A Scone of Contention, Cover Reveal! @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: Far in advance of a published book, I receive an email from my editorial contact at Crooked Lane, asking for ideas about the cover art, including a summary of the plot. That email came in August for A SCONE OF CONTENTION, which will be in stores next August. 

I always have ideas about the cover, as by this point most of the story is written and I've been collecting photos all along. I began to picture what scene might be most evocative. Much of Scone takes place in Scotland, with a pivotal scene in the gorgeous but forbidding mountains around Glencoe. So I suggested those mountains, along with tartan plaid, a plate of scones, and the requisite cat. (Remember that since this is a cozy foodie mystery series, there does need to be food on the cover, along with some suggestion of menace, and the cat. The cat is pretty much mandatory--even though the characters are in Scotland, and Evinrude, Hayley's striped tiger, is at home in Key West.) Here's what came back:

My first reaction when I saw the draft was that the artists did not use my ideas. But the more I looked, the clearer it became that they did exactly what I asked for. I had been picturing a small table set up in the mountains--almost like a picnic (which doesn’t really fit with the plot but it’s fiction.) The artists (Griesbach/Martucci) put the table with baked goods inside, looking out on the gorgeous Scottish scenery. Which is perfect! Here's the tiniest bit of the Glencoe scene:

Helen was waiting for me on the deck in back of the building, but there was no sign of Miss Gloria.

“Is she coming?” Helen asked, looking behind me and adding a laugh. “I’ve never seen anyone so excited about choosing the right gifts for her friends. She is such a treasure. I hope I have half of her energy when I get to her age.”

“I lost track of her,” I said, peering around the deck and getting an uneasy feeling. I was the one who’d been fooling around in the gift shop, not Miss Gloria. I hadn’t noticed her in there at all. I tried to think where she would’ve gone. 

“Maybe she started off on the nature trail on her own? Or maybe she saw Vera and went with her? Or probably she made a stop in the rest room.” 

But the slight uneasiness I'd noticed was developing into a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. My friend had been quiet all morning, never so quiet as during and after the little film that described the massacre of the MacDonald clan. I should have stuck closer to her, not spent so much time perusing recipes. I should have noticed signs that she might be troubled.

“She’s probably gone looking for the ruins of the cottage,” I said. “And that worries me because she takes these emotional things so hard.”

We studied the map describing the various nature trails and took a narrow path carpeted in grass in the direction of the ruins, where the farmers of the MacDonald clan had lived in the late 1600s. As we drew closer, we saw piles of stones covered in moss and lichens that would have been the foundations of their cottages. 

My heart rate began to rise as I heard a terrible moaning noise. In the distance near the green stones, I spotted Gavin trotting toward the noise from the opposite direction. But no sign of Miss Gloria.

Readers: How important is a cover when you're considering whether to buy a book? I wonder if this is different for people who read hard copies vs ebooks? Are you ever bothered that the cover doesn't reflect the content?

A SCONE OF CONTENTION can be preordered now. And if you're a Netgalley/Goodreads etc reviewer, the ebook is available for download.