Shakespeare | Book Girl & Little Bear

Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent

This contemporary mystery has a lovely setting in Oxford, with the focus on three women who work on the Clarendon English Dictionary, in their mid-20s, 30s, and 40s. Martha Thornhill has just moved back to Oxford to live with her father after working in Berlin for 10 years. Safiya is the youngest, while Alex has grown children and is always elegantly dressed.

Martha’s older sister Charlie vanished over a decade ago. Charlie also worked for the Dictionary, was writing her PhD dissertation, and worked part-time for a book dealer. The three women and their colleague Simon receive disturbing postcards at home, and their department at the Dictionary is sent cryptic letters with puzzles and Shakespearean references. Will the clues lead to information on Charlie, or possibly her research? The reader can try to solve the puzzles along with the three women, though I didn’t have any luck.

I enjoyed this clever mystery, with definitions of unusual words heading each chapter. The author is a well-known linguist, and this is an accomplished and compelling debut. More, please.

Brenda

Thus With a Kiss I Die by Christina Dodd

Well, that’s not a very cheerful title, is it? Since I thoroughly enjoyed the first Daughter of Montague novel, A Daughter of Fair Verona, I knew the book would be much more entertaining than a quote from Romeo and Juliet would lead the reader to expect. In Christina Dodd’s fictional Verona, Romeo and Juliet are alive, in love, and married with several children. Rosaline, called Rosie, is 20 and helps run the Montague household. While dreaming about handsome Lysander, she has somehow become betrothed to Escalus, the prince of Verona.

Rosie is not at thrilled by her betrothal. But she likes Escalus’s little sister, Isabella, his Nonna Ursula, and his father’s ghost. The ghost of Escalus the Elder is problematic as no one else can see or hear him and he never saw his murderer, who was masked and cloaked. Escalus, nicknamed Cal by his ghostly father, also enjoys spending time with Rosie’s large, chaotic family. When there is unrest in the city, even the prince’s home isn’t safe. On one eventful night Rosie must get home to her mother, then quickly solve two crimes and decide how she really feels about Cal. Of course, both Cal and Rosie are in danger, and deciding who to trust is key.

This historical novel has witty banter, quirky characters, and is full of adventure, humor, mystery and some romance. The next book, Much Ado About Mistletoe, will be published in late October.

Brenda