Another Cover Story @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: Since next summer’s Key West mystery is number 14 in the series, I knew exactly what to expect along the way. A year and several months before the publication date, I knew I would get an email from the publisher asking for a book summary, cover ideas, and title suggestions. I try to think ahead, even though the book isn’t written yet and there isn’t even a ghost of an outline. Here’s what I sent in:

Key West food critic Hayley Snow is working on this week’s articles for Key Zest magazine when an intriguing e-mail hits her inbox, titled Hemingway’s toxic love and an old story. Catherine Davitt tells Hayley that she has returned to the Keys to research a book, but she also wants to investigate the disappearance of an old friend back in the late 1970s. The two young women were part of a group of lost souls camping in the mangroves on Big Pine Key, until Catherine’s friend Veronica disappeared, and the Sheriff’s Office cleaned out the camp.

Ever-curious Hayley agrees to help her, and they travel up the islands to Big Pine Key to talk to some other Islanders who were around in the 70s. After chatting with one woman who has nothing much to add, they stop at an old motel to visit a man who was on the outer edges of this commune. Instead of answers, they find him murdered. It’s hard not to imagine a connection. Then Catherine disappears, leaving Hayley and Miss Gloria to unravel two possible murders, one old and one new, and track down a murderer who might very well have them in his or her sights.

As for the cover, I told them I’d love this one to look a little bit vintage, with perhaps a weathered picnic table with a Key deer nosing around in addition to the requisite cat. (There are two storylines woven together, one from the 70’s and the other today.) If we chose a vintage postcard look, I said, the title and artwork could be cached inside the words—see the Key West postcard. These are the photos I sent:

Way, way, way far down on the page, I added, 'if the vintage postcard idea isn’t chosen, another option could focus on this picnic table, with umbrella and deer and cat, but a more scruffy background as Big Pine isn’t manicured like Key West.' (I really had my fingers crossed for the vintage postcard look.)

John has a cameo:)

 

And here was the first draft I received:

Well, sigh. No deer, no vintage postcard. Though there is a turtle! (Though there is no turtle in the book...) I went to bat for a few changes, and I've come to realize that the vintage look would have distracted from the series look. It's gorgeous, don't you think?

Question for readers: How important are the details of a book's cover when choosing what to read? Do you notice changes within a series?

If you'd like to read my other cover drama stories, you can find them here:

Death in Four Courses

Killer Takeout

A Scone of Contention