Drawing the Line

Lina Townend, the orphaned natural daughter of somebody, somewhere, has been in care all her life. For the first time, at nineteen, she's pretty happy, living with kind-hearted antique dealer Griff, who combines the roles of grandfather and employer. But there is still something missing: she wants to find her real family, despite Griff's fears that she may uncover things she'd rather not know. When Lina comes across a page from a rare sixteenth century book, 'Nature Rerum', which she remembers from early childhood, she snaps up the chance to buy it. She has a vivid memory of being taken as a child to a stately home, where a man she believes must have been her father gave her this book to keep her quiet. If she can locate the book, maybe she can find her father. However, in the weeks that follow, a series of violent burglaries and attacks make Lina realise that what she found might have been more than just a link to her father. Undeterred, she carries on in her dangerous search, but will it lead her to happiness, or bitter disappointment?

Judith Cutler, Birmingham's Queen of Crime, began her working life as a college lecturer. She has written nearly forty novels, with protagonists ranging from the nineteenth-century vicar-detective Tobias Campion to Chief Superintendent Fran Harman. Now Jane Cowan joins their ranks. Judith is married to fellow writer Edward Marston, whom she partners in the speaking duo 'Murder Ancient and Modern'.