A writer always hopes and prays for a good cover. I feel fortunate to have had mostly good covers for my more than 50 books. I have had several duds, but we won't mention those further, except for one.
Here's the cover I had made for The Marshal Next Door when I first got my rights back. I picked the background and the image for the hero, but it all turned out so dark. This is no slight on the person who created the covers since I picked out the images. The story is funny, romantic, and exciting. I've never been happy with the darkness of the cover, so I hired someone to redo it.
I really like the brighter colors of this one, plus the hero seems more approachable. The historical element is mostly missing, but I feel that's okay. I escpecially like the blue bonnets in the field, although they are hard to see in this small image.
So tell me, which cover do you like better and why?
The Marshal Next Door is part of the 4-novella series called 1880s Christmas Mysteries. I wrote it with my good friend, Susan Page Davis. Each novella is a stand-alone story, but the series is set in the same small town, and the various characters appears in the different stories. There is also an over-arching mystery that runs through all four novellas. You can read the books out of order, but you may not fully understand the over-arching mystery.
Here is the order of the series:
Yes, you do need to buy all four novellas to get the full story, but they are only $2.99 each. That gives you over 100 pages of exciting reading for under $12. What a deal!
Here's what The Marshal Next Door is about:
When Justin Yates' deputy claims he’s seen the marshal’s twin sisters snooping around businesses where there have been recent thefts, Justin can’t believe his sisters might be the thieves, but when evidence is found in his house, will he have to arrest the twins at Christmastime?
To make matters worse, he is starting to fall for his deputy's sister. He can only imagine what the man will say about that.
Here's a sneak peek:
“Seriously, Marshal Yates, there’s no call to point a rifle at us.”
Though he doubted the Spencer brothers were dangerous, Justin Yates tightened his grip on his Winchester as he stared out his front door at the troublesome duo. On more than one occasion he had calmed irate townsfolk after the meddlesome brothers had egged a home, stolen a pie off someone’s porch, or any number of things the problematic pair was known for. How they had the nerve to show up at his door and ask what they had, he’d never know.
“Yeah—I mean. . . .yes, sir. All we want is to take Emma and Ella out for a walk.” Barry Spencer, freshly shaven and armed with a flower bouquet instead of a slingshot, still looked more than a little dangerous. The sixteen-year-old stood an inch taller than his younger brother, Carl, but a good half a foot shorter than Justin.
Behind him, Justin heard a gasp, then excited whispering. Evidently, his twin sisters were eavesdropping from the dining room. That was nothing new.
“Yeah, that’s all,” Carl cleared his warbling throat and jerked his head, flipping his shaggy blond hair out of his eyes. “Just walkin’. No . . . uh . . . hanky-panky.” The boy’s tanned cheeks turned the color of a ripe apple. His brother scowled and elbowed him.
More gasps from the twins.
Justin tucked his rifle in the crook of his arm, drawing the brothers’ gaze back to him. Shifting from one foot to the other, Carl swallowed an audible gulp that made his Adam’s apple bulge for a moment. Justin bit back a smile at the youth’s discomfort and struggled to maintain a sober expression. But really, there was nothing humorous about their interest in his sisters. “Sorry, fellows, Ella and Emma are only fourteen. They’re far too young to be courting.”
“C-courting!” Carl shot a frantic glance at his brother. “You said a walk. I ain’t interested in gettin’ married.” Without waiting for Barry, he spun and leapt off the porch, tossing the half-wilted bouquet of daisies in the yard.
“No,” one of his sisters cried.
Justin lifted an eyebrow as he stared down Barry Spencer. “My sisters aren’t about to be seen walking around town on a man’s” —and he used the term generously— “arm, if said ‘man’ has anything on his mind other than marriage. And when the day comes that I do agree to let them talk a stroll with a man, it will be with an upstanding, God-fearing man.”
Barry ducked his head, the flowers hanging from his limp arm. “Aw shucks.”
“I suggest before you call on a young lady again, you should straighten up your life. You two are a bit old for tomfoolery. No self-respecting father—or brother—is going to allow his daughter to walk around with the town prankster. Get a job—and keep it—and maybe in a couple of years the men of this town will look at you differently.” He closed the front door and shook his head. He couldn’t believe the nerve those boys had. He braced himself for the chugging locomotive of emotion barreling toward him.
“Jus—tin!” His twin sisters screeched his name, making it sound like the high-pitched squealing brakes of an arriving train.
“I’m mortified.” Emma covered her face then peeked through her fingers. “Why did you send them away?”
“Yeah.” Ella, a perfect image of her sister, shoved her hands to her waist. “We wanted to go walking around town with them. They’re the cutest boys in school.”
Justin narrowed his eyes and prayed for patience. “Do you know how much trouble those two have caused in this town?”
Emma cast a glance at her sister. “But they’re the only boys in school near our age.”
“Barry is still in school?” Justin shook his head. “Isn’t he sixteen?”
Ella had been staring at him as if she could burn holes through him, but her expression wilted. “He might’ve had to do a year over.”
“Or two,” her twin mumbled.
That’s just dandy. “You need to set your sights substantially higher than those two. When you’re old enough to step out with a male, I suspect God will provide each of you a good and decent man. You both need some patience—and a few more years before you think about marriage.”
Ella, older by four minutes, stamped her foot. “We are old enough. Mamie Sanford and Elizabeth Young both got married when they were fifteen, and we almost are.”
“And Liza Mae Green was only sixteen.” Emma’s stern glare would have been comical if the topic wasn’t so serious.
“Well, you’re not stepping out, so get used to the idea.” Justin sent them a glare that made grown men cower, but his sisters didn’t even flinch. “And until you grow up, take more responsibility, and prove to me that you are maturing, you’re not leaving this house.”
“That’s not fair!” they cried in unison.
As you can see, Justin has his hands full with the twin sisters he has raised since their parents' deaths, not to mention the numerous thefts that have be happening in town. He wants his sisters to learn be more lady-like, so he hires his deputy's sister and next door neighbor to teach them, but things keep going wrong.
Check out this fun story. It's sure to make you chuckle.
