I like Susie Dent on Countdown & I enjoyed this book.
Thanks for the opportunity to read & review it.
Good debut novel.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'Guilty by Definition' by Susie Dent.

Now don't get me wrong, I adore Susie Dent on Countdown and her wits but this failed for me. She uses her knowledge of words well but it radiates "I know more than you and you should bow to me" and it rubs me off the wrong way. The actual murder mystery of it all felt underwhelming and it didn't interest me.

Guilty By Definition is set in Oxford and based around a team of lexicographers who work for the Clarendon English Dictionary. The story starts when an anonymous letter arrives, throwing the team into a puzzling hunt to solve the clues. It soon becomes clear that the puzzle is linked to the disappearance of one of the team's sisters who went missing a number of years ago.

I absolutely love Susie Dent and I really wanted this to be amazing but, sadly, I found myself a little disappointed. Firstly, I loved the setting and felt as though I was there; I also loved the fact that it was set in the dictionary offices. The premise was really good and the idea of a puzzle spanning the ages, uncovering the secrets of a missing woman was great. I just felt that it was a little 'wordy' just for the sake of it. I read alot, but still found myself having to stop to look up the meanings of words, which meant that the story lost it's flow.

That said, I'd be interested to see what she writes next and would still read it.

My thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for sending me this ARC in return for an honest review.

Guilty By Definition is the brilliant debut novel by Susie Dent. Lexicographer Dent has spent her life looking at words and encouraging others to have a passion for them. Even though I have read her books about etymology, I have to say that Guilty By Definition is probably my favourite. I know that is like comparing a fish to a lamppost. They are completely different styles of writing but I stand by what I have said.

The parallels between solving a mystery and breaking down a word to see its roots and its meanings dovetail so effortlessly and what Dent does masterfully is use words as signposts at the beginning of the chapters. Such an undervalued literary device.

Besides all of the cool wordy-nerdiness the story is actually bloody good. I fantastic mystery set in the luscious Oxford background. A whodunnit that had me guessing to the very end. I am really looking forward to Susie Dent’s next bookish offering.

Guilty By Definition by Susie Dent is available now.

Martha is a lexicograhber and has returned to the city of Oxford and her old family home. But after a baffling letter arrives, Martha's history is brought to the fore. A series of postcards follows.
There is lots of description of Oxford, beautiful people and fascinating words. Each chapter starts with a new word and it's definition.
I found the book interesting but took a while to get into. I can see it being developed in future.

"We're all obsessed with our own problems and with how people see us that we create simple silhouettes for everyone else."

Martha Thornhill is back in Oxford taking up a new job as an editor for CED- Cambridge English Dictionary. Martha's sister Charlie went missing 10 years ago when mysterious postcards and letters started to turn up at CED Is there a connection to what happened? It is up to Martha and her team of Lexicographers to find out how.

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

Susie Dent is a lady of words- Lexicographer and etymologist. In her debut mystery novel she shines throughout. When something is your passion you add so much more to your work and you see that person within there own art. I was looking forward to learning new words and about the world of a Lexicographer. Saying this I felt it got a little bit too much with the use of long words. It felt like it got in the way and it made it harder to tell the actual story rather than allowing it to breathe and flow through.

Thank you Netgalley and Bonnier Books UK for a copy of the book for an honest review.

It struggles between its more human mystery and the nerdier linguistic passages throughout, but Dent's debut is solidly fine. Hopefully further fictional endeavours will allow for brevity and clarity, but the future appears promising still.

I struggled with this book. I knew what I would probably get, given the author and her amazing vocabulary, and I was looking forward to learning some new words.
But I found that the sheer quantity of unknown words kept taking me out of the story I was trying to read. So much so tat I eventually gave up.
I do now have a copy of it on Audio and, fingers crossed, that might make for a better "reading" experience. It has before so worth a try.
Fingers crossed!

I was really interested to read Susie Dent's debut novel. However, it took a while to get going and I found the language a bit excessive at times. It got in the way of the story at times. I must admit that I did ignore the clues given in each letter as it was a bit extra. The story improved as it progressed and there was a satisfactory conclusion. Definitely room for improvement.

Guilty By Definition is a beautifully written literary page-turner and a real treat for language lovers. The mystery unfolds through a series of cryptic letters delivered to the staff of an Oxford dictionary. Although the letters are addressed to everyone, they’re about editor Martha’s missing sister Charlie – the team are swept up in trying to solve the mystery of her decades-long disappearance.

The Oxford setting is beautifully brought to life, and I was equally charmed by the way language is such a central part of the story, and our characters’ lives. I was drawn into this mystery from the first page and understanding each character was just as intriguing as finding out what happened to Charlie.

Shakespeare, the origin of words and the rare book trade is central to the mystery. It was a fascinating insight into the world of lexicology and etymology. I loved learning more about what working at a dictionary looks like day-to-day – especially after reading lots of Susie’s non-fiction work.

If you’re looking for a beautifully written, character-driven mystery then Guilty By Definition is just the ticket. Atmospheric, absorbing and in many ways delightful to read.

This is what I would call a "cozy thriller" - we follow Martha, who has just returned from working in Berlin, as she goes back to her hometown of Oxford, working for a dictionary publisher with a group of colleagues. They start receiving anonymous letters with clues they need to decipher, and Martha realizes that the letters all relate to her sister Charlie, a gifted literature student, who disappeared ten years prior.

Susie Dent starts each chapter with a little-known, obscure word and its definition, and the characters all discuss words, etymology and first appearances together as they pore over the letters and follow different leads. There's a lot of Oxford descriptions, everyone seems to have a secret, everyone is very stylish and very comfortable, and there's a good-looking, friendly detective.

All in all, I would not call it a very memorable book but in its genre it was pretty good. I could see it becoming a series, similar to the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffith, where the main character also works in academia, and temps as a police consultant, and if that were the case, I probably would pick up the second book in the series.

I really wanted to like this book as I am a fan of Susie Dent however, I just didn’t gel with the characters.
Given Susie’s job the use of language made it feel more like an English Language lesson than a novel to enjoy. At the beginning of each chapter a new word was introduced and the definition given.

I enjoyed the story and the Oxford atmosphere but found the careful use of language got in the way. Although I did learn a lot in an entertaining way. I got to like Martha, Alex and Zoe and would like to meet them again. I hope Martha's relationship with Caldwell develops. A sympathetic approach to a police investigation was a welcome change from many books. #netgalley #guiltybydefinition

I was excited by the premise of this book, especially as Susie Dent is known for her expertise with words but unfortunately I felt like the use of fancy words every single chance the characters get was just too much and felt like Susie was simply showing off how much she knows to fit it into a book.

I enjoyed the overall plot and was intrigued with the disappearance and wanted to find out what happened and I also liked the main characters; Martha, Zoe and Alex but I did find myself skim reading some paragraphs involving word definitions that I just didn't care about at all.

I also liked the inclusion of the letters which were riddles that had to be solved as they helped to make clever steps in the investigation and the majority of the book was very enjoyable. I liked the development and progression of the story with help from the clues and I was excited to reach the end to find out the truth of what really happened.

Overall, I enjoyed the plot and the characters but felt that there was too much showing off from the author involving words that made some parts of the book quite boring.

This was a little slow to start with and I found it hard to get into but as I became involved with the story and the characters it gathered pace and I enjoyed it. Susie Dent's mystery is set in a setting she knows about and her use of language is interesting. They always say write what you know about - and she certainly did.
The clues were interesting and it was possible for the reader to solve some.
Well written and interesting.
Three and a half stars for me.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Susie Dent/Bonnier Books UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

A very complex book with good descriptive background but I thought that the characters lacked depth and found it confusing at times. I am an avid reader but I found that the vocabulary was too obscure and slowed the flow of the novel

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love Susie Dent, but in all honesty I found this book a little slow and muddled in places. Sorry.

This is a very enjoyable mystery with lots of cryptic clues as you would expect from this author. The mystery unfolds when Martha , Alex and Zoe receive clues about, Martha’s sister’s disappearance that happened years ago. . Martha is senior editor at the Clarendon English Dictionary in Oxford and this is where the investigation begins. What follows is a complex mystery where clues need to be solved. The novel is full of obscure words and definitions which I found a fun element . The characters are well drawn and we get to know them individually and the part they play. What was Charlie , Martha’s sister involved in before she goes missing , what happened to her all those years ago. We gradually find out with a satisfying ending . A fun mystery full of intrigue and of course unusual words .

Guilty by definition-Susie Dent

I have always admired Susie Dent. She is obviously a very clever cookie, so to have the opportunity to read her debut novel was exciting. However, not more than a few % of pages in, I was bored and frustrated. Not long after that, I gave up-never something I do easily with any author’s work. A fictional novel about a dictionary, a book about words and their importance and meanings. I may have missed out by not carrying on-my loss, but this was not for me, or reluctantly I assume, Jimmy Carr.

📚 review 📚
guilty by definition - susie dent

i feel like susie dent wrote this with me in mind - chapter headers made up of interesting words, a murder mystery being solved by people who work at a dictionary and cryptic clues that could have come out of a cross word puzzle.

the setting of oxford feels kind of perfect for a novel about people who work at a dictionary and i am a big fan of nerds solving crime.

i think some of the clues and references might be a bit on the subtle side - as a casual shakespeare reader, some was lost in me but this didn’t hamper my enjoyment. i’ll also say that our main character martha is not in any way likable, which i think might hamper some people’s enjoyment. i mean, i kinda related - i too care more about fun words than i do people. (thanks autism), but some of the things she said and did did make me cringe a little. zoe is clearly the best character, though the inclusion of cats with nerdy literature names was also a big tick for me. the cryptic clues and famous locations across oxford to solve the mystery of what happened to charlie was good fun and reminded me of the old episodes of morse i used to watch. the mystery itself was pretty decent though i had an inkling as to the perpetrator by the half way mark and the identity of the letter writer felt a little contrived but over all a good solid murder mystery

ngl i am loving this trend of tv personalities writing murder mysteries.

thank you @netgalley for the early copy
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