3 Stars from me
I had such high hopes for this book by much loved Susie Dent off the telly (from Cats Does Countdown – among other things…) Guilty by Definition is her debut novel and I didn’t know if it would be a serious book or a tongue in cheek ‘whodunnit’. For me, sadly, it didn’t hit the mark in either camp.
While Guilty by Definition is a reasonable read I found the continual injection of ‘big’ words to be an unnecessary detraction from the story. I would have worked if it had been just one character, or if it were all just part of the MO but it wasn’t.
That said, Susie is clearly a bright and interesting woman and she describes Oxford beautifully and has set a mystery around an anonymous letter arriving at the offices of the Clarendon English Dictionary containing a challenge for the team of lexicographers working there.
This ties in with another mystery for the new senior editor, Martha, who is weighed down by emotional turmoil from worry over her missing sister.
All in all, this is a slow burn with a clever storyline once it gets going and as much as I wanted to love it I just found it a little clunky in places, as if the author had been obligated to lean way too heavily into her lexicographer niche.
My thanks to NetGalley, the author and Bonnier Books UK for an ARC in return for an honest review.
Blurb: When an anonymous letter is delivered to the Clarendon English Dictionary, it is rapidly clear that this is not the usual lexicographical enquiry. Instead, the letter hints at secrets and lies linked to a particular year.
For Martha Thornhill, the new senior editor, the date can mean 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 her been waiting for her return?
When more letters arrive, and Martha and her team pull apart the complex clues within them, the mystery becomes ever more insistent and troubling. It seems Charlie had been keeping a powerful secret, and someone is trying to lead the lexicographers towards the truth. But other forces are no less desperate to keep it well and truly buried.
Read and Rated 