‘The Mystery of the Silver Dish’ by Judith Cutler

Published by Joffe Books,
8 December 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-80573400-8 (PB)
Previously published as
Silver Guilt, September 2012.

Harriet Lina Townend endured a hard, disrupted childhood. She is the illegitimate daughter of an alcoholic and promiscuous lord, and she never knew the identity of her mother, which meant that she had been brought up in foster care. Her luck changed when she went to live with her last foster mother, a kind woman who loved Lina and taught her how to love and provided her with sound moral standards. When Lina left foster care, her foster mother convinced her to live and work with Griff, an elderly, gay, antique dealer, who cares about Lina as if she was the granddaughter he never had. 

At first Lina was Griff’s apprentice, but now she has progressed into being his junior partner. Lina is still learning about antiques, but she already knows a great deal about porcelain, and she is skilled at repairing it when it is damaged, but her greatest gift is an inherent one, she is able to sense valuable antiques in the way water diviners can discover water. Lina is now in contact with her father, Lord Eltham, who has accepted her as his daughter. Because of lack of money, Lord Eltham has had to sign most of his ancestral mansion over to a Trust and now lives in a rather decrepit wing of the house, existing on his preferred diet of champagne and Pot Noodles. Lina has taken steps to limit her father’s alcohol consumption and improve his diet; she also helps him to supplement his income by using her special talent to discover items of value amongst the old furniture and other items that Lord Eltham had managed to keep and sell them for him; however, in fairness to Griff and herself, she charges her father commission. 

Lina is only just beginning to learn about antique silver, but her special gift leads her to the discovery of a silver dish in one of Lord Eltham’s rooms. It is dirty and discoloured, but Lina knows it is valuable, even though she does not know its provenance or exactly what it is. This silver dish brings Lina into contact with Nella, a high-end antiques dealer, and the sister of Griff’s lover, Aidan. Lina does not get on very well with Aidan, although she tries to conceal this rather than hurt Griff; she is even less comfortable with Nella, who is very aware of her status as Lady Petronella Cordingly, and behaves in a cold and condescending manner to Lina. Unfortunately, Lina is destined to spend a lot more time with Nella, who asks to ‘borrow’ Lina to assist at a prestigious antiques fair. Griff encourages Lina to accept this invitation, because it will be good experience for her. Attending this event leads Lina into a very unpleasant situation, which could seriously damage her professional reputation. Unsurprisingly, Nella is willing to throw Lina to the wolves, but two police officers from the Metropolitan Police Fine Art Unit come to investigate and they help Lina to establish her innocence. 

Another person who attempts to come to Lina’s aid is a young man called Piers, who is just starting out in the lower end of the antiques business. Lina and Piers begin a relationship, although it has to be long-distance as they do not live near to each other, and often only meet at antiques fairs. She also sees quite a lot of Detective Sergeant Morris, who makes it clear that he likes and admires her. Morris hopes to use her quick wits and expertise in antiques to help him solve several thefts of valuable antiques. Lina is willing to do this, especially as she realises that some of the thefts are striking too close to home and involve the house that Lord Eltham has handed over to the Trust, and even the theft of Lord Eltham’s personal property. 

Lina has good reason to help Morris investigate the thefts, but, to her horror. she realises that the closer she gets to thwarting the thieves’ plans, the greater the danger to herself and those she loves.

The Mystery of the Silver Dish is the second book featuring Lina Townend. It is an engaging mystery, with an interesting background in the antiques industry, and a lively cast of eccentric characters. Lina is a delightful protagonist, young, warm-hearted, and eager to learn, with a remarkable moral sense, despite her turbulent early life. This is a enjoyable cosy crime read, which I recommend.
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Reviewer:  Carol Westron

Judith Cutler was born in the Black Country, just outside Birmingham, later moving to the Birmingham suburb of Harborne. Judith started writing while she was at the then Oldbury Grammar School, winning the Critical Quarterly Short Story prize with the second story she wrote. She subsequently read English at university. It was an attack of chickenpox caught from her son that kick-started her writing career. One way of dealing with the itch was to hold a pencil in one hand, a block of paper in the other - and so she wrote her first novel. This eventually appeared in a much-revised version as Coming Alive, published by Severn House. Judith has seven series. The first two featured amateur sleuth Sophie Rivers (10 books) and Detective Sergeant Kate Power (6 Books). Then came Josie Wells, a middle-aged woman with a quick tongue, and a love of good food, there are two books, The Food Detective and The Chinese Takeout. The Lina Townsend books are set in the world of antiques and there are seven books in this series. There are three books featuring Tobias Campion set in the Regency period, and her series featuring Chief Superintendent Fran Harman (6 books), and Jodie Welsh, Rector’s wife and amateur sleuth. Her more recently a series feature a head teacher Jane Cowan (3 books). Judith has also written three standalone’s Staging Death, Scar Tissue, and Death In Elysium. Her new series is set in Victorian times featuring Matthew Rowsley. Death’s Long Shadow is the third book in this series.  

http://www.judithcutler.com  

Carol Westron is a Golden Age expert who has written many articles on the subject and given papers at several conferences. She is the author of several series: contemporary detective stories and police procedurals, comedy crime and Victorian Murder Mysteries. Her most recent publications are Paddling in the Dead Sea and Delivering Lazarus, books 2 and 3 of the Galmouth Mysteries, the series which began with The Fragility of Poppies. 

www.carolwestron.com