Having thoroughly enjoyed Susie Dent’s debut novel ‘Guilty By Definition‘, when I was offered an ARC of her new book, I jumped at the chance. Only when I started reading it did I realise it was an actual sequel to the previous Clarendon Lexicographers book. Here’s the blurb:

“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, 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.”

As before, each chapter starts with a word and its definition – and as previously, some I knew, and some were an education (so I could feel suitably smug if I did know it already!) This felt relevant to the storyline and not a superfluous use of unnecessary adjectives (harping back to a review of a recent book I didn’t like but won’t mention!) Susie’s style is well written, intelligent and tells an interesting story – with different arcs and back stories all cleverly intertwined.

It was great to catch up with Martha and her colleagues, family and friends. Whilst it was nice to have the prior knowledge, I do think the book would stand alone (but I would definitely recommend reading the first one anyway)

The murder mystery element of the book is intertwined with education on language and interwoven with back stories and storylines.

A thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended read. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for my ARC. It’s out now (because I’m behind in my blog posts – sorry!)