Silver Guilt

American readers will learn a lot about the British antiques world from Cutler’s clever second Lina Townend mystery (after 2005’s Drawing the Line). Lina, the illegitimate daughter of Lord Elham of Kent’s Bossingham Hall, regards her mentor, gay antiques dealer Griffith “Griff” Trip, as her real father. Lina agrees to help Lady Petronella Cordingly, Griff’s boyfriend’s sister, by bringing a 17th-century Hungarian silver dish of Lord Elham’s to sell at an antiques fair Petronella’s involved with. At the fair, Detective Sergeant Morris accuses Lina of trying to sell stolen property. Though she’s cleared after striking up a friendship with Morris and Piers Hamlyn, a sympathetic young antiques dealer, Lina worries about dodgy doings at Bossingham Hall. Could boozy Lord Elham be stealing from the hall’s trustees, or is his son, Darren Harris, the culprit? When the smitten Piers gives Lina a flawed friendship ring, Lina must re-evaluate everything she thinks she knows in this romantic cozy. (June)