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| The Man Who Died Twice Sydney Horler Toronto: Harlequin, 1959 |
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Showing posts with label Harlequin halloween. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harlequin halloween. Show all posts
31 October 2025
You Only Die Twice on a Harlequin Halloween
31 October 2024
This Harlequin Halloween, a Dick in a Box
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| If the Coffin Fits Day Keen [Gunard Hjerstedt] Toronto: Harlequin, 1952 |
Central City specialized in vice, legal gambling and easy divorces.Teen-age "B" girls in low-cut evening gowns drank with the suckers. If the sucker's bank account was substantial enough, he would be drugged and "found" in a hotel room with a scantily clad bit of Jail Bait. This badger game served the dual purpose of enslaving the girl and exacting a considerable income from the victim. Free-lance crime was not tolerated in Central City; all such activities were conducted on a highly organized basis headed by the anonymous "Mr. Big".When Tom Doyle, Chicago Investigator, accepted a blind case in Central City, he ran head on into Mr. Big's organization. Doyle was greeted on his arrival by the Karney twins, who pistol-whipped him into a pulpy mass of bruised flesh and gently invited him to leave their fair city...Doyle soon learned that the solution depended on getting Mr. Big. Many people were murdered to prevent Doyle from accomplishing this, and before the case was over, Tom had cause to wonder - IF THE COFFIN FITS.
So,be careful this Halloween fellas. Sure, those teen-age "B" girls are now in their eighties and nineties, but who's to say they aren't still on the lookout for suckers.
31 October 2023
Harlequin Halloween Horror: So Much Satan!
Daughter of Satan concerns a young woman, Tamar, who is believed to be the spawn of the devil. This has something to do with her mother having attended a midsummer coven of witches. Tamar's conception in no way dissuades her male suiters, not even puritan Humility Brown.
And here I'd thought Humility was a girl's name.
Daughter of Satan was the first Harlequin book to feature Satan in its title. I've found seven others, but I suspect there are more. What I find most interesting is the uptick during the Satanic Panic.
Make of that what you will.
Daughter of Satan was the first Harlequin book to feature Satan in its title. I've found seven others, but I suspect there are more. What I find most interesting is the uptick during the Satanic Panic.
Make of that what you will.
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| Satan's Range Al Cody 1955 |
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| A Kiss from Satan Anne Hampson 1973 |
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| Satan Took a Bride Violet Winspear 1976 |
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| Satan's Angel Kristin James 1988 |
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| Satan's Island Sally Wentworth 1989 |
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| Satan's Contract Susanne McCarthy 1994 |
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| Satan's Master Carole Mortimer 2018 |
31 October 2022
A WTF Harlequin Halloween
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| Murder — Queen High Bob Wade and Bill Miller Toronto: Harlequin, 1951 |
Over the years, the Dusty Bookcase has shared some very frightening covers from Harlequin's early history. Who can forget The Corpse Came Back, the 2014 Harlequin Halloween selection.
I expect 2017's Out of the Night caused many a bad dream.
Apologies.
Murder — Queen High rates lower on the terror-inducing index, though I think you'll agree that it's pretty scary. A feline/human form threatens a gun-packing woman in a pink frock. What exactly is going on here?
The back cover only raises more questions:
Is the woman in pink the Queen? Is she Fay Jordan, "she of the sensuous figure and the mind to match"? Could it be "the curvy, swervy girl called Sin"? Whatever the answer, Murder — Queen High may just be the craziest novel Harlequin has ever published.
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31 October 2021
A Harlequin Halloween Hobo
I can't be alone in
finding this cover disturbing. Just what is going on? Is this woman terrified or has she lost her mind? Is she the lady hobo? I ask the because that's a pretty nice frock. And doesn't her hair look terrific!
This 1953 Harlequin follows the 1935 Coward-McCann first edition. "Lots of incident but what of it?" sniffed Kirkus.
This 1953 Harlequin follows the 1935 Coward-McCann first edition. "Lots of incident but what of it?" sniffed Kirkus.
Lest you think I'm making too much of Harlequin's cover image 1953's, consider the back cover copy:
"Fear and death... terror-stricken women... an excitedly different story of stark horror."
Amongst Beth Brown's other books are Applause, Ballyhoo, and That's That. For Men Only, the ribald tale of a successful brothel-owner, and the heart-warming, sentimental All Dogs Go to Heaven, suggest that, like Brian Moore, Beth Brown wasn't one to be tied down to a genre.
Though I haven't read Lady Hobo, I have listened to this 1968 recording of Brown's Minnie, the Tired Trolley Car. A children's story, it is he stuff of nightmares.
Listen if you dare!
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31 October 2020
An Unholy Harlequin Halloween
This is the twelfth Dusty Bookcase Harlequin Halloween post. You know the drill by now: I share an old, odd, unsettling cover from the romance publisher's early years, and we all move on.
Here, for example, is the very first Harlequin Halloween post:
That was it.
Elizabeth Sanxay Holding's Speak of the Devil was my choice for this year. Still is. I mean, really, is there not something unnatural about that woman's index finger?
Published in June 1950, Speak of the Devil was the first Harlequin to feature "Devil" in its title. As far as I've been able to determine, the next was American Charles Stoddard's RCMP adventure Devil's Portage, which followed eight years later.
It isn't until 1975 that we find the third Harlequin to reference the Devil in its title:
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| The Devil's Darling Violet Winspear 1975 |
I don't pretend to know what's going on with Harlequin, but can't help but note that with The Devil's Darling the Evil One came to take a regular place in its titles.
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Devil in a Silver Room Violet Winspear 1976 |
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| The Devil's Daughter Marguerite Bell 1978 |
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| The Devil's Bride Margaret Pargeter 1979 |
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| The Devil Drives Jane Arbor 1980 |
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| Devil's Gateway Yvonne Whittal 1980 |
The four decades since Devil's Gateway have seen:
Devil in Command - Helen Bianchin (1981)Devil in Disguise - Jessica Steele (1981)Devil's Mount - Anne Mather (1981)The Devil Lover - Carole Mortimer (1981)The Devil's Mistress - Sarah Holland (1982)A Touch of the Devil - Anne Weale (1982)Devil's Causeway - Mary Winnerley (1982)Sup with the Devil - Sara Craven (1982)Devil's Gold - Nicola West (1983)The Devil Within - Catherine George (1984)The Devil's Price - Carole Mortimer (1985)Devil's Advocate - Vanessa James (1985)Devil's Gambit - Lisa Jackson (1986)The Old Devil Moon - Anne Logan (1986)The Devil's Own - Sandra Brown (1987)Devil Moon - Margaret Way (1988)Devil and the Deep Sea - Sara Craven (1989)Devil's Shadow - Sally Wentworth (1989)The Devil's Dare - Jean Reece (1989)Devil in Paradise - Joanna Mansell (1991)Devil to Pay - Renee Roszel (1992)The Devil Has His Due - Diana Hamilton (1992)Dance with the Devil - Pamela Litton (1992)Valley of the Devil - Yvonne Whittel (1992)Dance to the Devil's Tune - Lucy Keane (1994)The Devil's Lady - Deborah Simmons (1994)Devil's Dare - Laurie Grant (1995)Candle for the Devil - Susanne McCarthy (1995)Saving the Devil - Sophie Weston (1995)The Devil Earl - Deborah Simmons (1996)The Devil's Kiss - Scott DeLoras (1996)Lucky Devil - Patricia Rosemoor (1996)Handsome Devil - Joan Hohl (1999)Defense for the Devil - Kate Wilhem (1999)The Devil's Due- Rachel Cain (2000)The Devil's Mark - Joanna Makepiece (2000)The Devil to Pay - Stephanie James (2000)The Devil You Know - Laurie Page (2001)The Devil to Pay - Michele Hauf (2002)The Devil's Bargain - Robyn Donald (2002)Date with a Devil (2003)The Angel of Devil's Camp - Lynne Banning (2003)Devil's Cub - Georgette Heyer (2003)The Devil You Know - Laurie Page (2004)The Devil's Hearth - Philip De Poy (2004)The Devil's Bargain - Rachel Cain (2005)The Devil's Waltz - Anne Stuart (2006)The Devil's Footprints - Amanda Stevens (2006)In Bed with the Devil - Susan Mallery (2007)The Devil to Pay - Michele Hauf (2008)The Devil and Drusilla - Paula Marshall (2008)Devil in a Dark Blue Suit - Robyn Grady (2009)The Sexy Devil - Kate Hoffman (2010)Devil in Dress Blues - Karen Foley (2011)The Devil Wears Kolovsky - Carol Marinelli (2011)The Devil's Chord - Alex Archer (2011)The Devil's Heart - Lynn Rae Harris (2011)Lady with the Devil's Scar - Sophia James (2012)The Devil and the Deep - Amy Andrews (2012)The Devil and Miss Jones - Kate Walker (2012)The Devil She Knows - Kira Sinclair (2013)Daughters Unto Devils - Amy Lukavics (2015)The Devil Takes a Bride - Julia London (2017)The Devil's Bargain - Kira Sinclair (2020)Dirty Devil - L.J. Shen (2020)
That I hesitate in sharing this discovery may have something to do with having been traumatized by Race with the Devil as a child.
It didn't end well.
Not to suggest that that a similar fate awaits, but to be safe I've written and scheduled my annual Christmas post.
Happy Halloween, I guess.
Merry Christmas, too.
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31 October 2019
31 October 2018
No, Harlequin Halloween Horror Will Never End!
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| A Killer is Loose Among Us Robert Terrall Winnipeg: Harlequin, 1949 |
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31 October 2017
Will Harlequin Halloween Horror Never End?
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| Out of the Night [The Black Dark Murders] Robert O. Saber [pseud. Milton K. Ozaki] Toronto: Harlequin, 1954 |
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31 October 2016
Harlequin Halloween Horror Confusion
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| The Lady Lost Her Head Manning Lee Stokes Toronto: Harlequin, 1958 |
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| Lady, That's My Skull Carl Shannon Toronto: Harlequin, 1951 |
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31 October 2015
Night of the Living Harlequin Halloween Horror
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| Night of Terror Joy Brown Toronto: Harlequin, 1950 |
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31 October 2014
The Most Horrifying Harlequin Halloween Ever!
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| The Corpse Came Back Amelia R. Long Toronto: Harlequin, 1950 |
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31 October 2013
The Harlequin Horror That Just Won't Die!
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| Vengeance of the Black Donnellys Thomas P. Kelley Toronto: Harlequin, 1962  |
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| Winnipeg: Greywood, 1969 |
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| Toronto: Modern Canadian Library, 1975 |
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| Toronto: Firefly, 1995 |
Canada's most feared family strikes back from the grave!
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Related posts:
31 October 2012
31 October 2011
31 October 2010
31 October 2009
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