Monday, April 16, 2018

Covers of Safekeeping



When I watched The Poisoned Pen's live Facebook feed of the event for Francine Mathews, Charles Todd, and Sophie Hannah, Hannah made me laugh...and she made me curious. Hannah's latest novel is titled Did You See Melody? in the UK, and she wanted to keep that title for the US edition. Her US publisher had other ideas. They wanted to call it Keep Her Safe. "But aren't there a lot of books called Keep Her Safe?" Hannah asked. "Yes. Americans like books called Keep Her Safe," her publisher replied. They won the title battle-- Surprise, surprise.

I have to admit that this small piece of information made me curious, so I googled Keep Her Safe book covers to see what would happen. Heavens above, we do like books with that title! In fact, we seem to be on a fictional quest for safety. We want everyone to be safe, and I thought I'd have some fun showing you some of the covers showing this need for safekeeping. Let's get started!


Here we have the cover of Hannah's book.
 
Locked in a safe? That's a little too safe for me!


Our biggest fear seems to be for our children.


Those little red shoes in the snow tug at my heart.


Here we go with the chopped-off profile.


How far would I go? I'd at least shut the window...


Then we have scaredy cats making demands...


Too much blurb on a so-so cover.


I think a certain payment is expected in return for keeping her safe.


Then we have some covers making promises...


The crayon scribbles make it plain this is a promise to a child.


Anyone who reads crime fiction is aware that a mother doesn't always know best.


You'd better! How about starting with a new (less air-conditioned) house?


In a way, my favorite since it implies we each are responsible for our own safety. (And it's British. Coincidence?)


Did you notice anything else about this group of book covers? With very few exceptions, they are a rather bland lot, don't you think? Does the theme of safety mean the covers have to be "safe," too?

What do you think? Inquiring minds would love to know!




19 comments:

  1. Wow, Cathy, who knew? Such a lot of covers, and they all have their differences, too. To me, it's interesting how certain words and themes keep cropping up in titles and coveres.

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  2. That is a funny story about Sophie Hannah and her conversation with her publisher. Several of these are on my list - especially the Peter May book (which has the expected and interesting b/w cover). I think I may own a couple of these. And I do want to read the K.A. Tucker book - set in Austin, I'm pretty sure (even with the cut-off face!).

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    1. Watching that live feed is what persuaded me to read one of Hannah's books.

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  3. This is intriguing. What does it mean that U.S. readers like the title, "Keep Her Safe," or "Keep Me Safe." I'll bet a lof of those readers are women who worry about their own safety and that of their children.

    The books suggesting that mothers can't keep their children safe or raising the threat of women being menaced scare me. Yes, I am a scaredy cat.

    Books of psychological suspense, domestic noir, make me nervous, keep the lights on and not take the garbage out -- and think of getting a dog.

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  4. Interesting that two different covers are shown for the same book by Richard Parker. I'd go with the little pair of red shoes before the open window any day.

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    1. Yes, the window cover is very generic in comparison with the red shoes.

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  5. I remember the story about your dog saving you. Made me appreciate dogs even more.

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    1. I'd never before had any other living creature put his or her own life at risk in order to save mine. Jere's been dead since 1985, and I still miss him.

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  6. Oh, loss of dogs is awful. What type of dog was Jere?
    Why don't you get another dog? Would your spouse mind? Or would all of your feathered friends be bothered?

    Was that guy caught?

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    1. Jere was a toy poodle, not a breed normally associated with life-saving. I had another dog after Jere, a wire-haired fox terrier named Zack who was killed trying to defend his home when a burglar broke in. Denis and I may get a dog in the future. There for a while we were doing quite a bit of traveling and didn't want the constant boarding fees.

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    2. I forgot to add that the guy was caught not long afterwards.

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  7. Poor Zack. That's a terrible story. Was that guy stopped and did he get caught?

    Dogs are so protective.

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    1. To my knowledge, Zack's killer was never caught.

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  8. That just makes me sad, that poor dog.

    But you've had very protective dogs. Even small ones will protect their owners and homes.

    Were you living in Arizona when both incidents happened?

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    1. I've never had a dog that wasn't extremely protective of me-- and I never trained them to be so.

      Yes, I was living in Arizona in this very house when both incidents occurred.

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  9. So sad. What brave dogs. It must have been so hard to deal with what happened to Zack and before that, the loss of Jere.

    I know about attachment to dogs.

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