Because I have a background in both writing and graphic design (I’ve owned a Southern California advertising agency for nearly 40 years), often I have as much fun and fulfillment art directing the covers to my books as I do writing them. Fortunately I have a group of skilled designers and artists at my fingertips so I have the resources to do anything I want. There are times when the cover is meant to be quite simple, while others must necessarily be complex.

For “Fall From Graize”—a full-length novel about a flawed private investigator, named Garrison Graize, who becomes the subject of an investigation himself—I had a vision for a unique cover that would require delicate photography and design work. This assignment fell to my grandson Ethan, who was volunteered for the project by his father, Corey.

One of the unique features of Mr. Graize was the custom den he had built into his home with walls that featured hundreds of “shadowboxes”—small cubbies—that held souvenirs from each of the cases he had solved over his career. To produce this fictional shelving systemic an image, Ethan had to create the grid itself by assembling pieces of photos of frames and then find old (ancient) wooden type font blocks to spell out the text.

Next he had to locate more than a dozens small individual objects to be placed within the slots to replicate scenes from the story itself. Adjusting lighting, shadows, angles, and antiquing the entire image to give it a vintage look, completed the project.

I’m sure you’ll agree it is a masterpiece and, equally exciting for me, the cover actually provides a hint into the story itself for the reader.