Peddlers of Scarlet Junk Part I

There are few instances in the 1950s where the Canadian publisher Harlequin Books is mentioned in Canadian newspapers. Here is one from the December 6, 1952 edition of The Windsor Daily Star, page 14.

       "Two new Harlequin pocket releases are NINE TO FIVE, by Harvey Smith, a novel of private secretaries, and HIS MAJESTY'S YANKEES, Thomas H. Raddall's fine historical novel of Nova Scotia during the American Revolutionary War. Curiously this work is adorned in a garish cover, and offered as "Brutality and lust of frontier life". It is not. If the pocket-book people sometimes invite inquiry as peddlers of scarlet junk, it's equally true they often invite this criticism with their promotional exaggerations.
        Two additional reprints issued by Harlequin pocket books are DAUGHTER OF SATAN, by Jean Plaidy, a romantic action novel of the late 16th and early 17th century, in a New World setting; and THE UNFULFILLED, a novel of Canadian-American impacts and relationships by W. G. Hardy of Alberta."

Here are two of the four books mentioned.

Harlequin 195 - November 1952

Harlequin 195 back

Harlequin 196 - November 1952

Harlequin 196 back