Welcome back to another blog hop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.
Don’t forget to click the purple button to see what everyone else has to say on this week’s subject. It’s at the end of my post.
Post your favorite cover from your books and explain why it’s your favorite.
It has to be the cover from Andorra Pett and the Oort Cloud Café, the first in the series featuring the reluctant and accident-prone amateur detective herself.
The series are all light-hearted crime mysteries, featuring an amateur detective who is like a cross between Agatha Raisin and Miss Marple. I’m resisting the urge to use the term cozy mystery, largely because cozy readers have told me that they aren’t.
They say that because they’re set in space, they don’t fall into the genre. Fair enough, I guess. Although in every other respect, I think that’s what they are.
However you want to categorise them, the books are a series that is dear to my heart. It’s my longest and most successful to date and the first thing I ever wrote featuring a female lead character. The sixth adventure will be published in September and I have the next in the early stages of preparation. There’s also a spin-off novel in my plans.
There will be more about that in my post on Thursday.
I thought that the original cover was good and it got a lot of compliments. But when it came to adding to the series, I found it hard to decide on a suitable look. By then, I’d released several books and my branding was non-existent. I realised that I needed to address that.
Here’s the original cover. I still like it.
Anyhow, I had all my covers redesigned in 2020, to create a brand across my work. I asked my designer to come up with a picture that would suggest the themes of a café in space and a person out of their depth.
This was what they saw.
People liked it and told me that it fitted the tone of the book. Because of that, I took the plunge and had the whole series (so far) done by the same artist.
Until next time.
Let me know what you think about this week’s subject.
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Darlene Foster
I love the covers of these books. I think they are sci-fi cozy mysteries!
Richard Dee
Thank you, it’s a sore point. Cozy readers say they’re sci-fi, sci-fi readers say they’re cozy. As far as I’m concerned, they’re just stories.
Stevie Turner
Great covers for your series of books, Richard. Did you design the original cover?
Richard Dee
Thank you, I did the blue one myself but ran out of ideas when it came to the sequels.
P.J. MacLayne
Hard-core cozy mystery readers can be very strict about the supposed ‘rules’ for the genre.
Richard Dee
I know. At the end, they’re murder mysteries, just in a different setting.
Leon Stevens
The original cover reminds me of I Dream of Genie. The series has a great cohesiveness to the design.
Richard Dee
Thanks, I liked the original but was unable to find good images for the sequels, hence the redesign.
Steven Smith
I love these covers, the fit the cozy vibe!
Richard Dee
Thanks, they convey what I wanted them to.
Samantha J Bryant
My books went through a re-brand, too, in 2019, when I changed publishers. Sometimes change is for the better. Yours look great! @samanthabwriter from
Balancing Act
Richard Dee
Thank you, it’s good to develop a brand.