Ring of Guilt

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. (Feb.)