Guilty by Definition
A Novel
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Agatha Christie meets Countdown in the debut mystery novel from the genius of Dictionary Corner, Susie Dent
Word games can be murder
When an anonymous letter is delivered to the offices of the Clarendon English Dictionary, it is immediately clear that this is not the usual lexicographical enquiry. Instead, the letter hints at secrets and lies linked to a particular year. For new senior editor Martha Thornhill, the date means only one thing: the summer her brilliant older sister, Charlie, went missing.
After a decade abroad, Martha has returned home to the city whose ancient institutions have long defined her family. Have the ghosts she left behind been waiting for her return?
When more letters arrive, and Martha and her team pull apart the complex clues within them, the mystery becomes even more insistent and troubling. It seems that Charlie had been keeping a powerful secret. Now someone is trying to lead the lexicographers toward the truth. But other forces are no less desperate to keep it well and truly buried.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Etymologist Dent (Interesting Stories About Curious Words) makes an impressive fiction debut with a clever whodunit that pivots on her linguistic expertise. Ten years after Martha Thornhill's sister, Charlie, disappeared, Martha returns to Oxford from Berlin to work as a senior editor for the Clarendon English Dictionary—the same publication where Charlie worked before she vanished. Shortly after Martha starts at CED, the office receives an anonymous note that alludes to an incident the same year Charlie disappeared and concludes with a quote from The Merchant of Venice: "Truth will come to life. Murder cannot be hid long." That missive is followed by another, which references Chaucer, and then individual staff members start receiving postcards with ominous messages such as "I do despise a liar." Worried that the messages could be connected to Charlie's fate, Martha investigates, and quickly learns that her sister was sitting on a major discovery with dangerous implications. Dent wrings genuine emotion from Martha's grief, and crafts a tantalizing puzzle for Anglophiles and Golden Age mystery lovers alike. This is a treat.
