Friday Face-Off: Noir Detective
Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy! Each Friday, we will pit cover against cover while also taking the opportunity to showcase gorgeous artwork and feature some of our favorite book covers. If you want to join the fun, simply choose a book each Friday that fits that week’s predetermined theme, post and compare two or more different covers available for that book, then name your favorite. A list of future weeks’ themes are available at Lynn’s Book Blog.
This week’s theme is:
~ a cover that has a 1920s/NOIR DETECTIVE feel
The Automatic Detective by A. Lee Martinez
I’ve long run out of books on my “Read” shelf that fit this prompt, but luckily my “To Read” shelf still had some options on offer, so I decided to go with this book by an author I’ve enjoyed in the past. I first discovered A. Lee Martinez with his hilariously quirky Constance Verity series, and knew right away I had to seek out more of his work. The Automatic Detective is one of his older books that I’ve had on my list for a while, simply because the idea of a sci-fi, humor, and noir mystery blend greatly appealed to me. Let’s check out some of the covers:
From left to right:
Tor Books (2008) – German Paperback Edition (2009)
German Ebook Edition (2008) – Chinese Edition (2012)
Winner:
Hands down, my favorite this week is the Tor edition. Can’t get more 1920s detective noir than that!
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
The BiblioSanctum 
Your choice of cover looks like the perfect one for the book’s mix of genres – and I had to smile at the Blade Runner callout coming from the wall-high cinematic advert… 😉
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Haha, thats awesome, I missed that 😀
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This book is perfect for the theme! I love the Tor edition but also the German paperback😁
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Those are definitely the two best 🙂
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Oh this looks delightful! If Wandavision went a different route, maybe. Haha. I think I love the German edition, it’s so fun, and with the pipe!
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LOL there’s definitely a “Vision” look to him 🙂
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Yeah, I agree with your pick, it’s the more noirish (is that a word?) of the group.
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Definitely! The main reason I picked it too 😀
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I fear I have to go with none!
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I love the Tor cover – it just really stands out and is perfect for the theme.
Lynn 😀
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