Just spotted in the Creative Review: Penguin is reissuing five volumes of G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown stories with striking new covers by their in-house designer Matthew Young.
He says:
On each cover Father Brown is deliberately isolated to give the sense that he is an outsider; it’s him against the odds, following an unlikely trail and methodically piecing the clues together. And I didn’t want to dictate exactly what Father Brown looks like – I’d rather this was left open to the reader’s interpretation, so the figures are almost silhouettes, with just enough detail to give him some form, to maybe suggest his build or his shabby robes, but without giving too much away.
His designs owe a very conscious debt to the Romek Marber Penguin covers of the 1960s, even incorporating visual elements from some of them.
See also:
This Romek Marber retrospective, also in the Creative Review.
Matthew Young’s website, http://mymymy.co.uk/book-covers/ (he also did the Philip Pullman Grimm Tales)
Past Offences: Classic crime, thrillers and mystery book reviews 
Good to know, Rich – thanks.
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I really like the one you feature – though I won’t be buying any new ones anytime soon, having had my copies for many years. When I saw your title I wondered if they would feature the tv series… is it coming back at all do you know?
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Hi Moira
The series is coming back, I think in January.
I’m quite surprised the BBC hasn’t published tie-ins (as they have with Sherlock Holmes).
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Thanks Rich – I agree, the design is very attractive.
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