Murder in July

DESIGN FOR MURDER -- Percival Wilde -- Random House ($2). Group of rich and amoral idlers enjoying "murder game" in a Connecticut villa are shocked when fun turns realistic and two players die. Four others write their accounts of the crime and its unguessable solution.

Sardonic, sophisticated, ably plotted.

DEATH AND TAXES -- David Dodge --Macmillan ($2). A huge tax refund on a dead beer-baron's estate motivates the murder of an income-tax expert. The expert's pardner, who likes liquor, ladies and a good scrap, helps California police clean up a tricky case. Hard-hitting and well-knit -- the "find" of the month.

MURDER GIVES A LOVELY LIGHT -- John Stephen Strange -- Crime Club ($2).

Enmity in the servants' hall and the sud den inspiration of a city detective catch a poisoner at work in an aristocratic Gramercy Park family. The mystery has its flaws but the story is believable and well-written.

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