Do You Judge a Book by Its Cover?

Maybe not judge, as such, but get a feel for the tone and style of the story? I only ask because when I picked up Catch an Honest Thief by Maria Schneider recently, I was pleasantly surprised to find that instead of the light-hearted cozy depicted on the cover (or at least that’s how I interpreted it), it was a taut, pacy hi-tech mystery – my sort of reading. Now, if it hadn’t been recommended to me, I probably wouldn’t have looked at it twice. I’m very glad I did.

Today, I received a message from Maria to say she’d redesigned the cover. I love the new look and think it fits the story much better. See what you think – old cover on the left, new one (design by Razzle Dazzle Design) on the right:



An Indiana Jones-style caper across the desert of New Mexico; high-tech gadgets, a mystery and a romance.

Alexia is trying to protect the crystals that power the city of Haven. Going undercover and stealing the crystals seemed like a great idea--until a real thief showed up.

Bait and switch is suddenly cat and mouse--but who is the real thief? And why is the new security chief spending so much time looking into her background?

Confessing her secret plans to protect the crystals might help the security chief narrow in on the real culprit, but it would cost Alexia her job, her freedom, and her status. Of course, if she keeps standing in the way of the real thief, it will cost her a whole lot more.

READ AN EXTRACT:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Maria Schneider grew up in New Mexico where the desert environment required that she embellish the landscape with her imagination. After working in the computer industry for twelve years, she decided technology moved too slowly, and again put her imagination to work, creating messes and then inventing characters to handle all the clean up. She currently resides near Austin, Texas.

For more information about Maria and her books visit: http://www.bearmountainbooks.com/

AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON, SMASHWORDS, AND B&N