Lovers
in a Dangerous Time
P.I. Romance Novels
But like it or not, the private eye figures prominently in romance novels, particularly romantic suspense novels.
And really, considering the cross-genre permutations the P.I. has gone through (western, fantasy, sci-fi, horror, children's literature, etc.) is the romance genre really all that far out? After there, there have always been romantic undertones to much P.I. literature, going right back to Hammett's The Maltese Falcon and Chandler's Marlowe, at least.
We're talking real romance here, by the way. Lip-smacking, chest-heaving Harlequin-type stuff. In fact, Harlequin is the publisher of almost all the books listed here. But stop snickering! Although they're now known for their seemingly endless flow of pulp romance titles, this Canadian dynasty actually started as a publisher of a wide variety of genres, including mystery, western, science fiction, sports, adventure, cookbooks, nonfiction and even "literature," as well as, of course, romance. Among the private eye and crime authors they published were Wade Miller, Robert Leslie Bellem, Harry Whittington, Frank Kane, Ronald Cooke, James Hadley Chase, Day Keene, Cleve Adams, David Montrose, Robert O. Saber and David Goodis. I think it's almost a nod to tradition, or something, that they still publish crime and detective fiction, albeit with a heavy romance angle, usually under their Intrigue imprint..
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