Raylan is Elmore Leonard’s last novel. It’s in effect an alternate version of the second season of Justified, that is, the season starring Character Actress Margo Martindale as materfamilias Mags Bennett, and the seasons that’s generally considered the best. The book also contains the seeds of Thick as Mud, also known as Dewey Crowe In: Kidney Trouble!, perhaps the single funniest episode in the show’s run. Needless to say, it’s a great read.
As you can see, the book’s cover is attractive and well-designed, but there’s one very odd thing about it. Your job is to tell the rest of us what that is.
Hmmm…that it doesn’t say anything about the hit TV series to which it is related? I don’t even know if it was a hit, but I did enjoy that second season.Report
That’s what struck me. that whoever commissioned the cover thought that Elmore Leonard’s name would attract more people than the name of the show.Report
They had an iconic image from the show, AND a similar color scheme. (compare: https://www.google.com/search?q=justified&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=955&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAmoVChMImpLxgYijyAIVgdSACh3nOQBD&dpr=1) Doubt anyone familiar with the show would’ve been confused as to the connection. Meanwhile leaving the show name off will pull in people who wouldn’t want to read something they quickly guessed (incorrectly) was a novelization…
Very clever if you ask me.Report
This is what I was thinking. It’s pretty high level marketing.Report
exactly.
running “a novel” on the flyblown tie is what ruins it for me. you probably don’t need to spell that out.Report
If I had photoshop skills, I’d redo the cover to say “slashfic” on the tie.Report
“A novel” is surprisingly common on book covers these days. Publishers must have been getting a lot of complaints when people purchased their novels believing them to be works of non-fiction.Report
it’s a throwback to the ye olden days like emily bronte and when peopleReport
[comment got kicked when editing. yeesh]
it’s a throwback to the ye olden days like emily bronte and when people quoted shakespeare like it was simply not even a thing.
would move it underneath raylan in very simple/quiet text or perhaps even in the final stroke of the n in raylan.
definitely drop the miami herald bragline because who cares and also the nyt bestsellers nonsense. but i don’t sell paperbacks and maybe that stuff matters a lot in airports or while you’re cooling your heels in b+n waiting for the vicodin to kick in. but thankfully i’m opinionated and ignorant.Report
Particularly when it’s not a novel, more a collection of stories with a common setting and main character.Report
Something about his hands, the way he’s holding the gun, does seem weird. When I fire a pistol, my knuckles are clenched pretty tight around the grip. That looks pretty loose to me. ‘Course, I’m a terrible shot at anything more than ten feet away, so maybe I’m doing something wrong, not the model on the book cover.Report
And Burt reveals how all his cases are won.Report
That piece of coat? belt? wait, is it a flipped over tie maybe?? coming out from Raylan to background “A Novel” is annoyingly awkward, but I’m not sure if that’s what you meant or not.
PS Dewey Crowe In: Kidney Trouble! was hilarious and I will now think of it by that title every time it crosses my mind.Report
Never seen the TV series (I’m working on my “Does Not Watch TV” merit badge), but I wouldn’t say Leonard is a “suspense writer.” I wouldn’t be foolish enough to argue against an assertion that Leonard is pound for pound the best writer in America, period. I don’t think that’s what you’re getting at, though.Report
Is he missing a thumb?Report
Outside of a well designed cover, which that book has in spades, Elmore was truly a great american writer, with Raylan a great character, as I am sure @mike-schilling would agree. James Elroy described his novels as “black comedies of manners” which I have always found to be true, and most perfectly showcased in his City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit.
As for the TV show, the finale of season 3 is the standout to me, with the, ah, disarming of Robert Quarels.Report
Raylan carries a Glock.Report