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A review by grayroacegnome
Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent
4.0
This was a fantastic mystery, and I really enjoyed it - I highly recommend it to any lovers of mysteries and of words.
The clues were fantastically crafted, and I thought Susie Dent achieved a perfect balance with them - making them challenging but *just about* solvable with the right background knowledge (especially if you are a cryptic crossword fan like me!). The pacing of the story was also excellent, I felt carried through the story really smoothly and never wanted to put it down.
The characters weren't all given a huge amount of development, but I honestly didn't mind that; they got enough of a backstory and POV focus to let me connect with them individually, at least, without pulling from the main plot of solving the mystery unveiling via extremely cryptic letters.
It's no surprise that the book was also filled with a large number of enchantingly under-appreciated words (and explanations of their meaning or etymology), given the author's own vast experience as a lexicographer! I personally feel that they fit very nicely into the story, given the MCs are all lexicographers themselves, and I really loved learning so much about words I never knew and/or thought about before.
The mystery itself wasn't quite there for me; it was a little improbable (verging on, though never reaching, implausible) in places - but the vast majority of it held water, I still loved the journey through red herrings and possible solutions, and the eventual outcome did make sense to me.
I'm very glad to have read this book, and am keen to see if Susie Dent continues writing in future as I'd love to read more of her work. Huge thanks to NetGalley and Zaffre publisher for sending me an ARC (in exchange for an honest review), it was wonderful!
**I will now give a couple of minor Content Warnings, so be warned, here there be spoilers**:
Content Warnings:
- Bereavement (loss of parent, potentially also triggering for loss of a sibling)
- Cancer (mentioned in context of a parent having died from it, not described in detail)
The clues were fantastically crafted, and I thought Susie Dent achieved a perfect balance with them - making them challenging but *just about* solvable with the right background knowledge (especially if you are a cryptic crossword fan like me!). The pacing of the story was also excellent, I felt carried through the story really smoothly and never wanted to put it down.
The characters weren't all given a huge amount of development, but I honestly didn't mind that; they got enough of a backstory and POV focus to let me connect with them individually, at least, without pulling from the main plot of solving the mystery unveiling via extremely cryptic letters.
It's no surprise that the book was also filled with a large number of enchantingly under-appreciated words (and explanations of their meaning or etymology), given the author's own vast experience as a lexicographer! I personally feel that they fit very nicely into the story, given the MCs are all lexicographers themselves, and I really loved learning so much about words I never knew and/or thought about before.
The mystery itself wasn't quite there for me; it was a little improbable (verging on, though never reaching, implausible) in places - but the vast majority of it held water, I still loved the journey through red herrings and possible solutions, and the eventual outcome did make sense to me.
I'm very glad to have read this book, and am keen to see if Susie Dent continues writing in future as I'd love to read more of her work. Huge thanks to NetGalley and Zaffre publisher for sending me an ARC (in exchange for an honest review), it was wonderful!
**I will now give a couple of minor Content Warnings, so be warned, here there be spoilers**:
Content Warnings:
Spoiler
- Bereavement (loss of parent, potentially also triggering for loss of a sibling)
- Cancer (mentioned in context of a parent having died from it, not described in detail)