A brand-new linguistic mystery from Countdown's resident lexicographer, Susie Dent, set in the city of Oxford
**AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW**
A mysterious letter. A silenced scholar. A city paved with injustice.
When mysterious symbols appear as graffiti around Oxford, lexicographer Martha Thornhill recognises them from an alphabet created by a deceased writer whose papers she once worked on. But this is no publicity stunt, and tensions intensify when further graffiti is found near the body of a university lecturer.
Martha is not the only one to have doubts when the suspicious death is assumed by police to be a suicide. Called upon to lend their linguistic expertise to the case, Martha and her colleagues begin to unearth a tragedy that extends beyond the ancient walls of the university. As new messages portend more death, it's clear that a spirit of vengeance is stalking the city's streets, and may be reaching out towards them too.
Guilty by Definition (book 1) was a Sunday Times bestseller August 2024 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. The unmissable new linguistic mystery in the Sunday Times bestselling series from Britain's wordsmith, Susie Dent. DEBUT SUCCESS: Guilty by Definition (book 1) was an instant Sunday Times bestseller and was sold in a six-figure pre-empt to Sourcebooks in the US as well as rights sales including Spain, France and Italy EXPERT AUTHOR: As the resident genius in Dictionary Corner on beloved daytime quiz show Countdown for over 30 years as well as a regular feature writer on lexicography, there is no one better placed to bring this linguistic mystery series to life HUGE AUDIENCE: Susie is daytime TV royalty, co-hosts a podcast with Phil Wang and is currently filming a new Channel 4 series with Alan Carr, Secret Genius. She has over 1 million followers on X ON TREND: Susie Dent's mystery series has joined the ranks of celeb presenters turned bestselling authors, including Richard Osman, Rev Richard Coles and Rob Rinder
