Judging Books By Their Covers: The Vampire And The Case Of The Hellacious Hag

Today in aesthetic central: Adding the right ingredients to an urban-fantasy salad. Let’s pass the dressing.

The Vampire and the Case of the Hellacious Hag (The Portlock Paranormal Detective Series Book 6) by Heather G. Harris and Jilleen Dolbeare

Published: 2025, Hellhound Press

Cover Artist: Christian Bentulan

Just looking- You’re not in the friend zone, you’re in the get-away-from-me-I-deal-with-dangerous-stuff-and-you-could-get-killed zone.

What it makes me think – She’s in the driver’s seat, and she doesn’t have time for anything silly. Back off, or her German Shepherd will maul you. She’s a no-nonsense-paranormal-female-protagonist looking for villains, not love. It’s a good look.

The title font is Cinzel Regular, what I would call a retro-Roman font. It gives me a Latin vibe, and I like that. That’s saying a lot for me because I tend to dislike serif fonts. It is, however, genre appropriate here. The word Hag is the first thing that caught my eye. It’s so unusual to see it printed that I enjoyed seeing it in a title. It’s a word that has fallen out of use, and I only hear it from my own lips. No, I don’t stand on a corner, point at passersby, and scream “Hag!” I’d rather scream “Witch!” when I do that. Hag is reserved for certain people who annoy me, be they young or old. What a hag. It happens in bad traffic, but, hey, that’s better than road rage, right? Just for the record, when it’s a man, I think, What a jerk. Annoyance is an all-inclusive experience.

Cover artist Christian Bentulan’s portfolio is full of paranormal and urban fantasy work. It’s all fitting. I have no experience with this artist, but it appears that he delivers a good product.

Would I buy it? No, but you can find it here.