Guilty By Definition - Susie Dent
For British television viewers Susie Dent is a familiar face. She has appeared on popular daytime quiz show Countdown over five thousand times since joining the show in 1992. Additional appearances on the comedy crossover show 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown have given her a profile that was unanticipated when she studied modern languages at Oxford, and German at Princeton.
The lexicographer and etymologist has produced a number of books about words and the use of language but had always resisted suggestions that she write a novel.
Her resistance was finally overcome and, in autumn 2024, Guilty by Definition hit the bookshelves.
The story is set amongst a small team of lexicographers who work for the Clarendon English Dictionary. Martha, who heads the team, is the lead character. She has returned to Oxford following the death of her mother, looking to support her father.
The team begin to recieve mysterious letters from someone calling themselves Chorus. The letters allude to dark deeds in the past of the Dictionary and soon the clues within the letters narrow focus onto the disappearance of Charlie, who had been working in the office while completing her thesis over a decade previously.
Charlie is Martha's older, brilliant, beautiful, sister.
Susie guides us through the mystery of Charlie's disappearance and shows us the effect such an event has on the lives of those who are left to wonder what happened. In the end, the mystery of Charlie's disappearance is solved. To say more would be to add spoilers.
Being a book written by someone who loves words, their meanings, and their history, as well as being set in the offices of a dictionary, it is little surprise that the text is rich with words which are outwith the commonly used vocabulary. Not that there is a profusion of obscure, arcane, or outdated usages. They are there, but always tied to a reason for such and, more often than not, explained in a way which elucidates without condescension.
On the few occasions you may find yourself reaching for a dictionary it is always with the pleasure of finding a word which has been used with precision and means exactly what could have easily taken half-a-sentence to say.
As much as words are important to the story, the location is also key. There is a gentle reverence for the city of Oxford and its environs which suggest a heartfelt fondness and familiarity and will likely lead to Tour Guides adding lines to their spiel, even as they focus on Harry Potter or Morse, Lewis, and Endeavour.
Still, stories are about people and the people who inhabit the pages of this novel are well written. They have foibles and failings, insecurities and doubts, they are young and old, famous and unknown.
While lovers of labyrinthine mind benders of the Agatha Christie or Colin Dexter mold may find themselves piecing together clues and drawing conclusions early, the majority of readers will arrive at the denouement and be quite contented to mutter, 'Ah, yes, that makes sense'.
They may very well be tempted to go back through the book to try and uncover the various easter eggs scattered throughout. I've found a few, and am sure I've missed many.
One I will share, though calling it an easter egg is to compare it less to the items hidden for searching in the garden, and more to the gigantic display egg a chocolatier will use to advertise their skills.
The dictionary in the novel is the Clarendon English Dictionary. This is a thin veil through which we see the world renowned Oxford English Dictionary.
Edward Hyde, who became the first Earl of Clarendon and also Chancellor of the University of Oxford, bequeathed royalties from his book The History of the Great Rebellion and Civil Wars in England to the university, and they used it to build the Clarendon Building. The building housed the Oxford University Press, giving the press its own dedicated space after years of sharing with the nearby Sheldonian Theatre. This allowed the press to, well, run its presses without having to halt for theatrical events.
It is worth noting that the Oxford University Press is the publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary. It is also where Susie Dent was working when she first started appearing on Countdown.
In the interview following the audiobook version of the novel Susie suggests there may be further mysteries for Martha and her team to unravel. They will be well worth looking forward to.
text by stuartcturnbull, picture by Billie Scheepers via Camera Press & Saga