Cover Art and the Gothic Suspense Novel

There are those who say that book covers really don't matter. After all, it's what is between them that is really important. Bad books can have great cover art -- and great books can have abysmal covers. I am one of those who is often intrigued by cover art into picking up a book and delving into it. I don't skip over books with what I consider to be bad cover art, but I'm more likely to pick up a book with art that I find enticing, especially when the book is by an author whose work I've never read before. In my teenage years, when I first discovered what were recalled "romantic suspense" novels, the cover art of these books signaled to me that here was I book I might like.

I got my start with adult suspense fiction with the works of Victoria Holt and Phyllis A. Whitney. I devoured their books from the library and soon began looking for other writers like. Perhaps subconsciously I associated the cover art of these books with the genre, and if I saw a book at the library with similar art, I almost always checked it out. At some point I began to realize that artists who created these covers had distinctive styles, and one artist in particular appealed to me more than others. His name was Charles Geer (1922-2008).

Geer was a fairly prolific artist. His work adorned covers for fiction and non-fiction alike. He painted many covers for romantic suspense novels, and to me his work is immediately identifiable. For the romantic suspense fiction of the 1960s through the 1980s, his work always featured the heroine in a colorful background, with a sense of unease and potential danger looming somewhere just out of sight. He painted covers for some of my favorites, like Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels, Philippa Carr (aka Victoria Holt and Jean Plaidy), and Mary Stewart, to name but a few. He also painted covers for paperback reprints of Georgette Heyer's Regency historical novels.

I still have all those books, and when I spot a book with a Geer cover that I don't have, I usually try to add it to my collection. Yes, I'm a collector. I still love those old-fashioned romantic suspense novels. Now they are comfort reads, because I know that, by the end of the book, the villain will be vanquished, and the hero and the heroine finally come together. In today's world, I don't think that's such a bad thing, or a bad way to spend some of my precious reading time. 

 

 

Comments

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

I love those covers… They are so authentic! And you instantly tell what you're getting. And what a wonderful title Nine Coaches Waiting is, don't you think?

[Dean James]

I agree, Hank! And the title Nine Coaches Waiting is so mysterious. It comes from the play "The Revenger's Tragedy" by Cyril Tourneur, and the book is divided into nine parts.

[Laura DiSilverio]

As you know, Dean, I'm a huge Heyer fan to this day. I also loved all the romantic suspense authors you mentioned in my teens, although I don't re-read them like I do the Heyers. Thanks for sharing the covers which are works of art in and of themselves, apart from the books.

[Mark]

I'm with you, an intriguing cover catches my eye and I'm more likely to read it first.

And yes, similar looking covers certainly help us figure out genre, too. A co-worker told me she couldn't tell when I'd switched from one book to another because the covers all looked the same to her. I was reading a lot of Berkley books at the time. The same could be said for Henery Press's books. They definitely have a feel to them that is similar.

[Elaine Viets]

Thanks for spotlighting an important but often ignored part of the publishing industry -- the cover artists. Geer's work is distinctive and deserves recognition.

[Triss Stein]

Anyone who says the cover doesn't matter has never watched people choosing books in a library or book store.The cover telegraphs a message about the book, and what they pick up to consider depends a lot on what the cover is telling them. It could be a mood, a setting, a story element, but "thrilling suspense" shouldn't be getting the same cover as "sweet romance" which shouldn't be getting a cover that says "heartrending tragedy." A message that does not serve the book fails the writer and the publisher. And the reader!

[Kristin Lundgren]

I am also a fan of cover art. I will own multiple copies of a favorite book if I like the different artists. I too loved Heyer's works in PB form, and Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, Phyllis Whitney, Eliz. Peters/Barbara Michaels, Velda Johnston, May McKintosh, Elsie Lee, and so many others (forgive misspellings). And I loved the HC Art of MMKaye's six RS books set in exotic locales, like the houseboat in Lake Dal. While my boxes of HC Whitneys, and my boxes PBs of the Gothics (incl. RS) are buried deep in my storage unit by overly enthusiastic offspring, I haven't forgotten, and my one wish is to get all my books out, or at least accessible. I hope I can afford a 2br when I retire with the 2nd room as a library/guest room. Art draws me to a book, esp. new authors. An interesting cover in SF, YA, or cozies will get me to pick it up and read the blurb and reviews. I have never really thought about following an artist, although I know I did, for if it was Fawcett Crest, it had an entirely different look than the Signet Regency covers I loved. I hated the covers from the later period regencies, and other publishing houses. They seemed cheap and simplistic, and I never felt sure of the quality of the writing.

[Dean James]

Thanks for all the great responses! It's obvious that cover art really does resonate with many readers.

[Marilyn Watson]

Yes Geer is my favorite too as I sit here and look at a cover of Mary Stewart. I bought these old paperbacks both for the story and the Cover which I collect older ones like Leslie Ford for that also.
Marilyn

[Dianne S Meyer]

And it still does. That's why the publishers' covers continue to have colorful covers, and smart rebinding vendors use scans of the original book jackets on the guaranteed binding formats. Kids and others LOVE them.
Wonderful blog.

[Anne Murphy]

Does anyone else remember the late Bill Deeck's wonderful slide show on cover art? He presented it at a Malice Donestic many years ago and I was amazed by the number of artists who had gone on to illustrate works for children.