New Book and Cover Reveal by Mary Simonsen

Dying to Write Smaller from ResizeSome of you may not know that in addition to writing Jane Austen re-imaginings, I also write the Patrick Shea mystery series. For about two years, I have been going back and forth between the two genres, but with my latest novel, I decided to combine the two!

Here’s the blurb from the back jacket:

In need of a break from his job at Scotland Yard, Detective Sergeant Patrick Shea of The Metropolitan Police is looking forward to some quiet time at a timeshare in rural Devon in England’s West Country. However, when he arrives at The Woodlands at Colyton, Patrick finds himself in the midst of a Jane Austen conference. 

Despite Regency Era dresses, bonnets, and parasols, a deep divide exists between the Jane Austen fan-fiction community, those who enjoy expanding on the author’s work by writing sequels and re-imaginings, and the Janeites, those devotees who think anyone who tampers with the original novels is committing a sacrilege. 

When one of the conference speakers is found dead in her condo, Patrick is seconded (reassigned) to the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary and finds himself back on the job trying to find her killer. Is it possible that the victim was actually killed because of the contents of a book? 

The book will be out in June. If you would like to know more about the mystery series, please visit patricksheamysteries.com. If you are interested in the series, a good place to start is with my novella, Three’s A Crowd, which introduces the character of Patrick Shea. It is available on Nook and Kindle for only .99.

I’d love to know what you think about the cover.

48 comments

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    • Sophia Rose on May 1, 2014 at 12:37 am
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    Cool, Mary! I can’t wait to read a new Patrick story particularly against this back drop.

    1. Wonderful, Sophia. I love your reviews!

    • Ruth Clapp on May 1, 2014 at 12:54 am
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    Is that blood or a wax seal? I say it is blood spattered around a wax seal. Was it the designer’s intention to have us wondering that?

    1. I’m the designer, and, yes, I wanted you to wonder about the seal. 🙂

  1. LOVE the title and the premise! This sounds a brilliant story, Mary – I can’t wait to buy this one. What a fun way to mesh genres but also bring in popular culture. I look forward to reading about the two ‘sides’ giving their opinions! 😉

    The cover is great – almost looks like a noose, and love the torn corner of the parchment.

    1. Thanks, Cassandra. From your comments, it seems I accomplished what I wanted to. That’s terrific!

    • Deborah on May 1, 2014 at 3:00 am
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    This sounds intriguing. Looking forward yo reading it. And the cover looks ominous.

  2. What a brilliant idea, Mary!! Goodness — does the enemosity run so deep? I’d love to read it!! The cover really captures the meshing of the two genres. Congratulations!

    1. Thanks, Monica. I have a friend in the UK who is an Austen purist. I don’t think he realizes how insulting he can be. He helped me with some dialog on Mr. Darcy’s Bite, and so I sent him a copy of the book as a thanks. I asked him if he had read it, and he said, “My bit, but the rest, never!” 🙂

      1. Oh, dear — that *is* insulting!! How sad for him. By being a purist, he’s missing all the fun!

  3. Mary, I love it! That cover is perfect! Looking forward to reading it! 🙂

    1. Hi, Candy, Always good to see you.

    • junewilliams7 on May 1, 2014 at 4:12 am
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    ROFL! Poor Patrick… bonnets and blood. Well, you’ve got me hooked already. Well done, you!!

    1. Yes, poor Patrick! All he wants is some quiet time, and he finds himself in the midst of warring Janeite factions!

    • Eileen on May 1, 2014 at 5:09 am
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    Oh, I like the cover. I, too, wonder if that is wax or blood…or both. Whichever it is, I guess someone’s fate is sealed in blood.

    It sounds like an interesting read. 🙂 Congratulations.

    1. Thanks, Eileen.

  4. The cover is great, Mary — love the old parchment look, the envelope seal — and the title! It all comes together beautifully, and with intrigue. I’m looking forward to another Patrick Shea outing especially mixed with JA!

    1. Thanks, Tess.

    • Maggie Griscom on May 1, 2014 at 7:10 am
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    I really like the cover also, makes me want to pick it up and read it. Can’t wait for June!

    1. I’m hoping it will be sooner than June, but that depends on how fast I get the proofs back. Thanks for stopping by.

    • Stephanie Mudd Carrico on May 1, 2014 at 7:16 am
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    Love the cover…it would definitely catch my eye in a bookstore…I would pick it up for sure.
    Great story to Austen and a mystery; two of my favorite things.

    1. You wouldn’t think mystery + JA would capture the same reader, but it does! I love mysteries, particularly British ones, and, of course, I love Jane.

    • Anji on May 1, 2014 at 9:49 am
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    I have to confess, Mary, I didn’t know about your non Austen works. Although crime mysteries aren’t one of my favourite genres, I do have a soft spot for Lord Peter Wimsey’s stories as written by Dorothy L. Sayers and Jill Paton Walsh and have copies of most of them in paperback or audiobook format. I’ve also recently discovered the Inspector Appleby stories by Michael Innes and have a whole load of them on audio waiting for me to listen to. Mixing the two genres is an inspired idea.

    Like the others above, I do like the cover. The red could be wax and/or blood from what I can tell and the piece of string does look very much like a hangman’s noose though as it’s set in the present day, the latter isn’t a fate that would await the guilty party. Does the missing piece of parchment torn from the top corner have any relevance to the plot?

    As a relative newcomer to the world of JAFF, I can imagine that there could occasionally be friction between our writers and “those devotees who think anyone who tampers with the original novels is committing a sacrilege” but would envisage it as always being extremely well-mannered and polite!

    So, more works go on my Wish List.

    1. Thanks, Anji. Yes, there is friction. I heard a few comments at a JA convention in Ft. Worth, and there’s one lady, who doesn’t hide her distaste, but I love watching her. She takes EVERYONE to task.

    • Carole in Canada on May 1, 2014 at 9:57 am
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    Love the cover and the premise of this story! Would love to add a new mystery series to my reading! Like your comment Eileen ‘someone’s fate is sealed in blood’.

    1. Thanks, Carole. I appreciate the support.

    • Kara Louise on May 1, 2014 at 10:38 am
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    I love this series, and this sounds great! Love the cover, too!

    1. As always, thanks, Kara. Does your husband need reading material. 😉

        • Kara Louise on May 1, 2014 at 1:20 pm
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        Does he NEED it? No, does he WANT it? That’s another story…

        1. 🙂

    • Sheila L. M. on May 1, 2014 at 11:24 am
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    I don’t read many mysteries although I love all the Masterpiece Theater detectives of which four are being televised on PBS this summer. I plan to read this just to see if this detective intrigues me enough to get into the series. The cover is striking. Like others have said, it could be blood or it could be red wax or both. Don’t know what to make of the twine as it doesn’t seem to have a noose/knot in it and can’t make out what the seal emblem is? Yes, there are some Janeites who won’t even hear of JAFF being mentioned in their presence (I know of one such person) but I have a foot in both camps, having just attended a JA Day, myself. All great fun and I can’t see that one should exclude the other. Looking forward to the release.

    1. You and I are on the same page. “It’s all great fun!”

    • Lynn on May 1, 2014 at 12:41 pm
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    Hey, cool idea! Looking forward to reading your book? Thumbs up!

  5. I like the cover, Mary! My favorite part is the wax seal/blood!
    Was it difficult to create the cover? I imagine there were so many different routes you could have taken with it.
    Best of luck on another novel! 🙂

    1. Hi, Jakki. Once you find the picture you want, it’s not hard to make a cover. I was lucky in that I had this pen and parchment idea in my head and found a photo on istock.com. Glad you like my cover!

  6. The cover is good, Mary. I like it that you combine Jane Austen and detective stories. I love mysteries and can’t wait for it to be released.

    1. Thank you, Sylvia.

    • Jane Odiwe on May 1, 2014 at 2:36 pm
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    Congratulations, Mary-fab cover-the book sounds intriguing!

    1. Thank you, Jane. This was my easiest cover to make. I must be getting good. 😉

  7. LOL Mary, I knew that you would get to this point one day. Two birds with one stone, right? I am so looking forward to reading this. Thanks for making my day. 🙂

    1. Thanks for stopping by, Laurel Ann.

  8. This is gonna be a great story, I just know it. I can’t wait to see the sparring between the Jaffers and the Janeites. Love the cover, too. Does Patrick get to go undercover and dress up in Regency clothes? lol I’m sure he’d just LOVE that.

    1. Patrick in Regency clothes? Dang! Why didn’t I think of that. 🙂

    • BeckyC on May 1, 2014 at 6:34 pm
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    Oh Mary! I am so.excited to find you have a new Patrick Shea book out. And bonus…..Austen. I guess the good detective was bound to wind up at a conference somehow. I can’t wait to see what trouble he gets himself into. WooHoo! Hurry up June!
    ps Great cover.

    1. Hi, Becky. I’m excited as well. Do you believe this is #4. 🙂

    • Sarah on May 2, 2014 at 8:32 am
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    Fabulous news! I love the idea of putting Patrick Shea and a group of Austen fanatics in the same space. I can imagine some potentially awkward situations taking place along with the mystery 🙂

    The cover: I like it, but would personally prefer it without the black border, just using what you have as the central image (the paper with the splattered seal/blood). That would make the entire cover look like an old book/piece of paper and have a big impact 🙂

  9. Hi, Sarah. I thought about that as well for the cover, but the three other books in the series are all black. I wanted to stay with the theme. Thank you for your suggestion.

      • Sarah on May 3, 2014 at 7:52 am
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      That makes sense 🙂

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