Martha Thornhill has returned to her family home in Oxford after working in Berlin. Martha and her family have never come to terms with the disappearance of her sister, Charlie, over a decade ago. When cryptic letters begin to arrive, Martha and her colleagues believe they are clues to Charlie's disappearance.

Initially, I was drawn to Guilty By Definition by Susie Dent thinking it would fit easily into the genre of cozy crime. Having finished the book I've decided there's nothing "cozy" about it, this is an absorbing and expertly plotted mystery. I was a little unsure as I started the book, there are lots of literary references and cryptic clues. Cryptic crosswords baffle me, thankfully the solutions to the clues are clearly explained throughout the story. I wasn't far into the book before I realised I was completely gripped.

Martha has returned to her home city of Oxford to work as senior editor at the Clarendon English Dictionary (CED), working alongside three other editors, Simon, Alex and Zoe. Both Simon and Alex are aware of what happened to Martha's sister back in 2010 as she had a part-time job at the CED. When a mysterious letter arrives addressed to The Editors the team quickly realise it's about Martha's sister and sets about solving the clues.

The team work well together, they all have different specialties that complement each other. At times, the team needs to consult other people, either because they are directed by the letters, or because they knew Charlie. The widening of the pool of people involved keeps the reader guessing, particularly as no one knows what happened to Charlie, she simply disappeared and hasn't been heard from since. It also means that a wide variety of locations around Oxford are visited. Oxford is described beautifully, seeming to be from a different universe, and enticing anyone who reads the depiction of the city to want to visit immediately.

As a child Martha adored her older sister, Charlie was beautiful and highly intelligent, everyone loved her. Over time we realise that as Martha got older she began to resent her sister, fed up with always being in the wings. Working alongside Simon and Alex she learns that not everyone was completely smitten by Charlie as she looked down on people she considered to be intellectually below her. As the quest for answers continues Martha also discovers that her sister could be devious.

When all of the clues are solved and the whereabouts of Charlie are uncovered, the author still has a few final twists in store for the reader.

Martha has lived abroad for a number of years following the disappearance of her older sister. She returns to Oxford and works with colleagues in the origins and definition of words. They then start to receive post cards and letters about the disappearance.
It took me a short time to get used to the writing style and I had to use my brain on the word definitions at the start of the chapters. This certainly did not distract from my enjoyment. In fact it added to it and it is a book I would read again.

Sorry just couldn‘t get into this at all. It is so peppered with words that only a lexicographer would use in a novel (not just the chapter titles) but I often found the language a bit draining. The story also didn‘t draw me in or excite me. The letters from chorus were complicated. I didn‘t feel like I got to know any of the characters particularly well.

I don't think I've been so excited about a book more than this one, right here, right now! I have two of her non-fiction books - Interesting Stories About Curious Words, and An Emotional Dictionary - and was overjoyed to see she'd written a novel.

Even if you didn't know who Susie Dent was or what she did for a job, you would instantly be aware that she has a passion for words and the history of words, the sanctity of words, and their future. This book is so rich, the calibre of language used.

I'm always a bit wary about celebrity novels. There have been some I have absolutely loved and it's clear writing is in their blood (Graham Norton for example), and others (who I won't name) who have clearly traded on their name with lacklustre stories. So when a new celebrity brings out a novel, there is a worry about which category it will fall in. But Susie doesn't have to worry about that. We already know that words are in her blood, but to be able to use them to create such a well crafted novel, that was a really lovely surprise.

On an immature note, she uses the word "skulduggery" quite early on, and for some reason that word always makes me giggle, and I feel we need to use it more in everyday conversation.

It's got a bit of everything, there's glamour and intrigue, mystery and thrill; there's a definite Agatha Christie/Morse aspect about it which I loved. It had this nostalgic feeling about traditional whodunnits. And setting it in Oxford really helps ramp that up.

It is very clever, highly intellectual, fascinating, thrilling, and absorbing. It is very involved. There's love affairs, thievery, missing people, illness, jealousy, riddles, Shakespeare - it's all there, and at times potentially feels a little bit too much but overall I think she's found a good balance.

There are quite a lot of characters so I won't go into them into detail, but I liked them all. They're not all really nice characters, non are perfect, each have their histories and secrets. But whether they're "goodies" or "baddies", they have al been developed marvellously and they feel very real.

Not to sound a bit dim, considering I have qualifications in English and am a copywriter by trade, but there were definitely words that I didn't understand and had to look up. And that would annoy me generally, but in context it worked. Because it's a book about the use of words. And it meant I could do some googling and I ended up getting lost in a dictionary, which I quite enjoyed.

Susie has really given us a sense of space, particularly Oxford. I love Oxford; I've only been a few times but I really like it there, and I think she's depicted it perfectly, from the mundane everyday to the historical aspects.

I did have my suspicions as to what had happened, when, where, and by whom, and I was right on one account, but didn't see the other coming, so very well done.

There were a few bits I felt were explored for a bit too long and some I wish were explored a little bit more so on occasion there's a few pacing issues, for me.

After all of that, I say it's a very promising debut novel. It's well written, exciting, suspenseful, detailed, with marvellously created settings and characters. And yes, I'm sure having Susie Dent's name on the front will make people buy it, but it'll be her talent and passion for words that will make people read it.

Absolutely brilliant! I found the words and explanations at the beginning of the chapters fascinating. An excellent storyline and totally different- in a good way.

A really fascinating read, I was engaged from the first chapter. I’d often wondered how it was decided if and when a new word was added to a dictionary and now I know. I loved the authors writing style, so easy to read, entertaining and I enjoyed the definitions interspersed along the way.

The staff at CED were a nice mix, I loved Zoe, younger than the others, but so enthusiastic about her life and her work. Alex, who came across as more staid, a divorcee with a sense of style. Simon, a father of two young girls with an interesting choice of shirts. And Martha, recently returned from working in Germany, who is hoping her missing sister Charlotte is still alive, while sharing a tense relationship with her father.

Charlotte appears to be the golden girl, beautiful clever and popular, but as the story goes on, you realise everything about her wasnt perfect, people begin to admit that she wasn’t quite as flawless as she’d been portrayed.

The story is intriguing, especially after Chorus starts sending cryptic postcards. I loved the clues we were getting, even if I couldn’t decipher them, the way the team worked them out was fascinating.
An original and refreshing read. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Very original and interesting debut novel. Will certainly appeal to lovers of languages, words, books and the many references to Shakespeare’s works. The many literary facts enhance this well written and intelligent mystery. I can see this book doing extremely well on publication. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the advance review copy.

Well this was different! And in a good way!
I loved the group of lexicographers who try to solve the puzzles sent in on postcards to their office. It all revolves around the main character’s sister who went missing some ten years earlier.
This couldn’t be described as a cosy mystery but for me it has a similar feel to it as Richard Osman’s ‘Thursday Murder Club’. You grow to care about the characters and enjoy their increasing camaraderie. It also has similarities with Dan Brown’s ‘The Da Vinci Code’. In much the same way as these I could see it lending itself to being made into a film.
There are also asides, as per the setting of the book, where we learn about words, including their meaning and derivation - as you would expect from Suzie Dent!
Really enjoyable read. I hope there is a follow up

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC

Took me a few chapters to get into this but I'm glad I stuck with it. It took me a while to get through it and it was quite wordy (not surprising given the author!) but I also thought it was quite unique. I thought all of the characters were well rounded too.

Very enjoyable debut mystery from Susie Dent, Queen of wordsmiths! Martha’s sister Charlie went missing 13 years ago. Now, someone is sending Martha mysterious coded letters hinting that someone knows the truth. I loved the Shakespeare references and the Oxford setting. Great characters.

Guilty by Definition rises above other celebrity mysteries by being excellent.

This story is well-plotted and well-devised, delightfully intermingled with snippets about the Clarendon Dictionary and the little foibles of the English language, and has a great storyline. It also offers a lovely conjuring of Oxford and the surrounding location—as well as some special Oxford-specific events.

Our four main characters are well-developed, and all have their secrets as they endeavour to solve the perplexing riddles and, in doing so, answer the questions surrounding Martha's sister's disappearance.

It is a complex mystery that is sure to appeal to fans of the genre and the English language.

This was a fantastic mystery, and I really enjoyed it - I highly recommend it to any lovers of mysteries and of words.

The clues were fantastically crafted, and I thought Susie Dent achieved a perfect balance with them - making them challenging but *just about* solvable with the right background knowledge (especially if you are a cryptic crossword fan like me!). The pacing of the story was also excellent, I felt carried through the story really smoothly and never wanted to put it down.

The characters weren't all given a huge amount of development, but I honestly didn't mind that; they got enough of a backstory and POV focus to let me connect with them individually, at least, without pulling from the main plot of solving the mystery unveiling via extremely cryptic letters.

It's no surprise that the book was also filled with a large number of enchantingly under-appreciated words (and explanations of their meaning or etymology), given the author's own vast experience as a lexicographer! I personally feel that they fit very nicely into the story, given the MCs are all lexicographers themselves, and I really loved learning so much about words I never knew and/or thought about before.

The mystery itself wasn't quite there for me; it was a little improbable (verging on, though never reaching, implausible) in places - but the vast majority of it held water, I still loved the journey through red herrings and possible solutions, and the eventual outcome did make sense to me.

I'm very glad to have read this book, and am keen to see if Susie Dent continues writing in future as I'd love to read more of her work. Huge thanks to NetGalley and Zaffre publisher for sending me an ARC, it was wonderful!

**I will now give a couple of minor Content Warnings, so be warned, here there be spoilers**:

Content Warnings:
- Bereavement (loss of parent, potentially also triggering for loss of a sibling)
- Cancer (mentioned in context of a parent having died from it, not described in detail)

This is the debut by lexicographer and Dictionary Corner stalwart Susie Dent and as you would expect it is full of word definitions, and the origins of phrases, such as graveyard shift and dead ringer. So from that perspective it’s a fascinating read as I knew it would be. However, it is more than that, it’s a complex and clever mystery with more than its fair share of history. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would absolutely recommend it

Thank you to NetGalley, Bonnier Books UK and Zaffre for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Guilty by Definition releases August 15th 2024.

"language defines us and is the framework of our thought: an endless, shifting, complex dance through time and human nature"

Susie Dent conveys the world of lexicographers in Oxford, with the stark contrast of the repressing secrets that are uncovered by Martha and her co-workers at the CED. The world-building is beautiful, and this fast-paced murder mystery definitely keeps you on your toes with its Shakespeare references and wide variety of words.

"Aspectabund, she thought: wearing your emotions on your face."

I will admit that at times it was difficult to follow the plotline. The abundance of references was a little challenging to grasp, and slightly reduced the fun of deciphering the clues alongside the characters. Nevertheless, it was a quick and enjoyable read, good for fans of the English language.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity of reading an advanced reading copy of this novel. I was excited to be given the opportunity to read this debut novel by Susie Dent. After a slow start, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I liked the writing style, vocabulary, humour and well developed characters. The Shakespeare quotes and word definitions I could not make head nor tail but enjoyed the book.

Martha Thornhill a lexicographer, is the new senior editor at the Clarendon English Dictionary in Oxford (CED). She has returned from working in Germany to take this post. Martha and her team, Alex, Simon and Zoe, are sent strange and puzzling letters, which Martha is convinced is connected to her brilliant, older sister, Charlie (Charlotte), who went missing in 2010. I liked the idea of letters/puzzles and I found myself joining the team to solve the puzzle. The writing style was excellent, full of humour, questions and theories. I was entertained by the enthusiasm of Martha’s team as they attempted to solve the riddles, trying/failing/and trying again as the team bonded over the letters and clues.

I enjoyed the character development throughout the book. Zoe was my favourite character and the youngest team member, independent, fiesty and super smart! Martha’s character left me not liking her very much! Alex was my next favourite, a longtime employee of the CED with lots of experience to bring to Martha’s team. Simon, also an experienced member of the team who had hoped that he may have been offered Martha’s job.

This book is about puzzles, friendship, love, bereavement, jealousy.
I hope there is another book on the way

Martha Thornhill has returned to her native Oxford to take up the post of Senior Editor at the Clarendon English Dictionary.

She is concerned when she receives a postcard from the mysterious "Chorus" which gives clues about the disappearance of her sister Charlie in 2010.

Her colleagues have also received postcards and they decide to investigate the postcards and the people who may have had a hand in Charlie's disappearance

An interesting book from Susie Dent,if a little farfetched in places.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Zaffre Publishing for the chance to read and review this book

Free courtesy of Netgalley

This is an amazing first novel by Susie Dent, it is very well written and the characters are very believable. The story has lots of twists and turns that keep you guessing right to the end.

Martha has returned home from Berlin to take a job at the Cambridge English Dictionary office in Oxford as a lexicographer supervisor, she is working with 3 other people in her office, Alex, Zoe and lastly Simon, who was passed over for the supervisor position. Martha's sister had gone missing a decade earlier, whilst she was working at the CED and nobody knew what happened.

One day a letter arrived at the office, which hints about the disappearance of Charlie, which sets off the 4 colleagues to try and find out what happened to her.

The mystery is set up really well and you can work alongside Martha and the other to try and solve the puzzle, can you work it out quicker than them ? It sort of reminded me of the finderouter mysteries by Enid Blyton, I enjoyed as a child but with more sophisticated language.

So why a 4* and not a 5* - we all know that Susie Dent is brilliant with words, but not everyone is at her level, so even though at the beginning of each chapter there were words I hadn't heard of with their explanations, there were so many "big words" throughout the book that I didn't know, I started by looking them up, and found you could use easier words and eventually I just skipped over them, as it was ruining the flow of the story. I feel like there was a bit of showing off, which could ruin the book for many people.

I still would strongly recommend this book as it is absolutely amazing, but be mindful that it is wordy in places.

'Guilty by Definition' by Susie Dent.
5 out of 5 stars.

When an anonymous letter is delivered to the Clarendon English Dictionary, it puzzles the team of lexicographers working there. It soon becomes clear that this is not the usual eccentric enquiry. The letter hints at secrets, lies, and a particular year. For Martha Thornhill, the new Senior Editor, the date can mean only one thing: the summer her brilliant, beautiful older sister Charlie went missing.
After a decade spent living abroad, Martha has returned to her father, her home, and the city whose institutions have defined her family. But the ghosts she had thought to be at rest seem to have been waiting for her to return.
When more letters arrive and the team pull apart the clues within them, the questions become more insistent and troubling. Charlie had been keeping a powerful secret, but as the mystery of her disappearance starts to unravel, someone is trying to lead the lexicographers to the truth, while another is desperate to keep it buried.

I didn't know what to expect with this book but I'm so glad that I was able to read it. I loved it. It's a treasure hunt with murders included. I had an idea quite early on who I thought it was gonna be but I was completely wrong.
I hope the author writes more in this genre especially if they include the CED.
If you are a fan of murder, treasure hunts and puzzles then give this book a read, you won't be disappointed. Thanks to NetGallery UK, the publishers and the author for letting me read this in return for an honest review.

This is brilliant from Susie Dent! I feel my review should have some clever words in it but I will settle for saying that as debut novels go this one is top notch.

Absolutely hooked on this stylish mystery. I did see some of the beats coming but I loved the setting and the way the story was told so much that it didn't matter. There are a few dark academia vibes - mostly to do with setting - and overall it wraps up in a very satisfying way.