COVER DESIGN

The starting point for the cover design was the location. With each Victoria West mystery being set somewhere new and exotic, it was important for the cover design to reflect the setting.

Fortunately, Raffles Hotel Singapore is such an iconic destination there was no shortage of imagery, but we needed a concept that was also intriguing and reflected the fun, light-hearted nature of the book.

So, we started throwing around ideas.

A Subtle Clue:

Firstly, we looked at the hotel’s stunning façade. It’s recognised the world over and is arguably the most identifiable aspect of the hotel.

On the face of it, we envisaged the façade looking normal, but then to create an air of mystery, we added a shadowy figure behind one of the windows.

Traveller’s Palm:

Next, we took the Traveller’s Palm. Folklore tells that this magnificent palm drew in thankful travellers of old, who quenched their thirst with the water stored in the base of its leaves, and the orientation of the leaves in an east-west direction provided an informal compass to guide them home.

For this reason, Raffles has adopted the Palm as its icon. From behind the fronds, we imagined a mysterious figure emerging.

Grandfather Clock:

The grandfather clock has pride of place in the Raffles Hotel lobby and is the oldest piece of furniture in the hotel; older than the Grande Dame herself - and almost as famous.

In this concept, we replaced the hand of the clock with a murder weapon, signifying that something bad was going to happen at that hour.

Blood Carpet:

Anyone who has ever visited Raffles Hotel will have encountered the imposing Sikh doormen, resplendent in their magnificent uniforms. They are the most photographed doormen in the world, and they can inevitably be found greeting guests on the red carpet at the main entrance of the hotel.

Using a simple, graphic device, we turned the red carpet into a trail of blood and played around with the idea of adding in the shadow of a knife.

Slingshot:

But of course, no visit to Raffles Hotel is complete without sampling a Singapore Sling. In 1915 Raffles’ bartender, Ngiam Tong Boon, created the popular cocktail which is now widely regarded as the national drink of Singapore. Raffles serves over 1,000 of them every day!

This concept needed drama, so we had the idea of smashing the iconic glass with the liquid spilling out like a pool of blood.

The final design

All of these ideas were strong, and we felt any one of them would have translated well into a great cover design. But what sold us on Slingshot was the story behind the Singapore Sling. When Ngiam Tong Boom created the cocktail in 1915, etiquette dictated that women didn’t drink alcohol in public. Sensing an opportunity, the clever bartender set about creating a drink that looked like plain fruit juice, but he infused it with gin and liqueurs. He then added a touch of pink to give it a feminine flair, et voila, the Singapore Sling was born.

Needless to say, the cocktail became an instant hit with women wanting to circumnavigate the social norms of the day and enjoy a tipple (or two) in public. An attitude that we are quite sure would have been shared by the many sassy women in The Raffles Affair, had they been around in 1915.

So, with our concept decided, the next step was to develop the visual execution. We wanted the cover to reflect the fun and glamour in the story, and we envisaged bright colours and a bold, energetic design. Smashing the Sling gave us the opportunity to create movement, with ice cubes, liquid and the iconic slice of pineapple flying across the cover - and of course, the Long Bar’s famous peanuts.

Given the whimsical nature of the book, photography would have been too realistic, so we commissioned an illustration, using vibrant colours and shadows to create the energy in the design that we were looking for.

Then, to give the cover a final touch of frivolity, we embellished the typeface in the title with an elaborate flourish. After all, The Raffles Affair is a whodunnit, and it’s murderously good fun to read!