RARA-AVIS: Re: Harlequin vintage collection

From: Kevin Burton Smith (kvnsmith@thrillingdetective.com)
Date: 29 Sep 2009

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    Davde wrote:

    > I was in a Barnes & Noble today and saw a collection of 40s and 50s
    > crime/suspense reprints from Harlequin, with similar retro covers
    > (maybe they were the original covers??) as Hardcase. These included
    > "I'll Bury My Dead" by James Hadley Chase. You can find the
    > collection here:
    >
    > http://ebooks.eharlequin.com/52C65BF1-90AC-4D2C-A00C-17EC8D4E399A/10/126/en/SearchResults.htm?SearchID=15677677
    >
    > I wonder how much Hardcase Crime inspired this?

    Gee, you think?

    I'm glad you mentioned this, Dave (or re-mentioned this, since Sonny posted about it a week or so ago). I saw them in our store the other day and I've been dying to post on them, and on Harlequin.

    Although now known as the publishers of about a zillion pulpy category romance titles a month, this Canadian publishing dynasty originally published just about everything they could get their hands on: mystery, western, science fiction, sports, adventure, cookbooks, nonfiction and even "literature," as well as, of course, romance.

    Sure, they published relatively genteel mysteries by such expected authors as Agatha Christie, but they also showed a decided bent for the harder stuff, regularly publishing in their early days works by such crime authors as Wade Miller, Robert Leslie Bellem, Harry Whittington, Day Keene, Ronald Cooke, James Hadley Chase, Frank Kane, Cleve Adams, David Montrose, Robert O. Saber and David Goodis.

    In fact, through the years they've continue to publish a vast array of crime fiction, under a variety of imprints, including Raven House, Worldwide Mystery and Intrigue, including books by Dell Shannon, Maxine O'Callaghan, James Axler, Don Pendleton and William Campbell Gault.

    So, theoretically, if these things sell, there could be some good stuff available once again. Or at least more James Hadley Chase.

    Kevin Burton Smith Editor/Founder The Thrilling Detective Web Site
    "Wasting your time on the web since 1998."

    [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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