Readers: Do Your Suspense Tastes Change with the Seasons?

image credit Today is Wednesday, the 21st of February in northwestern Vermont...and it's nearly 70 degrees outside. 

To say that we've had unusual weather this winter would be an understatement. But today's balmy temperatures have my mind turned to gardening and cleaning up the yard...and enjoying fresh, delicious strawberries straight from the raised bed. Mmm, along with fresh salad topped with dill and green-tailed onions  still warm from the sun. 

Obviously in summer months we  eat differently than we do in the winter. Somehow sitting down to a big bowl of steaming stew or a plate filled with hot soup in the middle of July doesn't sound as appealing, does it? 

This led me to wonder: do readers' tastes in books change with the seasons? You've heard the term, "beach read," right? It usually denotes lighter, fluffier reading fare than you might otherwise choose. 

But what about suspense readers? Do we like to change to lighter, fluffier mystery/suspense novels in the summer as opposed to the darker months of winter? Or is the opposite true? Perhaps we gravitate toward heavier reads in the lighter months, when the world doesn't feel quite so oppressive. 

I did a quick Google search but most of what I found was related to helping children find "just right" books (reading material most appropriate for their reading levels). I did, however, find this interesting article by C. Hope Clark on how readers tend to choose the books they read. 

I'd love to hear your take. Do you find that your books change depending on the season? Leave a comment and get the conversation started!