I just wanted to share this wonderful cover for my upcoming mystery THE HOUSE THAT WENT DOWN WITH THE SHIP. The cover went through various versions (we’ll skip the earlier ones here) and thanks to the patience of my editor at Bella Rosa Books and the talented artist Nick Deligaris, we arrived at the final version shown here.

As I written elsewhere on this blog, covers can be tricky. Consider yourself lucky if you are working with a publisher who is willing to adapt (or is that adopt?) your ideas.

If truth must be known, I cast about for ideas on one of those stock photo websites, but nothing quite grabbed me. I had this idea of a house under water (we’ve heard that term a lot these days, haven’t we). However, it was hard to really show that the house was sitting on the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay. Showing the house sinking gives the cover a more active feel. Splash! You can really see that house going down.

A nice touch is the bridge in the background, which represents the Chesapeake City bridge. (This is the real-life waterfront Canal Town where the mystery is set.)

The artist was really helpful in that he quickly changed things around when I didn’t go for the first house he picked. I was able to take some photos of an American Four Square, which is featured in the book, and send them his way.

While the artist created the illustration, it was the publisher who added the text, including the very nice “blurb” from Tamar Myers.

What I’m now anxiously awaiting is the actual book! Any day now, my friends!