Description
<p><b>A brand-new linguistic mystery from <i>Countdown</i>'s resident lexicographer, Susie Dent, set in the city of Oxford<br><br>**AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW**<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 a runic alphabet created by a deceased fantasy 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, 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.<br><i><br>Guilty by Definition </i>(book 1) was a <i>Sunday Times </i>bestseller August 2024</p>