Book Comment
Guilty by Definition
by Susie Dent
In her debut mystery novel Guilty by Definition, English lexicographer and etymologist Susie Dent shares her logophile inclinations. She was a dictionary editor at the Oxford University Press, publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
Among her credits, Dent is the author of Word Perfect and multiple other books and was the co-podcaster on Something Rhymes with Purple (2019-2024). She continues to be the “dictionary corner” authority on British television’s Countdown and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. In 2024 Dent was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by King Charles for her services to literature and to language.
Martha Thornhill, the protagonist, in Guilty by Definition is also a dictionary lexicographer at the fictional Clarendon English Dictionary which shares characteristics of the OED. As the senior editor there, Martha works with three other editors, and all of them are adept at word play and knowledge of literature and language.
Over the course of the novel set in Oxford, England, the editors receive several anonymous letters, signed Chorus. The letters as well as postcards include hints and clues and not so subtle accusations (some requiring decoding of Shakespearean references). Martha and her linguistic cohorts become sleuths in the disappearance 13 years previously of Martha’s sister, Charlie. The editors, while staying in touch with local police, investigate others who have a relationship to the CED or Charlie.
The puzzles in Guilty by Definition are revealed slowly and not entirely until the very end of the novel. Having reached the last page, the reader is left with another question. Who else in this story is also guilty by definition?
Note: Dent’s second mystery novel, Death Writ Large, will be available in 2026.
