ever after ending.