Book cover for Stella St. Claire's "Barking up the Wrong Bakery", a book in the 'cosy crime' genre.

Information in the brief was that the murderer uses a coffee pot to clobber the victim, and drowns them in a vat of coffee beans! However, the investigator is an amateur sleuth and dog walker, so this is in 'cozy crime' territory, not hard crime.

I took a gentler, more feminine tack as a result. I used paws and bones to represent the dogs in the book, magnifying glasses as the classic signifier of sleuthing, and coffee beans scattered to link to the plot. The pouring coffee turns into blood as it descends to hint at the crime, without being gory.

Client was great to work with, offering great feedback, and I produced a design that suited their needs and tastes.

This was my initial pitch - not a million miles from the final product!

I'm not a fan of script fonts aesthetically, or indeed any of the fonts I used here, but they suited the genre. Slanting the title added some interest and pace to the cover, and the gingham-esque backdrop was quick to do but looked super-effective.

The brief didn't include a tagline, so I came up with this one based on the plot synopsis, expecting it to change later. The publisher liked it so we kept it!

Completed cover for book 2 in the series - this book is based around the murder of a wedding planner with a poisoned piece of cake!

I reused the magnifying glass, bone and pawprint elements, but everything else was done fresh. I went for a background of confetti shapes (or maybe dog skin pattern? I don't know which dogs are in this book, apparently the breeds change each time), with different, purple confetti strands on top.

The wedding cake is the murder weapon, which leant itself to the dripping jam becoming blood, in the same way as the coffee/blood from the first book. It hints at the plot without being gory, and I think is successful at creating a nice series look.

Initial concept, presented alongside Book 1 so series consistency could be assessed

Working from title alone, without knowledge of the plot, I assumed one half of the happy couple would be the victim, hence the groom lying on the floor! I later changed it to the wedding planner and restored him to his place atop the cake.

I felt the cake was rushed and a little grey, so I boosted the cream colour in later versions. 

(Note the temporary tagline!)

Version 3 or 4. Shades off the final one, just a slight repositioning and polishing of some elements (e.g. colour matching the things in magnifying glasses I've lazily left the same colour as Book1 and not amended yet).

I've come up with a new, cute tagline now I know the plot, and worked in the dead wedding planner.

I stuck to the same side-by-side presentation, as much for my own benefit as anything, but it was also effective for the client

Cover for Book 3 for the series, this time focussing around a prom night and a murder using a leg of meat!

Latest cover in the series - it's great to be asked to keep working on them.