With a new Russell Quant book - Date with a Sheesha – on the horizon, it’s time to start paying attention to those other details that come with releasing a new book.

A big one is the selection of a book cover. This is such a key decision. I know it is said one should never judge a book by its cover. In my business, this isn’t always the case. I have had countless people over the years tell me that they picked up their first Russell Quant book because something about the cover drew them to it. 

To date I have had everything from bullets, martinis, architecture, landscapes, a ferris wheel and palm trees on my covers. Believe it or not, all these things do belong together, and somehow or other form a cohesive bond for the series and storylines.

I like to believe that once a reader gets into a Quant book, they will keep on reading. So, whatever it takes to get them to that point is of key importance to me.

The cover for Date with a Sheesha has tentatively been settled on:

Date with a Sheesha: A Russell Quant Mystery

I really love the feel of this cover. To me, the rich, golden sandstorm colours reflect the spicy, saucy, sizzling nature of the book’s action that takes place, in part, in Arabia. I can almost smell the heavy scent of foreign colognes and smokey incense. I think of magic carpets and genie’s lamps and Bedouin sheikhs wrapped in mystery.