When I started thinking about the cover for Bait & Switch, I knew I wanted something that felt cinematic, but unmistakably part of the DCI Erica Cooper world.

This is the ninth book in the series. The cover needed to sit comfortably alongside the others, while signalling that this story goes to darker, more uncomfortable places.

The Concept

The central idea was simple: a lone woman walking through a park, at night.

A park path. Street lamps. Wet ground. Winter.

Nothing overtly threatening — but plenty of atmosphere.

I used DALL·E to generate the base image, starting with the following prompt:

A woman walking away from the camera along a park path at night. British setting. Winter. Street lamps glowing through mist. Wet pavement reflecting light. Cinematic lighting. Gritty British crime drama style. Dark blues and inky blacks. A red coat as the focal point. Photorealistic.

Colour and Mood

Once I had the image, I finished the cover in Affinity Photo.

Most of the work was about controlling the colour palette. The overall image was pushed towards cool tones with saturation pulled back across the board.

The red coat was treated separately. It wanted the coat to be the only strong colour in the frame - increased brightness and saturation. Against the darker background, it naturally draws the eye and places it well in the genre.

Typography

As with the rest of the series, I used Josefin Sans for the title, adding a blurred shadow behind and increasing transparency in the top line to 60%. For the author name and series title, I made sure to match the colour of coat, bringing the whole design together.

Compared to other covers such as Northern Roulette and The Bridge, Bait & Switch was very simple for me to put together. I kind of miss not tinkering on Affinity Photo for hours on end, but hey, that’s hours I can put into researching Spencer 2.

What do you think? I think Bait & Switch screams atmospheric crime fiction.

Bait & Switch can be pre-ordered using the following links:

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