Guilty by Definition
A Novel
by Susie Dent
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Pub Date Sep 30 2025 | Archive Date Oct 04 2025
SOURCEBOOKS Landmark | Sourcebooks Landmark
Description
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.
Advance Praise
"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, international 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
"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
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781464236075 |
| PRICE | $27.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 384 |
