Why do booksellers want more shelf space? They want to turn the covers out.  There are several things that help sell a book. 1) The author: name recognition 2) the story 3) the cover art 4) the title. When the book's spine is all the customer can see then cover art isn't helping.

Collectors know that 80% of a books collectable value comes from the condition of the dust cover. The more attractive the dust cover regardless of the artistic merit, the greater the value. But an artistically attractive cover never hurts value. Artists and the promotional department work together using past experience, scientific studies (such as what attracts the eye, use of color on mood, product placement), the author's storyline, and other factors (read money available) to determine what they think is the best cover for a book. The presumption is that everyone is working together and that the four things I mentioned above create the ideal sales opportunity

All that being said cover art, like all art, is subjective. So I thought I'd dig out that old cliché; "I'm no expert but I know what I like." and use it to provide a running commentary on book covers, titles, authors and whatever else strikes me.

French Doctor: The title is intriguing. This "adult" paperback's wordplay provides some fun. I'm looking for Playing Doctor Doctor as well as Afghan Doctor, Bali Doctor, Czechoslovakian Doctor (in two volumes) now reprinted as Czech Republic Doctor and Slovak Republic Doctor, Missionary Doctor, I Doctor and some others.

Hospital Doctor: Ok? Is this part of the above series or the competition? I can see some publishers sitting around a table. "Go see what the boys at Pervert Press are putting out. We can steal their thunder," (if you look closely you can see that it is the same publisher).

What have we learned so far? Sex sells. Doctor sells. Sex Doctor must have sold millions.

Mother Finds a Body: Gypsy Rose Lee (author recognition) Mother Finds a Body ( The title an appeal to one of the aspects that makes America so great, apple pie and the flag being others) and cool artwork (sex sells) help me make the transition into mystery books.

You Play the Black and the Red Comes up: Gambling sells. The author's original title was Crapshoot but they couldn't slip it past the censors.

Crime Clinic: Pulp fiction at its best? Featuring Doctor Tom Roberts, prison psychiatrist. This guy's so good he cures wood! Of course so do carpenters, and then there's the play on pulp fiction too. Better move on.

The Chuckling Fingers: This is Mabel Seeley's new mystery. The artist tried to make the fingers look like mountains so he did his part, more or less. Didn't Mabel do the Smarting Elbow, The Humorous Bones and the Spreading Waistline too?

The Case of the Dancing Sandwiches: Fredric Brown wrote quite a few mysteries. Am I missing something here? I think the original title was E Coli's coming. What's the babe got to do with anything; other than sex sells? Yet another medical mystery.

There Are Dead Men in Manhattan: Possibly from reading The case of the Dancing Sandwiches.

The Son of the Grand Eunuch: Still another medical read. Planned parenthood gave this two thumbs up. Oh wait, that was the proctologists board of readers. Note the oxymoron at the bottom, complete and unabridged. And no, This is not a pseudonym for Philip K Dick. Despite all this, cool cover art.

In Chapter two, Thrill's, skulls, puns, guns, babes, perhaps a crab claw and wither political correctness?

Until then, I'm David Biemann.