I've had a few complaints from readers about the women on the covers of the Captain Lacey books. To some, a woman on the cover signals "romance," and definitely not mystery. Why this should be, I'm not sure--to me a romance cover has a shirtless male who obviously works out two hours a day and swallows a case of protein powders while he's at it. If he has a shirt, it's falling off; and if a female is with him, she's pushing it off, or he's pushing her clothes off, or both, or they're sprawled sensuously in bed. A simple lady standing alone does not shout "romance" to me. Can women not appear on a book cover without it being a romance novel? This puzzles me (and the feminist in me).
However, I do listen to feedback, and the new print covers will be lady-less (with the exception of Hanover Square and Death in Norfolk, which are already in print--print covers take many weeks to change [designer has to redo it first of all] and racks up additional charges for re-uploading and re-printing). The ladies will remain on the e-book covers, but all the to-come print covers will be of scenes only.
The Glass House's new cover is above as an example of how the covers will look sans females.
FYI: The background on the cover of The Glass House is a photograph taken by me in London, in St. James's. Other tourists in London take photos of the stone-still guards or Nelson's column--I take pictures of doors.
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