Discussion of the Elements

The complexity and strength of the cover mirrors the many-layered plot of Hatch itself, as well as its use of visual imagery. Like pieces of a puzzle as yet uncompleted, the elements of the cover provide clues to a mystery to be unfolded. How do they all fit together in the end? According to the words of the artist and author, hereÍs how:

The paper dolls are the suspects, or, more accurately, a group of people without distinguishing characteristics all looking at each other. They represent the question, ñWho dun it?î The author tells us that Nat probably cut them out of the Star while waiting restlessly for something to break in the case at the beginning of Chapter Thirteen.

The newsprint not only represents NatÍs profession, but provides the first and most important element of realism on the cover. The lead article is written by Ginny Chau herself, midway through the case. The small photo is of a culvert beneath the Parkway where the body was found. Other material provides local color (downtown Haworth, a tribute to the authorÍ home town) and a touch of humor (the HAH ad).

The cross-hairs play a double role, not only indicating, by pointing at one of the paper figures, that someone has been killed, but, more importantly, suggesting that one of the paper doll suspects must be singled out from the rest.

The title graphic is both a little puzzle and a hint, with the tipped over C, that violence is at work.

The gun...yes well, you did want to know it was a murder mystery, didnÍt you? The graphic is of the only gun (a Colt .357 magnum) that appears in the book...not the murder weapon.

The Tudor house is, of course, Castle Dow, bastion of privilege and unhappiness. As Nat discovers, shadows fall on the well-to-do as well as those who struggle, even as they fall across this picture. The author moaned a bit because the Tudor house shot, which she had gone to considerable lengths to get, was too dark, so to make her happy, here is the untinted shot of Castle Dow. [graphic of Tudor house] By the way, donÍt go looking around Bergen County trying to identify the house, because you wonÍt find it (itÍs another mystery....).

The ducks put into perspective the more ominous elements of the cover, reminding us of the underlying quiet suburbia upon which the tale unfolds. For if it is true that violence strikes even the smallest and most peaceful community sometimes, it does mean that smallness and peace are bad things.

The chain link fence connects the cover, linking all the other elements, while at the same time suggesting a bleak and harsh division. For Hatch is above all else a tale of outcasts, of people who live behind barriers, real or imagined, through which they think they can never pass. The lovers of authenticity among you will be pleased to know that this is indeed a photo of the fence around the Oradell reservoir, taken at the spot where Daniel was deemed to have paused and curled his fingers through the diamond-shaped holes one unhappy morning.