Silver Guilt

Lina Townend #2

by Judith Cutler

A Lina Townend Mystery - Lina Townend is making a name for herself as an antiques dealer, in partnership with her old friend, Griff Tripp. When she is accused of stealing an item she is selling for her father, the disreputable Lord Elham, her plight attracts the attention of Piers, a handsome fellow dealer. But is Piers all he seems? And what about the kindly policeman investigating the case? There’s only one person she can really trust – Griff. But when violence threatens him, Lina has a difficult decision to make . . .

Genres: Mystery, British Literature, Crime, Fiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2010

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

[P.D.R. Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Judith Cutler has been writing good solid crime fiction for thirty odd years. Her female main characters are strong, self determining women. No one pushes them around, not even the boss. They may say, ‘yes, sir’, or ‘yes, mam’ but they know how to get round any restrictions they feel are unjust. Her books are not fashionably ‘dark’, they are realistic, and her characters make sense of their lives in the world they live in.

‘SILVER GUILT’ is the second in a series about a young, ‘pull myself up by the bootstraps’, ‘succeed or go to gaol’ woman, Lina Townend. In the first novel ‘DRAWING THE LINE’ Lina becomes involved in antiques, becoming a trainee dealer. In ‘SILVER GUILT’ she is now in partnership with her friend and mentor, Griff Tripp, and he encourages her to learn more, particularly about silver, by working with Lady Petronella Cordingly at a weekend, top of the trade, antiques fair. Alas, on her first day she is accused of stealing the piece of silver she is selling for her peculiar father, the unscrupulous Lord Elham. Lina is one of his thirty bastards, recorded in his ‘Conquests’ notebook, but who had to survive without his emotional or financial support. Not a nice father at all. The police harass her, Lady Petronella kicks her out and Lina fights for her rights and gets a public apology from the police.

Her father’s silver is not stolen, but valuable pieces are being stolen from the house where he lives, and Lina has to investigate carefully to keep her father out of trouble. Then there’s that handsome fellow dealer, Piers, who falls in love with her and gives her a fabulous ring, or is it? And what’s with all the other lovely jewellery he has? Poor Lina, even a kindly policeman takes a shine to her and her father claims he needs her. But who is telling the truth and who is stealing the silver? The only trustworthy person is Griff and he’s now being threatened with violence because Lina is getting too close to the villains. What will she do?

Lina is an interesting heroine, a survivor from a violent home, and useless foster homes, she is determined to make something of her life. Readers want to cheer her on and hope she will overcome her many handicaps. If you’re tired of struggling with ultra-violent crime novels or dark, dirty depression-making police corruption novels try this series. The writing is sound, the plotting is pleasantly complex without being tortuous, and there’s a worthy heroine to cheer on.

[Cathy Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've fallen for Lina Townend. Author Judith Cutler has created a flawed and charming young woman that I would love to mother, and that's something to write home about, since my maternal instincts normally only kick in with the furred and feathered. Passed around from one foster home to another "like a parcel" as she puts it, Lina is fighting against low self esteem and a tendency to self harm. A miracle occurred when she and Griff, an older gay man met. Griff took the time to see how valuable this young woman is, and he's taken her under his wing. He's teaching her everything he knows about dealing in and restoring antiques. He's working with her to better herself and to increase her vocabulary, and he's definitely working on Lina's low opinion of herself. Under his care, Lina is beginning to blossom, and it truly is wonderful to see.

The book is written in Lina's voice, and I can find myself engrossed in her investigation of the mystery, laughing at her turn of phrase, or wanting to wrap her up in a big hug. Watching the policeman slowly realize what a treasure she is is worth reading the entire book, but there's much more to Silver Guilt than that. Lina is the illegitimate daughter of the totally eccentric and almost completely batty Lord Elham who's given over his stately mansion to a trust to run, provided that he gets to live in one wing of the house. And if you won't tell anyone that he squirreled away loads of priceless antiques from the rest of the house into his wing, I won't either.

As you can see, I love the characters-- which isn't all that unusual for me when reading a book written by Judith Cutler-- but the mystery is top notch as well. In trying to deduce what's happening to the silver pieces disappearing from Elham's house to trying to keep an eye on Lina's new boyfriend, there's plenty of skullduggery going on... and more than a few pearls of wisdom about antiques to be found, too. If you love antiques, intriguing mysteries, and excellent characterization, I'd love for you to meet Lina Townend.

[Ellen Dark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always enjoy Judith Cutler's books, and this one was no exception. I'm looking forward to the third in the series.

[Rosalie LeCount · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun antiques mystery

I like the heroine's personality and her smarts. The antiques venue is colorful. The mystery is quite an unusual one.

[Lizzie Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Silver Guilt’ by Judith Cutler
Published by Severn House, January 2010. ISBN978-0-7278-6852-7.

Lina Townsend is a dealer in antiques; although young and learning all the time, she has a nose for an item of value. Whilst she has a comfortable father-and-daughter relationship with her professional partner, elderly gay Griff, her real father is in fact Lord Eltham of Bossington Hall. The Hall is now owned by a trust, but Lord Eltham lives in a wing of the historic mansion surrounded by antiques, some of which he instructs Lina to sell from time to time to keep him in champagne.

Obeying a summons from Lord Eltham to’ sell something’ Lina finds a silver dish that her nose tells her could be valuable. To get the best price Griff suggests that she attend an antique fair and in return for minding the stall put the item on show on the stall of Lady Petronella Cordingly – not a lady with which I would like to share anything, but as she is the sister of Aiden, Griff’s lover, Lina reluctantly agrees. The silver dish attracts a fair amount of attention – not only from prospective buyers, but from the police as well.

Lina is an engaging heroine, and there’s some fine characterisation in the supporting cast. For young Lina there is plenty of love interest – Detective Sergeant Morris, the local vicar Robin Levitt, and attractive Piers Hamlyn.

A perplexing mystery, with some good twists, and a satisfactory outcome. Recommended.
-----
Lizzie Hayes
The first book featuring Lina Townsend is Drawing the Line. Judith writes several series, ten books in the series featuring Sophie Rivers. Six in the series featuring Detective Sergeant Kate Powers, three featuring Chief Superintendent Fran Harman, and two books featuring Josie Welford. A sixth series with two books features the memorable Parson Tobias Campion. Additionally Judith has written two stand-alones Scar Tissue and Staging Death.

[M M · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another painful book I had to contend with is Judith Cutler's Silver Guilt. This stars a young antique dealer-in-training, Lina Townend, an illegitimate child of a Lord Elham fostered by a gay man who calls her 'my sweet one' and 'light of my life'. Although the novel (again, one in a series) is set in the current century, the attitudes of hoi polloi are positively medieval. There is much tugging of forelocks and curtseying before said Lord (as effete and ineffectual as you might want, although an expert forger), and considerable snobbery and class division, and there are men, both young and middle-aged, who have the hots for our impetuous Lina. Lina, once upon a time a feral child, has not had much schooling but we are assured by various characters who appear in the book that she is very smart and bright. She narrates the story in a strange mixture of knowingness and ignorance and lack of vocabulary. Perhaps the traumas she faced as a child affected her brain? I'm no expert. The plot, such as it is, is secondary in this book - it reads more like an extended narrative piece on the antiquities business and associated fraud. A rather tediously written journalistic piece, with some unreal conversations and stiff descriptions. Cutler is (was?) a secretary of the Crime Writers' Association and has published several other crime series, but as to how popular they are, I do not vouchsafe an opinion. On the merits of this book, I will not revisit this writer.

[Damaskcat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lina Townend has had a somewhat chequered upbringing as the illegitimate daughter of Lord Elham. She got on the wrong side of the law and was basically off the rails as a teenager until she was taken under the wing of Griff Tripp, an antique dealer and a specialist in china. He has educated her and trained her in the antiques business and she is a first class restorer. In this second book in the series she gets on the wrong side of a silver specialist who seems to want to get her into trouble with the police.

Fortunately Lina manages to convince them of her innocence and makes a friend in the process. I liked Lina as a character - devoted to Griff and her eccentric father - by turns polite and belligerent, it is clear her chequered upbringing still has its affect on her in more ways than one.

I enjoyed the background of the antiques trade and found it as interesting as the plot. The characters are well drawn and believable too. I think it is probably better to read the books in the order they were published but on the other hand there is enough background information in this book to enable the reader to make sense of the characters and their actions. As with all Judith Cutler's series this is well written and an entertaining read.

[Nicky Reed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Have enjoyed Judith Cutler's series in the past so have decided to spend a little while dipping back in and seeing what this new series character has to offer. It is as readable and unchallenging as I remember the earlier works. And I don't necessarily meant that by way of negative criticism; there is a time and a place for an untaxing read.
The novel has a couple of points of interest. It plays around with the silver spoon/country house cosiness of the British detective novel. A bit. This is the second of the series and I imagine I'd find out more were I to read the first (I expect I shall..), but what backstory we get her sets the principal character up, yes, as the daughter of a land-owning minor aristo, but as the illegitimate daughter of afore-mentioned, brought up largely in foster care and the recipient of a highly truncated education. For starters.
She's bright. She's feisty. But rather too much of this novel is given over to ravelling and unravelling various potential love-interests.

[Grey853 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lina works with her partner Griff in antiques. She's also the illegitimate daughter of a Lord and helps take care of him, since he's obviously a drunk and not all there.

Lina's an interesting character, very complex, and she reminds me a lot of Jonathan Gash's Lovejoy since she's a divvy, someone who can detect an antique without knowing anything about it. The difference is she's honest and Lovejoy isn't. So, when she gets accused of theft, she works with the police to find the real thief.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feisty young Lina Townend temporarily leaves her job as junior partner to her beloved adopted grandfather Griff to help Griff's lover's sister, who runs a high end antique silver business. But she finds herself accused of theft, and rescued by the handsome Piers, who claims to be related to Lina's unregenerate father, Lord Elham. Piers is attractive, but so is one of the detectives from Scotland Yard's art squad, who's investigating all the missing antiques. Well-done.

[Plum-crazy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second in the Lena Townend series & the second one I've listened to. I preferred the storyline of this to that of "Drawing the Line" however, I found Lina SO annoying & irritating.....& quite honestly, pathetic at times...that this is probably the last one I'll be listening to.

[Carlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Going for the series.

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it, hated the "boyfriend" complete ass