Cover art has always been an integral part of the crime fiction experience. No area of literature has dedicated more time and ingenuity to creating a graphic experience for dedicated readers and casual bookstore browsers alike. Provocative, inspired, and insightful, the best crime covers bring out new layers in the texts they enclose. Despite the occasional fallow period of stock photography and jumbo fonts, the art isn’t dead. It’s alive and well. To celebrate the tradition, each month CrimeReads editors highlight the very best covers from the newest books in crime, mystery, and thrillers.
Daniela Petrova, Her Daughter’s Mother (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Cover Design: Monica Cordova
Note the lushness of the bouquet set against the shadow work that mimics wilting. Not to mention the insect detail.
Karen Lord, Unraveling (DAW)
Cover Design: Leo Nickolls
A labyrinth with an evil eye symbol in place of the minotaur—not bad for building that sense of dread.
Sarah Gailey, Magic for Liars (Tor Books)
Cover Design: Will Staehle
Our second evil eye of the month! The iconography here is startling, evocative and really quite enticing. Is there any doubt you’re going to read a complex and forking mystery full of double-backs and sleights of hand?
Jo Baker, The Body Lies (Knopf)
Cover Design: Jenny Carrow
A beautiful tableau and a clever riff on the headless bodies that populate so many noirs and thrillers.
Peter Houlahan, Norco ‘80 (Counterpoint)
Cover Design: Jaya Micelli
An instant slice of late 70s/early 80s Southern California, a world full of gurus, cults, hustlers, and, as readers will find out, bank robbers.
Kelsey Rae Dimberg, Girl in the Rearview Mirror (William Morrow)
Cover Design: Elsie Lyons
Another smart piece of commentary on the ‘summer reads’ motif of sunglasses—here in vivid detail, but subtly shattered.
