Cover Question: Hooking Me Up

Kay and a few others have alerted me to this Carla Kelly cover, and it’s prompted me to ask for your opinion:

Not a bad looking cover – except that the hero has a hook for his left hand. He lost his hand in an accident at war and while it doesn’t bother the heroine in the least, it’s a part of the story in a big way. That there, as Kay pointed out, is his left hand. It’s not even a plot twist – it’s in the third paragraph of chapter one!

Bright stared at his rapidly cooling cup of tea, and began to chalk up his defects. He did not think of forty-five as old, particularly since he had all of his hair, close cut though it was; all of his teeth minus one lost on the Barbary cost; and most of his parts. He had compensated nicely for the loss of his left hand with a hook, and he knew he hadn’t waved it about overmuch during his recent interview with Miss Batchthorpe. He had worn the silver one, which Starkey had polished to a fare-thee-well before his excursion into Kent.

This inconsistency bothered Kay very much, while I can’t say I would have noticed – or even cared if I did. I’m so used to covers not really matching the story that I’m more apt to notice if they do in a particular way, like with Julie James’ Something About You.

Does that inconsistency bother you? I’m not even going to wonder about a hook appearing on a romance cover, though I’m sure Harlequin could pull it off. But does it bother you to see a hand on the cover when there’s not one in the story?