Misleading cover art

by Carola

I've already posted the covers of the Polish translations of my Daisy Dalrymple mysteries, and commented on the black cat that infests them though not appearing in the books http://murderousmusings.blogspot.com/2013/08/daisy-in-polish.html

This is a much more misleading cover:

The Hebrew translation of Mayhem and Miranda, one of my Regencies. Unless they drastically altered the text in translating it, the pic has nothing whatever to do with the story.

Anyone buying the book expecting a bodice-ripper would be sorely disappointed. What's more, they spelled my name--I'm told--Carol Deen.
 

 This original paperback cover and the ebook cover on the right are far more appropriate.







That was probably the most downright wrong cover I've had, being of the wrong genre, but over the years there has been plenty of just-not-quite-right art.





Of my mysteries, the worst (twice) is Requiem for a Mezzo, the third Daisy Dalrymple mystery.

From this, wouldn't you reckon the victim was a blonde in a red dress? Or, according to the UK edition, a brunette in a blue dress?

 The audio version thinks it was a blonde in a black dress.

My mother, for one, kept switching between text and cover of the first one, thoroughly confused because it's actually a blonde in a blue dress.
 










This cover is really cute: the three-year-old, black-haired like her Spanish mother, is adorable. (We'll ignore the fact that the hero and heroine ought to be watching her and stopping her from feeding a swan--a highly dangerous act!)

Its sequel takes place about three months later. In the meantime the darling little girl has aged by five years or so and bleached her hair:

Odd!

       The ebook cover----> is perfect. I was browsing in a thrift shop in England when I found a print of an artillery officer of the British Army in the Napoleonic era. That's what Captain Ingram is. My Regency ebook publisher used
it, so this is just right.







One that I can't show you because I managed to get it changed is the hardcover of Dead in the Water, the 6th Daisy mystery. It's set in Henley-on-Thames, a small, pretty town 35 miles or so west of London. Luckily my editor sent me a preview--which doesn't always happen. The art showed St Paul's, Tower Bridge, Big Ben... I can't actually remember which London landmarks, but several were squished in. I squealed loudly (via email) and he asked the art department why they'd done it. They said it was to show the book took place in England! As the previous 5 of the series had also taken place in England, it seemed an insufficient reason. They changed it. It's not a very attractive cover but at least it's not apparently set in London.

I could go on practically without end, but don't worry, I won't. Just one more art department decision.



They changed the title of The Actress and the Rake, and asked why, said it was too long. THREE LETTERS they couldn't fit in, apparently. I could have.

So don't ask an author why the cover doesn't fit the book. It's not his/her fault!