I thought this book was very unique and had so many great references for literature lovers. The characters where likeable because they were very human. It goes without saying that this book is incredibly clever with lots of mysteries and clues to work out. I would say that sometimes I think the puzzles were beyond me and I didn’t always follow the solutions. However, this did not ruin my enjoyment of the story at all as you can still follow the plot easily enough.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in return for an impartial review. This is the debut novel from Countdown’s Dictionary corner’s Susie Dent. She is well known for her daily tweets posting definitions of lesser known words and there is a lot of that here, particularly in the first half of the novel. As the story develops, thankfully there is less because while it was charming at first it quickly became wearing.

There will be inevitable comparisons with Richard Osman but I think this is more of a standalone book than the start of a series. I enjoyed it, I enjoyed the clues and working out the mystery with the characters and I felt their characters developed just enough to keep it interesting. Overall if you like Richard O, I think you will like this and I would recommend it.

Rating: 1.4/5

Susie Dent's name on the cover of this book should ensure that a significant number of people buy it. Sadly, I think that many of them will end up being bitterly disappointed. As someone who studied linguistics at university and who loves reading fictional mysteries, "Guilty by Definition" should have been right up my street, but, instead, I found it quite tedious. Given the author's role in "Dictionary Corner" on Channel 4's "Countdown", it was to be expected that Susie Dent would take the opportunity to show off her knowledge in this area, but it is painfully overdone. Her obsession with lexical peacockery gets in the way of telling the actual story. It is all well and good for an author to be able to display an impressive grasp of the language, but the one characteristic that the very best writers of fiction possess, that distinguishes them from the also-rans, is the gift of storytelling - and that is woefully lacking here.

As ever, I would still like to convey my thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review. It is a pity I was not in a position to pass more favourable comment on this occasion.

Thanks to Bonnier Books for a review copy.
I had high hopes for a mystery novel from Susie Dent and I was certainly not disappointed. This is an extremely enjoyable and well written debut in which a team of lexicographers Martha, Alex, Zoe and Simon receive letters from a mysterious sender only identifying themselves as ‘Chorus’. Solving erudite and complex clues within these letters sends the group on a hunt to find out what really happened to Charlie, Martha’s sister, who disappeared several years earlier.
Each chapter is titled by an obscure word and its definition from the dictionary which is unusual but works perfectly in the context of the story - the lead characters are lexicographers after all. The dialogue and thoughts of the characters are also peppered with entertaining and unusual words, some of which are well worth learning to use in conversation.
Although the basic idea of having people led on a merry chase by an unknown and whimsically named antagonist is hardly new, Susie Dent makes it feel much more grounded in the real world than many other examples of the genre. She also makes the characters feel much more nuanced and believable than some other authors are inclined to use in this type of novel. I could easily envisage meeting any of the inhabitants of this story around Oxford.
The city itself also feels like a major character in the book with all the action taking place in real locations (including a brief foray made out into the Cotswolds). Having studied in the city myself I could picture each and every lane, tavern, the Covered Market and Port Meadow with the descriptions in the pages bring them to life perfectly. I was also somewhat shocked to learn the old name for a lane that I used to walk down every day! The novel could really not be set anywhere else and work as well; it is an Oxford novel through and through, though it will be enjoyed by any who like a solid and well-constructed mystery whether or not they know the city.
The story is totally contemporary with the Coronation of King Charles III being watched by the characters in the book. Although the action would have worked at any point over the last couple of decades, placing it so precisely does anchor it in the post Covid era and somehow makes it feel more relevant.
The solution, when it comes, is elegant and completely satisfying, all the threads are tied up and no questions remain. The identity of ‘Chorus’ came as a complete surprise though the clues were there.
Although no sequel is necessary to complete this tale I would love to see these characters come back out from the depths of their work defining and re-defining the language to solve another mystery. I would recommend this story to anyone who enjoys a puzzle and a well written book and I am very much looking forward to hearing the audiobook version which I have already ordered.

Guilty by Definition is a fabulous novel by Susie Dent. If you love understanding the etymology of words combined with a great mystery, then you will love this.

The story focuses on Martha who has recently moved to Oxford to work for the CED whose role is to update words and their meanings. Martha's sister Charlie disappeared some years ago with mystery surrounding it.

Martha and her team receive a letter which hints at solving the mystery and the whole team get caught up in trying to solve both the cryptic letters and the mystery itself.

I loved both the story and the clever way it intertwined with giving the meanings behind both commonplace and more unusual words.

I found this one quite difficult to get into. It was quite an interesting story and I learnt some new vocabulary!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Having watched the author in Dictionary Corner of Countdown for many years I was interested to get to read this book. For someone who has very little knowledge of Shakespeare, associates Oxford with Inspector Morse, does not really like cosy crime or slow paced reads, cannot do cryptic puzzles, and knew nothing about the world of lexicographers, I actually enjoyed reading this book.
It is said that a crime book can be considered a puzzle, for the reader and the author, this book is a puzzle within a puzzle. For me, I loved the way that the author made the location into a character with great descriptions including smells, noises and views, and it was interesting to learn new words and learn quite a bit about history too, and how words develop and change over time.
I did feel that the characters could have been filled out with more detail as some felt a bit one-dimensional, and at times you were unaware of who was talking within the dialogue. Having said that this must have taken a lot of planning and research to write the book.
I think this will be a bot if a Marmite moment for most, in that you will love it or will put it back on the shelf. I do hope we get to read more from this author in the future.
Many thanks to Bonner Books, NetGalley, and the author for providing me with an electronic advanced copy of the book in return for an hones and unbiased review.
The book will be published on 15th August and will be available in e-book, audiobook and hardback formats

I felt very torn with this book. I feel that the author was trying to build on the success of her earlier etymology books, whilst trying a new genre, but in so doing created a Frankensteins monster that doesn’t really work. Each chapter starts with a word and its meaning, which worked really well, but throughout the book there’s much more of that peppered in, which sadly detracts from the mystery and can make things rather disjointed and confusing. As to the mystery itself, the pacing was a bit difficult, and there didn’t seem to be much flow, to the point I really had to push myself to keep reading. I really wanted this books to be a success, and for Susie to be able to branch out and make herself the new Richard Osman if she wanted, but sadly it was a case of too much unrelated content wrecking the broth

I loved Guilty By Definition by Susie Dent; it is clever with a well-observed characters and an engrossing mystery. The ending, as is so often the case, is a little abrupt for my liking (maybe there will be more...) but, that apart, I thought it excellent. As an English Language graduate with a liking for Golden Age detective novels, it was ideal for me. The mystery of the long-ago disappearance of new Senior Editor's sister is rekindled when staff at the dictionary are sent cryptic messages and clues. Martha, the Senior Editor, feels compelled to solve the what turns out to be two mysteries.

I enjoyed the chapter headings, each one a definition of a fairly obscure word. I also loved that there were linguistic gems through the book, and it made me feel clever to be able to disagree with some of them! For example, Susie says: 'Besides sharing a first syllable, Burford and Berlin were worlds apart.' That might be (presumably is) true in her accent, but not in mine. Clearly that matters not, but it sucked me back into the world of my undergraduate studies. Such fun!

Lexicographers start with a clue, a word to be investigated, and follow the evidence to prove it is either a new word or a new use of an old word. Detectives, amateur or professional, follow the same principles to prove who committed a crime. But first they must decide that a crime might exist!
Charlie Thornhill, early twenties, Oxford University doctoral student, sister of Martha, daughter of Gabriel and Rebecca, disappeared ten years ago. There was a police investigation but no evidence of foul play was detected, so, despite the fact that her bank accounts were untouched, everyone seems to have believed she ran off, and that she would suddenly reappear. Martha didn’t disappear, but she did run off to Germany, partly to assuage her feelings of guilt that something she did cause Charlie to abandon her academic career and her family.
Martha has recently returned to Oxford as Senior Editor for the Clarendon English Dictionary, in charge of a small team of lexicographers doing what I described in my opening sentence, puzzling out etymologies and writing definitions. Suddenly, their happy academic world is thrown into disarray by a mysterious letter and a series of postcards, all containing cryptic clues and literary references, which seem to allude to Charlie’s disappearance. The references are mainly Shakesperean and are signed by “Chorus” a ‘character’ from Henry V. Solving word puzzles is what Martha and her team do for a living so they start to follow the trail provided, helped by further letters. Now convinced that something bad happened to Charlie, Martha takes the evidence to the police, in the form of DS Oliver Cauldwell. Together they uncover the events on the day of the disappearance and the circumstances leading up to it. The revelations will not only solve that mystery but shake up the cosy world of literary scholarship.
This is a classic mystery story, buried inside a literary and academic gallimaufry, and I loved it. Books about books, books about academia, books that contain puzzles, books that provide intellectual effort on the part of the reader, these are my favourite sorts of books and this book gives me all of them, in a well written and engaging tale with characters that I recognised. They say you should write about what you know, and Susie has certainly done that. Trying to be dispassionate, I have to say that the whodunnit elements and motives weren’t that hard to work out.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

Honestly, I loved this book. It's a delight! It is beautifully written, witty and with a touch of interesting lexicography. It is a good and original story, a mystery that can only be solved by some cryptic clues. I have always been terrible at cryptic crosswords, so I didn't even attempt to try and solve them, but it didn't matter as they were quickly worked out by the four lexicographers who are working at finding a missing fifth lexicographer. The bits about words in this book are handled with a very light touch, and the book is not a difficult read. It is set in a world Susie Dent knows well, so the setting of the novel is very authentic, and Susie's love of Oxford is very contagious. I had no idea reading this where the mystery would take me which made the book a page turner. The book is original, and very clever, though totally readable.

I wanted to love this but the characterisation just wasn’t quite there. For some reason, I thought Alex was a man to start with and then confused her with other colleagues. I couldn’t care enough about Charlie to become invested in her disappearance, Martha was a bit unfinished, and I couldn’t make any sense of the clues.

The fault is probably with me not being intelligent enough for this story. Also, I unfairly compared it with The Dictionary of Lost Words which I loved.

Very intelligently written, with a rich and broad vocabulary, as you would expect from Susie Dent, this just wasn’t an interesting enough story and the characters were all very flat.

Wasn't sure what to expect tbh. I suppose I was expecting a murder mystery with lots of big words in it...and that's exactly what I got. It was a unique angle with the MCs being in charge of dictionary words but I found myself getting a bit lost along the way and struggled to distinguish between characters. I don't even remember who did it...

I tried really hard to get excited by this book but sadly I found the plot slow and the characters predictable. Lots of 'new to me words' also had me stop/starting to check their meanings which definitely didn't help the flow of the book. Thank you netgalley, the author and publisher for an early read of 'Guilty by Definition'.

I have seen Susie Dent on TV for years and I was intrigued to see what she would deliver in this novel. Unfortunately it was not for me. I found the first section very slow and didnt really get into it. I also found the plot a little predictable. Whilst I did like the word play and format I dont think it was enough to give it more than three stars from me.

Meh (adjective, twentieth century).
I did love the lexicographic details and the insight into the world of dictionary writers, but the plot itself was predictable. The characters were well enough written, but there wasn't a lot of development.

I really liked the idea of a literary clue based book, almost like a wordy Da Vinci Code, but this didn't end up being as accessible for the reader to partake in as I had thought it would be. I know the author is well known for her wide ranging vocabulary and use of words but it felt like some words were added in for the sake of it and almost to show off. The pacing in the first half was extremely slow but it did get more interesting and tense later on. I liked some of the characters but mostly they came across very pretentious. Maybe this book just wasn't for me but I really wanted it to be.

‘Guilty By Definition by Susie Dent (prolific lexicographer, queen of Countdown’s “dictionary corner” and first-time fiction author) is an interesting and unique mystery novel featuring wordplay, riddles and fiendishly difficult clues. Soon, the reader is drawn into a cold case and eager to find out just what happened to main character Martha’s sister all those years before!

I really loved:
- The wonderfully developed characters, especially Martha, Alex and Zoe
- The clever wordplay throughout and the unusual but relevant definitions at the start of each chapter
- The way the novel was a love letter to Oxford, transporting the reader to the classic university town

While it felt a little slow at times, I’d urge anyone looking for a smart read that’s just a little bit different than many other books out there to give this one a try. Awarding it four stars!

I received an advance Digital Review Copy of this book from the publisher Bonnier Books UK via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I really enjoyed this book! Been a fan of Susue Dent and dictionary corner for years and this book didn't disappoint. Lots of new and very old words, interesting etymology AND a mystery all thrown in! I got a little confused right at the very end on how the police suddenly resolved the mystery and also guessed the outcome but it still kept me engaged throughout. Coincidentally, I read this right after finishing Babel so it was fantastic to compare the two Oxfords! Both featured Cuntgrab Lane which tickled me.

Overall a pacey mystery with a whole load of interesting words and phrases thrown in.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGally for an eARC of this book.

I started this book but couldn’t get on with it, it was too wordy which is not a surprise when the author is Susie Dent but for me a book has to grip me early on and unfortunately this didn’t