Author: Dent, Susie
Lexicography
Published on 13 August 2026 by Bonnier Books Ltd (Zaffre) in the United Kingdom as part of 'the Clarendon Lexicographers' series.
Hardback | 416 pages
164 x 242 x 38 | 634g
The brand-new Sunday Times bestselling linguistic mystery from Countdown's resident lexicographer, Susie Dent, set in the city of Oxford'A MUST-READ' Woman's Own'A CLEVER, TWISTY MYSTERY' Good Housekeeping'BRILLIANT, GRIPPING, UNPUTDOWNABLE' Kate Williams'A COMPELLING MURDER MYSTERY PUNCTUATED BY DELICIOUS ETYMOLOGICAL PUZZLES' Tom Read-Wilson'EVERY BIT AS GRIPPING AS HER DEBUT' Daily MailA mysterious letter. A silenced scholar. A city paved with injustice.
When mysterious symbols appear as graffiti around Oxford, lexicographer Martha Thornhill recognises them from an alphabet created by a deceased writer whose papers she once worked on. But this is no publicity stunt, and tensions intensify when further graffiti is found near the body of a university lecturer. Martha is not the only one to have doubts when the suspicious death is assumed by police to be a suicide. Called upon to lend their linguistic expertise to the case, she and her colleagues begin to unearth a tragedy that extends beyond the ancient walls of the university. As new messages portend more death, it's clear that a spirit of vengeance is stalking the city's streets, and may be reaching out towards them too.
PRAISE FOR GUILTY BY DEFINITION:'Astonishingly clever'THE GUARDIAN'Will delight anyone who appreciates fine crime writing'THE TIMES'One of the finest mysteries I have ever read'ROB RINDER'Huge fun and beautifully written'GYLES BRANDRETH'A tantalising mystery'JANICE HALLETT'Genuinely page-turning'LALINE PAULLGuilty by Definition (book 1) was a Sunday Times bestseller August 2024
