Cover Reveal!

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Jessie: In New Hampshire where the snow was melted away by Saturday’s heavy rains.

Covers! Ah covers! They are one of the trickiest parts of the publishing business. They have to convey in images and a few choice words why in the world anyone would be interested inthe contents contained behind them. A cover must provide a sort of shorthand of the tone, genre and emotinal ride a book will provide whilst simultaneously making room for the title, the recommendation of others and all the stock-keeping information like bar codes and price. I am always in awe of the task set before them!

I have been lucky enough to have a single cover designer for each of my Beryl and Edwina books thus far. I am even luckier to be able to contribute to the conversation about what the covers should include months before they are created. I share images on Pinterest boards as well as lists of keywords and short phrases pointing out important bits of information like the time of year, the method of murder, the general setting.

After that the wizards in the Art Department take over and start drafting something that manages to include what they think is relevant and also appealing to the majority of lighthearted historical mystery readers. After long enough for me to have forgotten there is a cover in the works somewhere I receive an email from my editor with the image of it attached.

I think this one turned out quit charmingly. In fact, I think it may be my favorite for the series thus far! It reminds me of a vintage Nancy Drew Mystery cover. I am delighted with the way it points to what is transpiring in the mystery without giving too much away. Beryl and Edwina look rather dashing, just as a pair of intrepid sleuths should!

Readers, does this cover make you think of vintage Nancy Drews? Writers, do you have a favorite cover for one of your books?

Published by Jessie Crockett

Jessie Crockett wears a lot of hats, both literally and literarily. As Jessie Crockett she is the Daphne Award winning author of Live Free or Die and the nationally bestselling Sugar Grove series. As Jessica Ellicott she has received starred reivews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal for her historical mystery Murder in an English Village. As Jessica Estevao she writes the Agatha Award nominated Change of Fortune Mysteries. She loves the beach, fountain pens, Mini Coopers and throwing parties. She lives in northern New England where she obsessively knits wool socks and enthusiastically speaks Portuguese with a shocking disregard for the rules of grammar.

36 Thoughts

  2. I love all of your covers! I don’t think I have a favorite cover for my series, but there are definitely some I like better than others. You’re not wrong that coming up with a good one can be a challenge. I have agonized over several.

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  3. I love it, Jessie! Kensington has fabulous cover artists. I loved all five of my Local Foods Mysteries covers. For the second Country Store book, I forgot to tell them the season the book takes place in, so a late November book looks like it’s spring outside. Readers loved it any, but now I put the time of year in the first line of my cover ideas email.

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  5. Love, love, LOVE the Beryl and Edwina Mystery series! Can’t wait for the opportunity to read MURDER IN AN ENGLISH GLADE to read more of the girl’s adventures.

    Fabulous cover which I think would have anyone picking up the book to examine the back cover if they didn’t know who the author was or about the series. To me the covers are very much like the Nancy Drew books now that you mention it. Maybe that’s why I love them so much. 🙂 I am drawn by a book cover I take time to examine it and try to figure out details about the book. I even go back after I read it to see if I got it right or if there are little details that pop out that I missed when I first looked at it.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  9. The cover does have a lovely vintage Nancy Drew feel. You are so lucky you have input into cover design, I know that many writers don’t have that luxury.

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  13. It DOES remind me of a vintage Nancy Drew book. I had a whole collection of them growing up. My mother got rid of them. She either gave them away or sold them in a garage sale.
    All of the ones that I like the most either have a dog or a cat on them, sometimes both.

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  14. I love all the covers in this series and this one is terrific. I am wary of labeling things as vintage since during our old movie discussion last week two people mentioned movies I saw first run in the theatre. I have discovered that I am vintage!

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  15. Yes, it does feel like Nancy Drew and I love the covers on her books. In fact, I just finished a jigsaw puzzle of ND covers.

    I very seldom (like almost never) reread a book, but I reread Murder in an English Village yesterday and loved it all over again.

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  16. With Beryl and Edwina (and of course Crumpet) for models, how could you not have a lovely book cover?!
    New books are so exciting and it looks like you will have another great cozy mystery read for us…even better!

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    1. That is so sweet of you, Judy! I think my ladies make decent models and Crumpet is quite handsome too. In fact, someone in Murder in an English Glade ends up posing as an artist’s model!

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