Dying in Style, by Michael Carson (Poolbeg Press, £6.99)

Question: to what lengths will a publisher and author go in order to bring in a bestseller? In this case, pretty extreme ones. Arthur Whitworth has written a thriller called Dying in Style which has sunk with a reverberating clang. Then the author ups and dies under mysterious circumstances, and the characters from his book, taken from real life, begin following suit. Bisexual Detective Inspector Dyer is put on the case, his forensic scientist wife, Edith, cuts up the cadavers, his assistant, Keeley, falls for one of the intended victims, the corpses mount higher, and the public, avid for vicarious catharsis, sends the book careening to the top of the bestseller lists. A wildly frenetic read, this, with black humour triumphant. Could it start a cult? In one of my own humble efforts is the genre I caused a body to be found in a skip, and a week after publication a real victim was discovered in such a waste disposal unit. Did nothing for the sales, though.