The reason for all this entertaining gore is publishers hoping to make a killing, the money kind. All those June titles bring hefty production costs, which help to reduce a publisher's 2012-13 tax bill. For obvious lack of time, there are no, or few, sales of the June titles to swell taxable income before the end of the UK tax year on 30 June.
The July surge is different. These titles are the first rash of a contagion that will grow to epidemic proportion before Christmas. Crime-fiction outsells all other categories, except in December when comes the feverish flood of cookbooks and celebrity memoirs.
Mystery fans will find some of the best writing on whodunit diva Ann Morvenïs homepage, but more recent are these (just a few of the numerous June releases). Check 'em out:
The 9th Girl, by Tami Hoag. Popular investigators Kovac and Liska look into the killing of an unidentified teenage girl.
Waiting for Wednesday, by Nicci French. This is No. 3 in the Frida Klein series. A mother of three is found by her daughter in a pool of blood. Who would want to murder an ordinary housewife? And why?
The Execution of Noa P. Singleton, by Elizabeth Silver. A tale of love, anguish and deception with Noa, 25, on Death Row awaiting her end.
Husband and Wives, by Susan Rogers Cooper. How many wives does a man need? Milt Kovak seeks the truth.
Coming during July are these and others:
A Final Reckoning, by Susan Moody.
Chantal Frazer has come to Westerby Lodge in the Cotswolds to find some answers about the murder of her sister, 23 years before
The Stranger You Know, by Irish writer Jane Casey
Three women have been strangled in their homes by the same sadistic killer. With no sign of a break-in, the suspect is a police detective.
A Bitter Taste, by Annie Hauxwell. This is No. 2 in the Catherine Berlin series, set in London. A girl of 10. knows enough to wipe clean the handle of the bloody kitchen knife.
A Killing of Angels, by Kate Rhodes. The first death looked like a suicide. But someone had tucked a picture of an angel and a handful of white feathers into the banker's pocket -- before pushing him in front of a Tube.
The Beautiful Mystery, by Louise Penny. Chief Inspector Gamache probes murder in a remote monastery.
Later this year, another murder milestone awaits in the October releases. These will call upon the big names for a final surge of slaughter into the Christmas holidays. Already announced and taking advance orders are books by Val McDermid (Cross And Burn), Elizabeth George (Just One Evil Act) and Ruth Rendell (No Man's Nightingale).
