Guilty by Definition

The debut murder mystery from Dictionary Corner's resident lexicographer, Susie Dent.

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Find the truth between the lines.

When an anonymous letter is delivered to the Clarendon English Dictionary, it puzzles the team of lexicographers working there. It soon becomes clear that this is not the usual eccentric enquiry. The letter hints at secrets, lies, and a particular year. For Martha Thornhill, the new Senior Editor, the date can mean only one thing: the summer her brilliant, beautiful older sister Charlie went missing.

After a decade spent living abroad, Martha has returned to her father, her home, and the city whose institutions have defined her family. But the ghosts she had thought to be at rest seem to have been waiting for her to return.

When more letters arrive and the team pull apart the clues within them, the questions become more insistent and troubling. Charlie had been keeping a powerful secret, but as the mystery of her disappearance starts to unravel, someone is trying to lead the lexicographers to the truth, while another is desperate to keep it buried.

PRAISE FOR SUSIE DENT:

'Susie Dent is a national treasure' - RICHARD OSMAN

'Nobody on earth knows more about the English language than Susie Dent and nobody writes about it more entertainingly' - GYLES BRANDRETH

'Stuffed with delightful words . . . it'll keep Scrabble fanatics and wordsmiths entertained for hours' - RADIO TIMES

"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... Guilty by Definition is positively aglitter with etymological and detecting treasures for word-sleuths and crime-fans alike." - Janice Hallett

Susie Dent is a writer and broadcaster on language. She recently celebrated thirty years as a co-presenter and the resident word expert on Channel 4's Countdown, and also appears on the show's comedy sister 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Susie comments regularly on TV and radio on words in the news, and is the author of several non-fiction books on words and language. Guilty by Definition is her first novel.

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