I requested Guilty by Definition with some trepidation: with every new murder mystery written by a figure from TV and radio, the heart hopes for another Richard Osman while the head knows that I'm more likely to get another Rob Rinder (no offence to Rob, who seems like a lovely bloke, but The Trial was not for me).

As an etymology nerd, the premise of Guilty by Definition - mysterious letters containing riddles arrive at the offices of the Clarendon English Dictionary in Oxford, which the staff realise are linked to the disappearance years earlier of staff member Charlie, who was coincidentally the sister of new editor Martha - certainly appealed to me. And I am extremely pleased to say that, while I don't think anything can quite come up to the bar that Osman has set, this book is the closest thing I've found in a while.

The core characters of the CED staff were well delineated and I enjoyed spending time with them, and the twists unexpected and interesting. I very much hope that Guilty by Definition is the first in the series as I would love to read more about Martha, Alex and Zoe.

Who best but Susie Dent to write a novel about words. A mystery that takes place in a dictionary publishing house filled with lexicographers who are the devout preservers of the artifacts of language. Guilty by Definition is a word lover's dream.

With Dent’s superb use of language her first mystery novel is sharply dressed up in stylish clothes. There’s something about Guilty by Definition that reminds me of Agatha Christie. It’s an intelligent mystery and Dent well captures the nuances of each character's individual voice.

Cryptic messages. Obscure clues. A sister missing for 10 years. Oxford. Shakespeare. Puzzles. Riddles. Rare books. What’s not to enjoy? I loved this book and for me it’s definitely a 5 star read.

Thank you to Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I know the author is a lexicographer, and is about a lexicographer, but there are too many trips to dictionary corner for me in this book. There seems to be a word on every other page that is dropped in, with definition, but without any real context.
The story is cosy crime typical but still manages to ramble.
I was looking forward to reading this but was left a little underwhelmed

A really enjoyable read, full of glorious words and definitions - it’s a logophiles dream! The central plot is fantastic and really kept me hooked, the mystery element is well written and I loved the sense of place - Susie obviously knows and loves Oxford and it shows in the writing.

A book by Susie Dent is bound to have one central focus - words. It's her USP and fans would be disappointed if no archaic or esoteric vocabulary were included. In 'Guilty by Definition' Dent doesn't disappoint. The novel is set in the offices of Clarendon English Dictionary, each chapter is marked by a word and its definition, throughout the text the main characters (all of whom work for the dictionary) use words that aren't commonly used with definitions provided, and clues to what happened to a missing girl are couched as cryptic crossword clues.

The story focuses on events that occurred in 2010, when Charlotte Thornhill, a promising PHD student went missing. Having been in Berlin since then, her sister Martha Thornhill returns to Oxford many years later to take on the role of editor at the dictionary. However, soon after her return letters and postcards start to arrive from 'Chorus' alluding to the missing girl and encouraging Martha and her team (Alex, Zoe and Simon) to find answers. However, delving into the past stirs things up and places all of them at risk.

Initially I didn't enjoy Dent's writing. It felt overwritten, assumptions were made about readers knowledge, and the inclusion of odd words in the text along with their definition felt one gimmick too far and took me out of the story. However, as I read on I did become swept up in the plot and I genuinely cared about what had happened to Charlotte Thornhill, and who Chorus was. Having read to the end I would now recommend this novel. There are also some unusual words that remain with me, and I now have a better understanding of the complexities of providing definitions for words, when their meanings constantly change from use.

I was looking forward to reading this book as I had seen good reviews. I however found it very difficult to get into and could finish it. At times I found the flow of the story a little broken

A delight of a book for anyone who has an interest in words or lexicology, and with a mystery to solve to boot 😊 this book makes you smile as you read. I loved the Oxford setting, makes me want to return there.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Bonnier Books UK and Susie Dent for my ARC of 'Guilty By Definition' in return for an honest review.

As a fan of Susie Dent I could not resist her first novel and was not disappointed. what a delight to read. any fan of words, lexicography, dictionary making and development, as well as Shakespeare will be in heaven.

Set in Oxford a woman disappeared ten years ago and letters begin to arrive which contain cryptic clues about it. These clues are sent to her sister and the team at the offices of the Clarendon English Dictionary.

Cleverly plotted with the twists and character development made this a thoroughly enjoyable novel.

Highly recommended

Thank you Zaffre and NetGalley for my pre-publication digital copy. All opinions are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, I was attracted to it by genre and because the author is Susie Dent, who I’ve watched and admired on Countdown for decades. Set in Oxford, the story surrounds a mystery disappearance of a young woman over ten years previously, and cryptic clues being sent to her sister Martha and team at the Clarendon English Dictionary. I liked the subtle threads to the whodunnit - the sibling relationship that was close but with Martha being in Charlie’s bright shadow, made even worse when Charlie disappeared. The impact on their parents and thus on their relationships with Martha, particularly her father. There’s also the expected thread of unusual words, most of which I know I will forget but enjoyed them all the same. Then the actual mystery solving, I agree with other reviewers that solving the clues was absolutely and completely over my head, even when the answers were revealed, but I’ve never understood cryptic clues at any level! I’m also encouraged to return to Oxford, a city I like visiting anyway, to find some of the locations mentioned.

I liked the way the characters were developed, my favourite was probably Zoe, with her enthusiasm and industriousness. I loved the way the story developed too and what I learned from it in terms of lexicography, dictionary making and development, and the language of Shakespeare. I also enjoyed trying to work the mystery out myself, and the gentle plot twists along the way. This will be one of my favourite 2024 reads, I recommend to anyone who loves words and mysteries.

Having seen Susie Dent on the telly I was keen to read this. Would it be another celeb novel? No! This was really fun and I would highly recommend it. When you read it, you can't help but smile as its very clever, full of word puns and new words and word puzzles.
Love it!

Susie Dent is a national icon/gem when it comes to the World of Words and it is no wonder she has written an intriguing mystery novel that is focussed around a group of lexicographers working for the CED - the Cambridge English Dictionary

Martha Thornhill has returned to Oxford having spent a number of years working in Germany- she has a new position as editor of the CED. But when a mysterious letter arrives at the office, the team soon recognise that there is a puzzle to solve and it is directly linked to the disappearance of Martha's sister Charlie who vanished 13 years before when Martha was finishing her A levels.

This fascinating story leads us through a journey of Oxford past and present, the machinations of lexical enquiry and the darker secrets of Charlie's life. As more letters arrive it becomes more obvious that the author is leading them towards a discovery they could never expect.

Susie Dent's etymological knowledge is prevalent throughout and as reader you find yourself as much on a linguistic journey within the novel as trying to work out where the mystery is leading and what happened to Charlie. Up until the denouement, it was not always easy to feel sympathetic towards the character of Charlie but the conclusion happily resolved the many twists and turns.

( New words include: taphophile/ suspired/ apricity/mubble-fubbles/confabulating /sadmin)

There is something of an 'old-fashioned' charm about the book- this is not a negative in any way but although there is police involvement, this is about a group of friends/colleagues trying to solve a puzzle through written clues all with literary links in a somewhat gentle and cerebral way.

A really enjoyable read leaving me with a broader vocabulary too ( and how many contemporary books can you say that about !)

Favourite quotes/sentences:
We're all obsessed with our own problems and with how people see us that we create simple silhouettes for everyone else.

Language defines us and is the framework of our thought: an endless, shifting, complex dance through timed human nature. It is about patterns of life and the need to communicate them; it is about dying, renewal, and everything in between, about chaos and the order we make from chaos, the blood and bones of every history. Above all, it is about the slow insistent pull into the secret lives of the ordinary.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bonnier Books UK for this ARC.

If you know Susie Dent you know she's that person in Dictionary Corner on Countdown, and she also posts obscure Words of the Day on Twitter that always have something to do with the news of the day. For example, the day after the UK election she posted: "Word of the day is ‘absquatulize’ (19th century): to dismiss, send off, and put to flight."

She is clever and she loves words - exactly like the characters in her debut novel.

"Lexicographers sought out the thrill of the chase as much as detectives did."

Martha ist a lexicographer working for the Clarendon English Dictionary in Oxford, recently returned from Berlin. One day a cryptic letter lands on her desk, that alludes the sender knows what happened to her sister Charlie who disappeared ten years ago without a trace. Together with her team, Zoe, Simon and Alex, helped by police officer Oliver Caldwell, she sets upon uncovering the linguistic clues.

I love Susie Dent but I felt I was getting lectured on the history of words and expressions, and the cryptic letters from 'Chorus' and their swift solutions by the CED team went straight over my head and left me discombobulated. It felt like Ms Dent wanted to dump all her lexicographer knowledge on us, whether it had to do with the story or not, thereby getting us sidetracked. I found it very distracting to be constantly told the etymology of a word that had nothing to do with anything, just because the author found it interesting (although I enjoyed the word 'conjobble'). Funnily enough, I knew the 'steal my thunder' origin story already.

So yes, it's a cleverly written linguistic mystery with a few twists at the end, and when not in word explaining mode, the story is actually quite interesting, but I'm afraid I'm not the target audience for this. That would be lexicographers and English literature professors who would flip out over the discovery of a certain 'commonplace book' the novel goes on about.

Can I also say, I can't stand dark covers. I try to avoid them as much as I can. This one was bright blue when I requested the book. Now it's a horrible black and I had to put that cover on my StoryGraph account. Thanks for that.

An anonymous letter full of cryptic clues arrives at the Oxford offices of the Clarendon English Dictionary. The letter suggests that secrets are being kept about the disappearance of Martha’s, the senior editor, sister. Martha brings her colleagues Simon, Zoe and Alex into solving the word clues and chasing up old contacts who knew her brilliant older sister Charlie in the hope that the ten year old mystery surrounding the disappearance will finally be solved.

A journey through the English language and the craft of dictionary making accompanies the twisty plot as Martha seeks to out aside her own emotions regarding her sister while working out who she can actually trust.

If you love language and love a lengthy whodunnit, this is the book for you! Beautifully written and with plenty of twisty bits. Exactly what I expected from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was a fascinating insight into the world of lexicography whilst weaving a good mystery around it. The Oxford setting was particularly fitting and the characters brought the story to life.

An absolute gem! This was a delight to read and Susie Dent's own love of words really shines through. It's a refreshing murder mystery that isn't all just figured out in one page at the end. I really enjoyed it!

I had really high hopes when starting on this book but sadly it didnt live up to expectations. Unsurprisingly, considering who the author is, the story is set in a dictionary office and relies heavily on words and their meaning. At times the flow of the story is broken as the author sidetracks into explaining the history of a word, and rather too many obscure words find their way into the text too. The clues the team receive which are supposed to help them discover what happened when a girl went missing years ago are very heavy and literary, yet they solve them so easily, leaving me as am ordinary reader utterly baffled. A plodding storyline, saved in part by the speeding up of red herrings and revelations in the final few chapters. Sadly, a below average whodunit which tries too hard to be clever.

Loved this book and if you, like me, are a fan of Countdown, words, and Susie Dent then you will definitely love this book too.

As well as a brilliant mystery, you'll also learn a lot more about words that you didn't know before

I did enjoy this book, the setting in Oxford was lovely, the characters were interesting and I love a mystery especially one involving cryptic clues and letters. I felt like the clues left for the staff seemed to be getting solved a bit too easily/quickly but I also wouldn't have wanted it to be dragged out between three pages so I enjoyed it nonetheless. The story was very unique and interesting and I was gripped throughout.

A truly excellent book, a mystery but with the added extras of wonderful language, mind-boggling puzzles and in-depth characterisation. This isn't a book where language and obscure definitions are the sole focus, they're the icing on the cake of a challenging whodunit with an excellent cast of characters who really come to life on the page. I found it a slow start as I needed to adjust to the many unfamiliar words and their explanations but then I found that this added to my enjoyment, I just wish that my memory was better and that I could actually use these wonderful words myself in daily conversation. How impressive that would be! A fabulous read and highly recommended.