Harlequin's Secret Shame
Sometimes They Liked It Rough... and They Still Do

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No, really.

Although now known as the publishers of about a zillion pulpy category romance titles, this Canadian publishing dynasty was founded way back in 1949 by Advocate Printers and Doug Weld of Bryant Press, Richard Bonnycastle (production) and Jack Palmer (marketing). They started by publishing 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 and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 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. Among current writers to watch is Joyce Sullivan, a former private eye herself.

In 2009, to celebrate the company's 60th anniversary (and no doubt inspired by Hard Case Crime's staggering success), Harlequin reissued six of their early crime thrillers (above), complete with their early, cheesy, pulpy covers.

RELATED LINKS

• Blasts from the Past
  Some great publishers of Hard-boiled and Detective Fiction (and a few favourites).
  
  
• Some Current Publishers and Possible Markets of Hardboiled and Detective Fiction
  
  
• Harlequin
  Ground zero for the publishing empire..
  
  
• Worldwide Mystery/Raven House Mysteries
  These Harlequin imprints have offered, over the years, a vast array of books featuring amateur sleuths, traditional cozies, police procedurals and private-eye fiction. Among the authors they've published are Dell Shannon, Maxine O'Callaghasn, James Axler, Don Pendleton and William Campbell Gault.