Overview

""Will enthrall crime aficionados, puzzle solvers, Anglophiles and logophiles...fiendishly clever and marvelously entertaining debut--the perfect tonic for any philobiblist's mubble-fubbles."" --The Washington Post She knew there'd be ghosts in Oxford, she just didn't think they'd make their way to the dictionary. Oxford, England. After a decade abroad, Martha Thornhill has returned home to the city whose ancient institutions have long defined her family. But the ghosts she had thought to be at rest seem to have been waiting for her to return. When an anonymous letter is delivered to the Clarendon English Dictionary, where Martha is a newly hired senior editor, it's rapidly clear that this is not the usual lexicographical enquiry. Instead, the coded letter hints at secrets and lies linked to a particular year. The date can mean only one thing: the summer Martha's brilliant older sister Charlie went missing. When more letters arrive, Martha and her team pull apart the complex clues within them, and soon, the mystery becomes ever more insistent and troubling. Because it seems Charlie had been keeping a powerful secret, and someone may be trying to lead the lexicographers towards the truth that will unravel the mystery of her disappearance. But other forces are no less desperate to keep their secrets well and truly buried, and Martha and her team must crack the codes before it's too late. From resident lexicographer Susie Dent comes a linguistic mystery that will both delight and shock readers.

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9781464236075

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Reviews

""A particular delight of this book is its chapter headings of archaic and unusual words -- like ipsedixitism, an assertion 'that something is fact just because a single person says so.' This book is terrific."" -- The Minneapolis Star-Tribune ""If ever a book appeared to be designed specifically for me and my colleagues at the [New York Times] Book Review, it would be Dent's Guilty By Definition, set among the logophiles and pedants of the Clarendon English Dictionary....delightful."" -- The New York Times Book Review ""Will enthrall crime aficionados, puzzle solvers, Anglophiles and logophiles...fiendishly clever and marvelously entertaining debut?the perfect tonic for any philobiblist's mubble-fubbles."" -- The Washington Post ""Redolent with Oxford's musty academic atmosphere and deeply respectful of the stewards who keep the English language and all its arcane idiosyncrasies alive, this debut missing-person mystery from renowned lexicographer and British media personality Dent is infused with an intellectual insouciance, delivering tempting challenges for fellow word nerds and creating a trail of tantalizing clues that will intrigue the most devoted fans of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers."" -- Booklist, STARRED review ""Etymologist Dent makes an impressive fiction debut with a clever whodunit that pivots on her linguistic expertise...a tantalizing puzzle for Anglophiles and Golden Age mystery lovers alike."" -- Publishers Weekly ""Linguist Dent proves she is a talented wordsmith in her own right, diverting readers with historical and lexicological tidbits throughout the story...Martha and her team are whip-smart and fun, providing a light juxtaposition to the suspense elements, while the lush and vibrant descriptions of Oxford create a lovely sense of place; readers will be both informed and entertained."" -- Library Journal ""There are pleasures here for anyone who revels in the joy of text."" -- Kirkus Reviews ""What a delicious, genuinely page-turning and brilliantly written literary mystery novel this is. More please!"" -- Laline Paull, Women's Prize-shortlisted author of The Bees ""I read it with a great deal of pleasure. It's very good. It's a classic detective story, in that it has a puzzle and a missing young woman and an engaging detective (or three of them) and a setting that Dorothy L. Sayers would love to have thought of. The main characters are people I'd like to meet in real life; the Oxford types are convincing; the puzzle is well worked-out. And it kept me reading eagerly. I enjoyed it very much."" -- Philip Pullman, New York Times bestselling author of the His Dark Materials trilogy ""If you're like me and love both language and crime, then Guilty by Definition has it all. Susie Dent's impressive debut novel is virtuosic. So meticulously and fascinatingly steeped in the archaic glory of words, it will surely be the ultimate treat for every logophile out there. But this is so much more than a celebration of the dictionary - it's a tantalizing mystery of a missing sister, a cold case that will not lie down, and a family frozen in their unresolved grief... all while their circle of friends and colleagues nurse secrets and lies beyond explication. Guilty by Definition is positively aglitter with etymological and detecting treasures for word-sleuths and crime-fans alike."" -- Janice Hallett, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Appeal

"""I read it with a great deal of pleasure. It's very good. It's a classic detective story, in that it has a puzzle and a missing young woman and an engaging detective (or three of them) and a setting that Dorothy L. Sayers would love to have thought of. The main characters are people I'd like to meet in real life; the Oxford types are convincing; the puzzle is well worked-out. And it kept me reading eagerly. I enjoyed it very much."" -- Philip Pullman, New York Times bestselling author of the His Dark Materials trilogy ""If you're like me and love both language and crime, then Guilty by Definition has it all. Susie Dent's impressive debut novel is virtuosic. So meticulously and fascinatingly steeped in the archaic glory of words, it will surely be the ultimate treat for every logophile out there. But this is so much more than a celebration of the dictionary - it's a tantalizing mystery of a missing sister, a cold case that will not lie down, and a family frozen in their unresolved grief... all while their circle of friends and colleagues nurse secrets and lies beyond explication. Guilty by Definition is positively aglitter with etymological and detecting treasures for word-sleuths and crime-fans alike."" -- Janice Hallett, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Appeal ""Susie Dent is a national treasure."" -- Richard Osman, New York Times bestselling author of The Thursday Murder Club"

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