The Sacred Dead trilogy is a dark tale, one of murder, deceit, organized crime and conspiracy. By the third book, the main character has essentially helped turn the Parisian underground from taking advantage of its participants to working to their advantage. The third title derives from his being given the unofficial title of King of the underground to help organize its occupants, and the lower-class at large… just on the brink of the Revolution.⁣⁣⁣

The main character's unofficial employ by the church, and the growing presence of the upperclass’ opulence being displayed in the background of the setting called for some signaling. I incorporated that into the text, with a high-contrast stroked font paired with sharp embellishment that suggests the intense nature of the book’s events.⁣⁣⁣

It was important to Benoit that we keep the covers historically accurate, as well as atmospheric. He’s a history professor at a major University, whose specialty is 18th century Paris, so the writing’s accuracy is already high. He knew that his audience would consider this extremely important, even if the book is technically fiction. He already runs a popular blog about this period, so a large part of our work was working his book marketing into that blog, and introducing his work to the public via social media. ⁣⁣⁣

When designing the books, I needed to keep the dark tone and gritty themes. A black cover with a simple, textured background and focus on a single death-themed imagery supported this. The skulls and cross bones for the first two books were both traditional icons of the era, called a death’s head. We pulled together all of the important elements into a set of covers that remain distinct, consistent, and darkly relevant to the author's ideal readership.