Cover Reveal for TWO PARTS BLOODY MURDER
/We've finally come to the last of the new covers for the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries' new release in trade paperback format. Once again, many thanks to Jess Danna Photography for the wonderful custom job. She was tireless in giving me exactly what I needed for all the covers and I'm thrilled with the results.
This cover is the one that is closest to the original, but that's because this is the scene that starts off the whole book. When Five Star asked for our input on what we wanted on the cover, it was our answer then, and it's still our answer. Our cover is just a little closer to the actual prose. *big grin*
The case in TWO PARTS BLOODY MURDER kicks off when Prohibition-era skeletal remains are found inside the wall of a Massachusetts speakeasy, lost to time for roughly seventy years. Jess built this image out of pieces instead of starting with a base photograph as she had for DEAD, WITHOUT A STONE TO TELL IT and A FLAME IN THE WIND OF DEATH. She used a skull from the pictures that I took in 2011 for this blog when I was doing a series of blog posts on using skeletons to determine sex and age (you'll see this same skull gracing the cover of LAMENT THE COMMON BONES). The sledgehammer used by Matt and Rowe to take down the wall came from a photo shoot Jess did for one of her Bachelor of Photography projects at a blacksmith's workshop. And the bricks themselves came from a number of pictures taken at a condemned building in town.
The only other aspect I wanted to make sure was captured was the flavour of Prohibition. So Jess added an aged barrel, just like the ones found in the back room of the speakeasy.
Put it all together and this is the final result:
And the full cover for the trade paperback print version:
This cover was the most work intensive of all of them as it was built from components and had to be combined seamlessly. But I'm very please by how it came out.
And now the good news! The trade paperback versions of the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries will be available on April 24th through Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and Amazon.co.uk. That's next week! So if you want copies of these new versions (D, I'm looking at you!), I'll be back next week with active buy links. See you then!
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