Magazine Artwork

The People’s Friend Magazine
D.C. Thomson & Co Ltd.

Miss Gardener Investigates

A short story by author Alison Carter.

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Illustration by Gerard Fay.

……Miss Gardener never expected to come across a case of mysterious death in her quiet part of London. “I am finding it difficult to believe,” she told her friend Miss Barlow. “A young man – well, not an old man at least – murdered in Wharton Street!”……

THE ILLUSTRATION BRIEF

SUMMARY

London, 1811, and the well-read, intelligent Miss Gardener investigates the deaths of a younger friend’s ill-fated suitors.

THE SCENE

For the main book cover design, we see a wistful Sylvia sitting in an armchair in a grand-looking room. Miss Gardener is standing by her side. I quite like to portray it so Miss G suspects Sylvia as the murderer, but doesn’t have proof (as of yet), so portray her, stance included, how you see fit. My concern is the scene will look too static, so creativity welcome to help bring it to life – montage would work, too.

MOOD: Suspicion

CHARACTERS

Miss Gardener: late 50s, smart, colourful dress.
Sylvia: age twenty, blue eyes, smart, colourful dress.