Guilty Pleasures by Judith Cutler

Helping out at a church fete, antiques dealer Lina Townend comes across a tatty snuff-box, which seems to be valuable enough for someone to try to snatch from under her nose. Then the would-be thief attacks Griff, her dear mentor and business partner, frames Lina for a crime she didn’t commit, and killls an old friend – and maybe other people too. Because the police officer in charge of the case can’t give it her full attention, Lina reluctantly seeks help from a former boyfriend, now married with a baby. When her father, the alcoholic Lord Elham gets involved too, things coud easily descend into chaos and tragedy.

*****

“Lina is an endearing but tough character with a great deal of integrity.” –Booklist on Ring of Guilt.

“The antiques business makes an intriguing background and the supplementary characters are drawn as deftly as the lead.” –Booklist on Silver Guilt.

*****

Dubbed Birmingham’s Queen of Crime, Judith Cutler began her working life as a lecturer, first at a tough inner-city college and then at Birmingham University. Her teaching experience also includes an idyllic Greek island and a high-security prison.

A former CWA Secretary, she has won several short story competitions, including the Critical Quarterly and the Birmingham Magazine prize. Many stories feature her nineteenth century clergyman creation, Tobias Campion, whose full-length investigations appear in The Keeper of Secrets and Shadow of the Past. The past also features in the adventures of antiques dealer Lina Townend, whose latest outing is in Guilty Pleasures (Severn House, 2011).

To learn more about Judith Cutler, please visit her website.