Cover Reveal: Lamb to the Slaughter

I'm thrilled today to share the cover for Lamb to the Slaughter, an upcoming adult Amish murder mystery from Karen Ann Hopkins. Karen is the author of the fantastic YA Temptation series from HarlequinTEEN, but is self-publishing this new title releasing in March. I had the honor of working with her on the design of the cover and I'm so pleased with the way it turned out, I hope you guys like it as well!

LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER

Some Amish communities aren't so cozy.

Lamb to the Slaughter is a story about the intertwining lives of three unlikely people in an Indiana Amish Community and the devastating results when a rebellious teenage girl is found shot to death in a cornfield during the harvest. 

Serenity Adams is the newly elected young sheriff in the country town of Blood Rock and besides dealing with the threatening behavior of her predecessor, she now has a dead Amish girl on her plate. At first glance, the case seems obvious. The poor girl was probably accidently shot during hunting season, but when the elders of the Amish community and even the girl’s parents react with uncaring subdued behavior, Serenity becomes suspicious. As she delves deeper into the secretive community that she grew up beside, she discovers a gruesome crime from the past that may very well be related to the Amish girl’s shooting. 

Serenity enlists the help of the handsome bad-boy building contractor, Daniel Bachman, who left the Amish when he was nineteen and has his own dark reasons to help the spunky sheriff solve the crime that the family and friends who shunned him are trying desperately to cover up. Serenity’s persistence leads her to a stunning discovery that not only threatens to destroy her blossoming romance with Daniel, but may even take her life in the end. 

With the young girl's death taking place in a cornfield, we really wanted to play up the ominous feeling evoked by towering cornstalks, so we chose a stormy image that featured dry, eerie husks rather than green and healthy stalks, and I tinted them a touch red to make them appear even more sinister. I also wanted the murder to be reflected in the type, so I kept the word "lamb" a pretty, pristine serif font while the word "slaughter" contrasts with a gritty, distressed sans serif typeface. And now I've dissolved into designer-speak so I'm going to stop before I ramble on too much:)  

I hope if you're a fan of murder mysteries, you'll add Lamb to the Slaughter to your lists! There's a spunky sheriff, a case to solve, and the mention of a bad-boy contractor, what could be better?

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KAREN ANN HOPKINS

A native of New York State, Karen Ann Hopkins now lives with her family on a farm in northern Kentucky, where her neighbors in all directions are members of a strict Amish community. Her unique perspective became the inspiration for the story of star-crossed lovers Rose and Noah. When she’s not homeschooling her kids, giving riding lessons or tending to a menagerie of horses, goats, peacocks, chickens, ducks, rabbits, dogs and cats, she is dreaming up her next romantic novel.

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