Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding was rejected by the publisher

Mills & Boon becomes totally 'Shameless'

Its romantic fiction sells around the globe but is scorned by the literati. Now the BBC is to celebrate its centenary

Inside Books

The market for erotica has grown hugely in recent years

Mills & Boon marks centenary with move to hardcore erotica

After 100 years of feminine ladies kissing manly men on faraway islands, Mills & Boon is launching its first line of explicit erotica – essentially book porn.

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Forgotten Authors No 4: R Austin Freeman

Beware the author who follows in the wake of a bestselling series, for he will surely be forgotten. Sherlock Holmes spawned many imitators, including R Austin Freeman's charming mysteries, set in the Edwardian era. Dr Thorndyke is a barrister and man of medicine who, armed with his little green case of detection aids, sets out to solve puzzles that would scarcely interest today's police: a collapsed man who later vanishes, an ingeniously forged fingerprint, a crime scene more interesting than the act that occurred there.