Guilty by Definition

A Novel

De: Susie Dent

Narrado por: Louise Brealey, Susie Dent, Jack Edwards

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.

Audiobook includes an exclusive introduction by Susie Dent and Q&A between Susie and Jack Edwards from YouTube.

©2024, 2025 Susie Dent (P)2024, 2025 Tantor Media

A delightful book for word nerds and British mystery lovers alike

This book is both smart and entertaining., Full of delightful bits of English literature, history, and culture. I can’t wait for the sequel.

Great reading

If you love words, puzzles, and definitions, this is especially fun. It’s a satisfying mystery, too. Makes me want to be a lexicographer.

so much fun to read.

Great characters you will cate about. Wonderful plot. I Loved all the word lore. Good pacing of the unfolding mystery. I could not put it down.

Absorbing and smart

This is quite something. The intricacy of plot as it intertwines with the linguistic component pulled me in completely. Hope she’s writing something else—and if in Oxford, more’s the better.

terrible

Boring and drawn out. By the time I got to the end I couldn't care less who did it or why.