{"product_id":"lost-house","title":"Harlequin #295, Lost House by Frances Shelley Wees, a 1954 Canadian hypodermic-needle","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis is a reprint. Harlequin first issued it as a complete novel in May 1949 as book #2, then again in April 1954 as #295. That makes the 1949 printing one of the very first Harlequins ever; #1 in the line was Nancy Bruff's \u003cem\u003eThe Manatee\u003c\/em\u003e. The number 295 is in the box at top left, next to Harlequin's diamond-shaped logo. The 35¢ price sticker in the yellow diamond and the \"A Harlequin Book\" banner at bottom left match the house style of the time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGood - VG condition cover nic on bottom left corner (see pictures)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eEarly Harlequin wasn't the romance publisher it later became. In the early 1950s the Winnipeg\/Toronto company put out a mix of mysteries, westerns, crime and sleaze-leaning pulp. The lurid \"Dope, Danger and Dolls\" tagline is typical of that period, before the company moved to all-romance later in the decade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe cover\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe syringe over the screaming woman is the reason people want this book. Canadian book historian Brian Busby has called it one of the greatest Harlequin covers of all time. A dealer listing credits the art to Rickard and describes #295 as a reprint of book #2 with the same hypodermic-needle design. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eThe novel is older than either Harlequin edition. It first came out in 1938 from Hurst \u0026amp; Blackett in the UK and McRae-Smith in the US, and it was serialized in \u003cem\u003eArgosy\u003c\/em\u003e magazine that same year. Argosy billed it as an eerie mystery of the Canadian North\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harlequin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67557713641769,"sku":null,"price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0969\/9052\/7785\/files\/PXL_20260929_174049778.jpg?v=1790776721","url":"https:\/\/captainaero.com\/products\/lost-house","provider":"My Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}