Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Etymologist Dent (Interesting Stories About Curious Words) makes an impressive fiction debut with a clever whodunit that pivots on her linguistic expertise. Ten years after Martha Thornhill's sister, Charlie, disappeared, Martha returns to Oxford from Berlin to work as a senior editor for the Clarendon English Dictionary--the same publication where Charlie worked before she vanished. Shortly after Martha starts at CED, the office receives an anonymous note that alludes to an incident the same year Charlie disappeared and concludes with a quote from The Merchant of Venice: "Truth will come to life. Murder cannot be hid long." That missive is followed by another, which references Chaucer, and then individual staff members start receiving postcards with ominous messages such as "I do despise a liar." Worried that the messages could be connected to Charlie's fate, Martha investigates, and quickly learns that her sister was sitting on a major discovery with dangerous implications. Dent wrings genuine emotion from Martha's grief, and crafts a tantalizing puzzle for Anglophiles and Golden Age mystery lovers alike. This is a treat. (May)
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