16% off
New Release
1
of
1
Death Writ Large
The unmissable new linguistic mystery in the Sunday Times bestselling series from Britain's wordsmith, Susie Dent
Series: Clarendon Lexicographers
Brief Description
A brand-new linguistic mystery from Countdown's resident lexicographer, Susie Dent, set in the city of Oxford 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....
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
Save 16% Off
Savings are calculated from our regular price of
$31.99
compared to the current price of
$27.00.
$2700
$3799
Elsewhere:
Unit price
/
Unavailable
On Sale
in
Welcome Serena Sale
until
7 Oct or
while stocks last
OVERNIGHT NZ-WIDE DELIVERY
Found a better price? Request a price match
Death Writ Large
$2700
$3799
Elsewhere:
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Latest News
The Book Hero Team's September Reads
September was an especially busy month for the Book Hero team as we did the...
Come Celebrate New Zealand Bookshop Day with Us!
Next Saturday, New Zealand celebrates Bookshop Day - a day to celebrate the special place...
Rating All Our Julia Donaldson Picture Books
With Gruffalo Granny coming out recently I couldn't not do a post celebrating the collection...
New Releases to add to your TBR this week (29th September)
From celebrity memoirs to a brand new follow up to The Whale Rider, here is...
New: Out of Print Book Merchandise has arrived!
We are so excited to share that we now have a selection in-stock of the...
See moreThe unmissable new linguistic mystery in the Sunday Times bestselling series from Britain's wordsmith, Susie Dent
The unmissable new linguistic mystery in the Sunday Times bestselling series from Britain's wordsmith, Susie Dent
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
A brand-new linguistic mystery from Countdown's resident lexicographer, Susie Dent, set in the city of Oxford
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.
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.
Guilty by Definition (book 1) was a Sunday Times bestseller August 2024
Series: Clarendon Lexicographers
View all-
16% offNew ReleaseDeath Writ Large
A brand-new linguistic mystery from Countdown's resident lexicographer, Susie Dent, set in the city of Oxford 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...Paperback$2700Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Death Writ Large
A brand-new linguistic mystery from Countdown's resident lexicographer, Susie Dent, set in the city of Oxford AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW A mysterious letter. A silenced scholar. A city paved with injustice. 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...HardbackSold Out
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781804187258
Publisher: Bonnier Books Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 13 August 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Zaffre
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 153.0mm
Height: 234.0mm
Weight: 0g
Pages: 416
Collections
About the Author
Susie Dent is a writer and broadcaster on language. She recently celebrated thirty years as a co-presenter and the resident word expert on Channel 4's Countdown, and also appears on the show's comedy sister 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Susie comments regularly on TV and radio on words in the news, and is the author of several non-fiction books on words and language. Guilty by Definition is her first novel.
Also by Susie Dent
View all-
Interesting Stories about Curious Words
Join Susie Dent, lexicographer extraordinaire and Queen of Countdown's Dictionary Corner, on a curious and exceedingly interesting adventure through all the very best RED HERRINGS, COCK AND BULL STORIES and NINE-DAY WONDERS in the English language. Who was SWEET FANNY ADAMS? What's the dramatic true story behind STEALING THUNDER? Why is it CHANCING YOUR ARM when you take a risk?...Paperback$2499Elsewhere:$2999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Words for Life
Whatever you need, Susie Dent has a word for it. Do you know the name for someone who loves reading in bed, or what a binfluencer does? How about the medieval invention of Lubberland as a place for lazy teenagers, or the story of Mayday as a request for help? Lexicographer extraordinaire and Queen of Countdown's Dictionary Corner, Susie Dent...Paperback$3399Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
The Roots We Share
A follow-up title to the bestselling Roots of Happiness, this is a beautifully illustrated book from author, broadcaster and word expert, Susie Dent, highlighting 100 words and phrases from the English language and beyond that bring people together. Susie Dent, bestselling author, broadcaster and word expert, is on a mission to find 100 words and phrases to bring people together....Hardback$4500Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Word Perfect
'Susie Dent is a one-off. She breathes life and fun into words and language' — Pam Ayres 'Susie Dent is a national treasure' — Richard Osman Welcome to a year of wonder with Susie Dent, lexicographer, logophile, and longtime queen of Countdown's Dictionary Corner. From the real Jack the Lad to the theatrically literal story behind stealing someone's thunder, from...Paperback$2499Elsewhere:$2999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (20th edition)
This is, in fact, not what you were looking for; but it's much more interesting. — Terry Pratchett Much loved for its wit and wisdom since 1870, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable takes you on a captivating adventure through its trademark blend of language, culture, myth and legend. Nowhere else could the histories of the guillotine and Guinness stout...Hardback$12000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Words from the Heart
'MAGIC' JO BRAND'HAPPIFYING' STEPHEN FRY'SUSIE DENT IS A NATIONAL TREASURE' RICHARD OSMANWhether it's the distress of a bad haircut (AGE-OTORI) or longing for the food someone else is eating (GROAKING), the pleasure found in other people's happiness (CONFELICITY) or the shock of jumping into icy water (CURGLAFF), there are real words to pinpoint exactly how you feel and Susie Dent,...Paperback$2999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Pre-orderWords for Life
Whatever you need, Susie Dent has a word for it. Do you know the name for someone who loves reading in bed, or what a binfluencer does? How about the medieval invention of Lubberland as a place for lazy teenagers, or the story of Mayday as a request for help? Lexicographer extraordinaire and Queen of Countdown's Dictionary Corner, Susie Dent...Paperback$2999Unit price /UnavailableOut 6 Oct 2026Pre-order -
Dent's Modern Tribes
Did you know that a soldier's biggest social blunder is called jack brew—making yourself a cuppa without making one for anyone else? That twitchers have an expression for a bird that can't be identified—LBJ (the letters stand for Little Brown Job)? Or that builders call plastering the ceiling doing Lionel Richie's dancefloor? Susie Dent does. Ever wondered why football managers...Paperback$3199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Guilty by Definition
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER! 'ONE OF THE FINEST MYSTERIES I HAVE EVER READ' Rob Rinder, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Trial 'A TANTALISING MYSTERY FOR WORD SLEUTHS AND CRIME FANS ALIKE' Janice Hallett, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Appeal A coded letter. A missing woman. A truth waiting to be found. When an anonymous letter is delivered...PaperbackSold Out -
Death Writ Large
A brand-new linguistic mystery from Countdown's resident lexicographer, Susie Dent, set in the city of Oxford AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW A mysterious letter. A silenced scholar. A city paved with injustice. 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...HardbackSold Out -
Roots of Happiness
A beautifully illustrated book from bestselling author, broadcaster and word expert, Susie Dent, highlighting 100 joyful and often unknown words and phrases from our language (and other languages from around the world). Roots of Happiness by Susie Dent explores the light hiding in the deepest, darkest corners of our language. It takes just a short browse through the dictionary to...HardbackSold Out -
Guilty by Definition
The debut murder mystery from the resident genius of Countdown's Dictionary Corner, Susie Dent. An anonymous letter arrives at the offices of the Clarendon English Dictionary containing a challenge for the team of lexicographers working there. It's clear that it's not the usual run-of-the-mill, eccentric enquiry. The letter hints at secrets, lies, and a year: 2010. For Martha Thornhill, the...PaperbackSold Out
More from Crime & Thriller
View all-
New ReleaseDeath Row
With all hope of an appeal fading away, the fate of a condemned murderess takes a shocking turn in a breathtaking short story from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid! A thrilling novella from #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden! Death is coming for her… unless she finds the truth first. Talia Kemper is on death row for murdering...Paperback$2299Elsewhere:$2400Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
19% offNew ReleaseDying Days
Award-winning writer delivers a pulse-pounding espionage thriller. Missing soldiers, MI6 secrets and European partisans collide in a deadly game where the lines between lies and reality are fast disintegrating. In the dying days of the Second World War, a new conflict is about to ignite. May, 1945: After fighting to liberate Europe from the Nazis, Tito's Yugoslav Army and Allied...Paperback$2600Elsewhere:$3699Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
New ReleaseFury In Death: An Eve Dallas thriller (In Death 63)
In the new crime thriller from the bestselling author, Lt. Eve Dallas journeys into the darkness where murder is born… NYSPD homicide detective Eve Dallas has seen a lot in her time but even she is shocked by the savagery of a beating which leaves a wealthy biotech executive dead in his home office. The victim’s corpse is so mangled...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
New ReleaseTom Clancy Pressure Depth
Jack Ryan Jr leads a team of divers in a race to beat the Chinese Navy to a weapon of terrible destructive power in the latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series. Jack Ryan Jr. is on Guam to work on a project for Hendley Associates. It's a perfectly ordinary insurance matter, but trouble finds the Ryans...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
New ReleaseThe Country Road Murders
From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes a pulse-pounding thriller about justice, vengeance and the roads that lead us home. No one gets this big without amazing natural storytelling talent - which is what Jim has, in spades — LEE CHILD Cross Rivers is the kind of small town where everyone knows your name – and your secrets. Silas Tucker...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
15% offNew Release
Every Lake
Scary stories are fun... until your life becomes one. When Alice was fifteen, her father killed Mia Heywood in their lakefront cottage before vanishing into the trees. At least that's what the locals think happened. Over a decade later, Alice has lost her job as a journalist, she's going through an expensive divorce and she desperately needs to sell the...Paperback$2800Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
10% offNew Release
Nautilus
The follow-up to the bestselling novel The Turing Protocol. Nautilus is a machine with the astonishing power to send messages eight weeks back in time. Its users must follow a set of protocols established by its inventor, Alan Turing, including that it can only be used by a descendant of his family, and only to avert global disasters. But what...Paperback$2700Elsewhere:$3699Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
20% offNew Release
Cold River
The sensational new novel from the author of the bestselling thriller, The Creeper, winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction 2025. Deep in the mountains, secrets grow deadly... Detective Constable Sally White knows how easily hikers can go missing in Victoria's high country. But there's something about the disappearance of Louis Taylor, a young man lost up...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
13% offIt Could Have Been Her
PREPARE TO BE HOOKED: The no. 1 Sunday Times and MULTI-million-copy bestselling author is back with a brand-new spine tingling thriller. It was the night she almost died. Jane Trevally, newly divorced and feeling a little lost, agrees to accompany a man she doesn't know to his house in the darkest corner of Hampstead Heath. She's offered a drink, goes in, and...Paperback$2600Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
19% off26 Beauties
The twenty-sixth thrilling novel in the globally bestselling Women's Murder Club series. Beautiful young women are disappearing by the dozen. A celebration is cut short when a concerned father crashes Detective Inspector Lindsay Boxer's party. His daughter is missing - and she's not the only one. DI Lindsay Boxer has been tracking a chilling pattern: a Jane Doe washed ashore,...Paperback$2600Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
The Secrets We Hide
The stunning new North Falls thriller by the bestselling author of We Are All Guilty Here 'Quite simply, Karin Slaughter is the best of us' Dervla McTiernan Welcome back to North Falls -- a small town with big secrets. The house at 1601 Iris Drive looks like any other in the quiet, residential street. But rumours are rife about the Vickery...Paperback$2600Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
10% offNew ReleaseThe Parkwood Murders
They came for an escape, but can they escape a killer? Detective Nicola Bridge returns in another gripping and immersive mystery For its loyal guests, Parkwood Holiday Village in west Dorset is a haven- woodland walks, a tranquil lake, service around the clock. Until, just after midsummer, a body is found floating in the swimming pool. Detective Nicola Bridge, exhausted...Paperback$2700Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
Crime & Thriller lists from the team
Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!
-
![]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listCrime & Thriller
Classics for the Crime & Thriller Reader
Here are some classics that are perfect for someone who already loves a crime & thriller novel - the fathers (and mothers)...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![We Need to Talk About Kevin]()
Lizzy's listCrime & Thriller
Thriller Novels that Won't Leave Lizzy's Brain
These are the books that Lizzy almost wishes she could forget about because they've ruined something for her - whether it's making...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Shirl's listCrime & Thriller
Shirl's Crime & Thriller Picks
I've always loved a good crime and thriller read! Here are a few of my favourites from past and present that have...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listCrime & Thriller
Lizzy's Top Kiwi Crime/Thriller Writers
Looking for your next Crime/Thriller pick? We have some amazing authors right here in Aotearoa doing everything from releasing amazing spine tingling...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Hannah's listCrime & Thriller
Gripping Crime and Thriller Books
From the fast paced and stressful to the laborious and creepy, this is a selection of some of my favourite crime and...View the list
