Thursday, March 19, 2009

Cover Art of 2008

At this year's Bouchercon in Indianapolis in October, an Anthony award will be given for the first time for the best cover art of 2008. Authors agonize about their covers, which can make such an impact on the book buyer or reader, for good or ill. The bigger the publisher, the less likely it is that the author will have any say about the cover. We've all heard horror stories. And sometimes we strike it lucky, and an artist, photographer, and/or designer captures a perfect and memorable illustration of the author's vision. I've invited any and all authors who loved their 2008 covers to display them here. Note that we are not connected with the Anthonys in any way, just giving as many 2008 covers as we can a little wider circulation.

If you registered early for Bouchercon and therefore have a ballot to vote for nominees (not winners) for the Anthonys, note that you have to include the format (hardcover, trade paper, or mass market paperback) for your picks. If you don't have the books, you can get that info on Amazon. Sorry, authors, I forgot to ask you to include it--you can add it in a comment on this post.

An unexpected number of authors did love their 2008 covers. Here's a big batch of those covers, and I'll post more next Thursday. I'll start with mine.

Elizabeth Zelvin, Death Will Get You Sober (hardcover)


Jeffrey Marks, Anthony Boucher: A Biobibliography


Jeff Cohen, It Happened One Knife



Eric Stone, Flight of the Hornbill


Julie Kramer, Stalking Susan


Deborah Shlian, Rabbit in the Moon


Laura Elvebak, Less Dead


Betty Webb, Desert Cut


Kathy Lynn Emerson, How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries


Betty Sullivan LaPierre, The Lure of the Witch


C.J. Lyons, Lifelines (paperback original)


Lou Allin, And On the Surface Die


Jeri Westerson, Veil of Lies (hardcover)


Louise Ure, The Fault Tree (hardcover)


Vicki Lane, In A Dark Season (mass market paperback original)


Roberta Isleib, Asking For Murder (paperback original)


Elaine Viets, Clubbed to Death (hardcover)


Marilyn Meredith, Kindred Spirits


Mary Jane Maffini, The Cluttered Corpse


Baron Birtcher, Angels Fall (hardcover)


Clare Langley-Hawthorne, The Serpent and the Scorpion


Renée Gardner, And the Dog Took the Cat


I.J. Parker, The Hell Screen


Linda Richards, Death Was the Other Woman


Chester Campbell, The Marathon Murders (hardcover & trade paper)


Pat Browning, Absinthe of Malice (trade paperback)


Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, Seven for a Secret


Deborah Sharp, Mama Does Time


James R. Benn, Blood Alone


Visit again next Thursday, March 26, for more 2008 covers the authors loved.

15 comments:

Joyce Tremel said...

There are so many GREAT covers. I don't know how we're supposed to pick just one!

Anonymous said...

This is a great new category for Bouchercon. I love your parade of covers, Liz!
I also see some titles I love.

Deb Baker said...

Thanks, Liz. Still a hard decision but now I have some ideas.

caryn said...

Thank you Liz, this was a great idea.
Also, I've jotted down a couple of titles to look for-titles and authors I'm not familiar with, so even if the cover didn't say much to me, I'm looking for the book.
There are some stunning covers out there!

Vicki Lane said...

Thanks so much for doing this, Liz!

(IN A DARK SEASON is a mass market paperback original.)

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Liz. This was a real service to mystery writers and mystery readers. (And my book, CLUBBED TO DEATH, is a hardcover)

Elizabeth Zelvin said...

Thanks, everyone. I was thrilled by the great response. I'll add format information per authors' comments when I check back. And this post will be available after today--you'll just have to scroll down past more recent posts or use the search box to find it. More covers next Thursday, too!

Lucy Burdette aka Roberta Isleib said...

Great and generous idea Liz--thank you! Berkley has done a super job with all of my covers--as my agent says, the cover fairy was busy:)

(Asking for Murder was a PBO in 2008.)

Anonymous said...

What a parade of great covers! Thanks for doing this, Liz!

My book ABSINTHE OF MALICE is a trade paperback in 2008.

Pat Browning

Marilyn Meredith a.k.a. F. M. Meredith said...

This was fun. I love covers. This is a great display. Thank you,

Marilyn
a.k.a. F. M. Meredith

CJ Lyons said...

Thanks for doing this, Liz! Wow, what a great collection!
CJ

(LIFELINES is a paperback original)

Louise Ure said...

Thanks for Putting this together, Liz.

THE FAULT TREE is in the hardcover category.

Chester Campbell said...

Great idea, Liz. And a great bunch of covers. My Marathon Murders was a simultaneous release in both trade paperback and hardcover.

Martha said...

Wow, these are so fun! Great idea for a blog post. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

STALKING SUSAN is a hardcover. I think my designer was going for that yellow journalism look.