Are Any Harlequin Books 1 - 50 Worth Reading? Recap

Five recent posts looked at the first fifty books from Harlequin to see if any are worth reading. Five books were chosen. The 10% hit rate would extrapolate to nearly 50 books from the 477 titles under consideration. But with romance taking over the last few years that hit rate can't be sustained.

I've read the first book awarded a Worthy® - The Dark Page by Sam Fuller. It turned out to deserve the award. Stock characters from a 1940s New York tabloid and the Bowery and overheated "The Front Page" dialogue but I enjoyed the central mystery.

Here are a few of the non-worthies from the first 50 Harlequins.

Harlequin 8 - August 1949

Harlequin 8 back

Harlequin 17 - October 1949

Harlequin 17 back

Harlequin 37 - March 1950

Harlequin 37 back