Wednesday, September 13, 2017

A Few Red Herrings


Remember that post I did back in May about the proliferation of mystery book covers featuring crows? I had a thought cross my mind the other day (no, it didn't hurt) and did some searching.

Here are some of the results of that search, narrowed down to a dozen of the mysteries that have Red Herrings in their titles. I think you'll very quickly notice a theme. Let's take a look!



























Did you notice the theme? Red herrings may be a popular plot device in mysteries, but it's rather obvious that showing fish on a cover is taboo! Out of a dozen covers with red herring in the title, there's only one that actually shows a fish. If you think about it for a second, it's completely understandable. Who wants a fish eye staring at them from the front of a book?

Now that you've taken a look at those covers, take another one. Which cover is your favorite? My favorite is Catriona McPherson's The Reek of Red Herrings, and following in second is A Plate of Red Herrings by Richard Lockridge.


 

3 comments:

  1. Ooh, I love it, Cathy! So clever. And Jonothan Cullinane's Red Herring is shortlisted for this years Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel and Best First Novel...

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  2. I like Alan Bradley's, Catriona McPherson and Susan Maxwell's. Maxwell's at least has a red herring on it.
    I like McPherson's, but again a side view of a woman.

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