John Lee's Reviews > Guilty by Definition

I like solving puzzles, cracking codes and doing cryptic crosswords and so as soon as I saw the trailers for this book I knew that it would be one for me. Please don't let that put you off if your interests don't match mine as this scores top marks from me as a murder mystery, too.

The novel shows the authors love and fascination with words and their derivations. Each chapter is titled with an appropriate word along with its meaning and origination (noun 1150-1500: the act of starting or developing something) and the story itself is peppered with words that will expand your personal lexicon. Most are accompanied by an explanation but just occasionally the online dictionary was brought into use. I found myself noting down several for future use.

I believe that authors are told to write about what they know and as well as her knowledge of the language, our author undoubtedly draws on her time working at the Oxford English Dictionary for the setting of the story.

As a murder mystery the story had an intriguing plot, deftly introduced with a few well placed red herrings and a well defined group of workmates to solve it. As a first novel it promises much for the future. For me, it read really easily and I found that I had a good clear picture of all the characters and action without having to resort to notes or even concentrate too hard. A pleasure to read.
My wife sometimes uses the phrase "well written" and for me this was.

Another reason that I enjoyed it so much, perhaps, was that I had the guilty party worked out although I had the Chorus wrong.