Design A Gritty Noir Crime Mystery Book Cover

This Side of the Dirt

A noir crime mystery novel

The cover, spine and back cover for a 6x9 size novel.

Attached is the cover template in both pdf and png formats. The
template directions (from createspace.com) are as follows:
1. Open the PDF or PNG file for the Paperback Book Cover Template in
your image editing software.
2. Create a new layer in your image editing software. This layer will
serve as the design layer.
3. Design your cover in the design layer, using the template PDF or
PNG file as the guide layer. The artwork should extend to the outside
edge of the template's pink zone to ensure a white border will not
exist within the printed work. Do not move the guide layer, as it is
properly aligned for our printing specifications.
4. Ensure text and/or images that are intended to be read do not
appear in the pink zones of the template.
5. The barcode area is indicated in yellow on the template. Do not
place important images or text intending to be read in the barcode
location. We suggest filling in this area with your background color
or design.
6. Once your design is complete, you will need to turn off the guide
layer so that it is not printed on your final product or rejected
during the review process. If you are unable to turn off the guide
layer, then you will need to format the artwork so that it completely
covers the guide layer.
7. Flatten all layers, save the file as a press quality PDF, and
upload the file through your CreateSpace account.

Also attached:
Examples of other book cover styles that I like and some other
imagery related to my book.

Try to keep it genre-specific: noir crime thriller mystery.The story
has a lot of creepy/horror related imagery - cemeteries, funeral
homes, embalmings, grave diggers, morgues, corpuses - but it's not a
horror book, so no creepy, bloody fonts or anything like that needed.
In the story the main character, an obit writer, is solving a
mystery. He follows clues through an embalming room, funeral home,
nursing home, cemetery, junk yard. The story takes place in a border
town in Texas so there is a drug cartel involved. He ends up being
buried alive in a cemetery. So one idea for the cover could be to have
the book design split in half - above ground and below.
I'm thinking something simple and colorful that has sharp contrasts,
silhouettes and edges with an exciting looking font for the title.

The synopsis that goes on the back cover of the book is the following:
The disappearance of a corpse from an unearthed casket rocks a small
southeast Texas border-town – but searching for the truth behind it
will put down-and-out investigative reporter turned obituary writer
Stan Wakefield on the trail of grave diggers, Mexican cartel
mercenaries, desperate morticians and crooked cops, leading Stan to
take deadly measures to catch a killer about to strike again –
burying himself alive in Mountgrove Cemetery.

The front cover and spine needs to say the title of the book: This
Side of the Dirt and my (the author's) name: Zach Olsen. The rest of
the design is up to you!