LOUISE PENNY’S

CHIEF INSPECTOR GAMACHE SERIES

Gamache Goes Abroad: The Madness of Crowds

For The Madness of Crowd’s installment into our Gamache Goes Abroad series, we travel to the UK, where our publishing colleagues have interpreted Louise’s 17th novel with a very different cover treatment from our own.

It would be impossible not to notice the difference in use of color between these two covers. While our version is a veritable explosion of hues, the UK’s cover is much more subdued, employing a grayscale color palette with pops of red. While our cover is more abstract, the UK’s depicts the recognizable scene of a car driving on a secluded road in the darkness of winter.

However, for all of the differences between the two, there’s a thematic similarity. In the US cover, the brushstrokes of bright color appear to be emanating out from the pine tree. Or instead, are they reflecting in? The same question can be posed of the car on the UK’s cover. Is it driving towards Three Pines? Or is it driving away from it?

What do you think? Which of these two very different cover treatments do you think best depicts the plot of the novel?

3 replies on “Gamache Goes Abroad: The Madness of Crowds”

I like the U.S. cover. the use of color is amazing and for me, it represents ‘the madness of crowds’. The dark pine tree’s dominance on the cover gives a looming sinister look. For me, it perfectly mirrrors the plot.It also does provide strong symbolism for the state of the U.S.

I moved from Ontario to the UK three years ago and I have to say that I hugely prefer the North American covers! I’m so grateful that my mom sends me the North American edition of a new Louise for Christmas every year.

The UK cover on Madness was eerily similar to a fair few mystery/thrillers the year it was released (look at Ann Cleeves’ Darkest Evening, for example) so I’m always worried Louise’s books get “lost in the noise” of the mystery/thriller genre.

Personally, I love the North American explosion of colour and tree cover, if I wasn’t already a Louise super fan, I’d definitely pick it up based on the cover alone. 🙂 The UK one doesn’t do Three Pines justice. There’s a lot more to a Louise novel than a generic cover suggests.