The Friday Face-Off was created by Books by Proxy, where each week bloggers can showcase books with covers centered around a weekly theme. You can visit Lynn’s Books for a list of upcoming themes. Join in the fun each Friday by finding a book whose cover is based on the theme!
This week’s theme: “Murder most foul, as in the best it is.” – A cover featuring a murder scene
Wow, this was a tough one for me. Surprising since many of the stories I read feature murders, lol. I finally thought of a murder mystery series that I’ve enjoyed over the years, and I guess it sort of works? It’s not technically a murder scene but it sort of is?? If that makes any sense!
Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce series stars a precocious eleven-year-old girl named Flavia who just happens to love solving mysteries. The series is up to ten or eleven books, I think so Flavia is probably older by now. These are what I would call “cozy” mysteries as there isn’t that much violence. And despite Flavia’s age, these are not YA. The first book in the series is The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, and the murder on the cover is that of a bird (spoiler alert: the bird is poisoned). Let’s pretend this is a “murder scene,” shall we? Here are a few covers:
Delacorte Press U.S. edition | Portuguese edition
German edition | Finnish edition
Russian edition | Norwegian edition
Russian edition 2014 | Italian edition
I find a lot of these covers cartoonish looking, which doesn’t really fit the story. Plus some of them make this look like a children’s book, which it isn’t. I really like the stark red of the Norwegian edition, but for my favorite I’m going to stick with the version I own:
Ooh I like that Delacorte press edition! And the Italian one too, with the girl and cat in background…
The Finnish cover is pretty good, too. 🙂 I haven’t read this series but I’ve been the books around. Maybe I should give them a try.
I really like the Finnish and Italian edition because I’m obsessed with books that have black birds on the cover. xD
I also love the US versions. The cartoon ones really are neat but do make them look like middle grade. I have yet to pick this up but it’s been on my TBR for an eternity!
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I actually loved the Portuguese edition but since you mentioned these weren’t YA, which I have to admit I always thought they were, then it really wouldn’t represent the book very well. It has a very Wednesday Addams feel and of course, I’m a true fan of the Addams Family. Also, thanks for the head’s up. I won’t tell Cass the bird is poisoned 🙂
Okay, all of these covers are so great!I love the one you picked, and I also really love the German and Finnish editions a lot! These actually really make me want to read them. Nice choice!
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The cover for the German edition makes me think about the Addams Family for some reason… 😀
Which I’m sure was not the intention of the author: your choice and the Norwegian edition are indeed the best ones.
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Both the Russian editions the girl has no neck?!?! But yea, some of them look like children’s books so that could be bad since you said its not, and looking at the Norwegian edition it looks kind of scary!
Without knowing anything about the book my favorite is the Portuguese edition, but it looks like a middle grade book, so taking that into consideration, I like Italian edition best!
This looks a really quirky, unusual story, Tammy! I love the look of this story – and I love the Norwegian cover, which looks suitably eye-catching without being gory… Thank you for sharing:)
The Delacorte fits the genre but I sure like the Norwegian one. All that read and black!
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It was really hard this week, and I almost gave up! I’m glad you persisted though because there are some nice covers. I’m drawn to the Finnish edition, though I love your choice too!
I ADORE the Flavia series and it astounds me that I have never seen any of other covers before!! I love that both the Portugese and the German ones went with a Wednesday Addams feel, which doesn’t quite fit the character, but they do look nice. 😀
The Delacorte Press is definitely my favorite. A couple of the others make me think of Wednesday Addamsfrom TheAddams Family.
The Portuguese edition reaaaaally makes it look childish hahaha Also reminded me of the girl in the Adam’s Family! I agree with your pick 100% 😉
I think for me the Russian edition. It totally looks epic. Some do look childish, but I dunno, I think I would pick them up if they were in a mystery section just bc they’d be at odds with every other cover in there.
I love your choice this week and your winner – although I also like the Portuguese cover.
Lynn 😀
I really like the German edition! I love that you do posts like this… I never think to check what others covers a book might have elsewhere. <3
L @ Do You Dog-ear?
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I love Flavia! Alan Bradley was one of the first authors I read back when I was getting into mystery novels. All of the covers are great, but the US edition is my favourite too…it’s just the style I think of when this series comes to mind!
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I don’t read cozies or murder mysteries, so I’d have nothing for this! That’s interesting to me they made the protag so young. I love the German edition, but you’re right, it totally looks like some awesomely creepy middle grade series book lol. I can see why you chose the one you did if it fits the story more!