<p><b>The brand-new <i>Sunday Times </i>bestselling linguistic mystery from <i>Countdown</i>'s resident lexicographer, Susie Dent, set in the city of Oxford<br><br></b><b>'A MUST-READ' <i>Woman's Own<br></i><br>'A CLEVER, TWISTY MYSTERY' <i>Good Housekeeping</i><br><br>'BRILLIANT, GRIPPING, UNPUTDOWNABLE' Kate Williams<br></b><b><br>'A COMPELLING MURDER MYSTERY PUNCTUATED BY DELICIOUS ETYMOLOGICAL PUZZLES' Tom Read-Wilson<br><br>'EVERY BIT AS GRIPPING AS HER DEBUT' <i>Daily Mail</i><br></b><br><b><i>A mysterious letter. A silenced scholar. A city paved with injustice.</i></b><br><br>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. <br><br>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, she 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.<br><br><u><b>PRAISE FOR <i>GUILTY BY DEFINITION</i>:</b></u><br><br><b>'Astonishingly clever'</b><br><i><b>THE GUARDIAN</b></i><br><br><b>'Will delight anyone who appreciates fine crime writing'</b><br><i><b>THE TIMES</b></i><br><br><b>'One of the finest mysteries I have ever read'</b><br><b>ROB RINDER</b><br><br><b>'Huge fun and beautifully written'</b><br><b>GYLES BRANDRETH</b><br><br><b>'A tantalising mystery'</b><br><b>JANICE HALLETT</b><br><br><b>'Genuinely page-turning'</b><br><b>LALINE PAULL</b><br><i><br>Guilty by Definition </i>(book 1) was a <i>Sunday Times </i>bestseller August 2024</p>