Susie Dent

Newly appointed as editor of the CED, Martha has returned to her hometown of Oxford after many years. However, her world is turned upside down as she, and her colleagues, receive a series of messages hinting at the reasons for the disappearance of her elder sister over ten years ago. Now Martha and her team are in a race to solve an unsolved crime and to do it they have to solve a series of word-based clues - it's a good job that they're all lexicographers.
Another book with a celebrity link but this is a really good one (mostly). I loved the whole word play about the clues, nicely complex and I felt that the story about the eclipsed younger sister was handled well (from personal experience). However I found the ending a little disappointing, I'd worked out who the killer was but the identity of 'Chorus' and that motivation was underwhelming.… (more)

I've added this to my list of favourite books. I loved Guilty By Definition. Susie Dent writes beautifully. The story is complete with interesting characters, an intriguing mystery involving the missing sister of Martha, one of the editors of the Clarendon English Dictionary. Charlie has not been seen or heard from for ten years, when suddenly letters arrive at the dictionary hinting that somebody knows what happened to her. Deciphering the clues in the puzzling letters and postcards will hopefully guide Martha and the investigating detective to find out what was behind Charlie's disappearance. Each chapter is headed with an interesting rare word and the story is peppered with fascinating words and their meanings from centuries past adding another level of interest and pleasure to the story. Thoroughly enjoyable. I hope Susie writes more novels.… (more)

I thought that this novel was super, but then it does seem to encompass a range of subjects very close to my heart.

As one would expect from Susie Dent, the book is strewn throughout with glorious brief apostrophes giving a potted history of the development of a word (some unusual, but also for many commonly used in daily speech). These are beautifully informative, without ever seeming intrusive. The story is also full of Shakespearean allusions, which pulls it deeply into one of my particularly cherished areas, and is set in and around Oxford, so all the principal locations were familiar to me and evoked a lot of fond memories.

The story combines a mystery with a sort of academic treasure hunt. The main protagonists work in the Clarendon English Dictionary (obviously representing the Oxford English Dictionary with which Susie Dent has been so long associated). Their work entails considering potential new entries to the dictionary, or additions to existing definitions, many of which are flagged up to them by keen members of the public.

Among the regular flow of correspondence that they have to manage comes a letter from someone calling themselves ‘Chorus’, offering cryptic hints about a mystery connected with the Dictionary. Further investigation suggests that it may relate to the disappearance a decade previously of the sister of one of the team, who had also herself worked on the Dictionary. Further messages ensue, and the mystery deepens.

What struck me most notably about this book was the deftness with which Dent manages the story. This is, I believe, her first novel, but she delivers a complex plot and very plausible and empathetic characters with the nonchalance of a novelist of long-established standing.

I think that this will be a strong contender for my favourite novel of the year, and I am already confident that I will be re-reading it before long.… (more)