"Creatures of the twilight . . . . driven to prowl their secret, forbidden underground."
"Here is the half-world of the invert . . . the bitter crises and reckless acts to which his irresistible urges drive him."
Julian, his friend, had broken away from this world of searing desire. . . . And then . . . he had committed a monstrous act. Page had to know why. . . . Because he himself, once, had been Julian's lover. . . ."
Oh, the steamy mystery! Dr. Tony Page is a successful psychiatrist, and when his friend Julian Leclerc, a handsome and talented young barrister -- and Tony's former lover -- is found dead, an apparent suicide, something doesn't seem right, and Tony sets out to uncover the truth. His quest takes him from the parties and pubs of the gay underworld of 1950s London to Scotland Yard and the House of Commons as he uses his shrewd and penetrating insight to find who or what was responsible for Julian's death.
Such is the premise of Rodney Garland's The Heart in Exile, a groundbreaking classic of gay fiction and considered the first gay detective story, published in this pulp paperback edition by Lion Library Editions in 1956. The novel, written by Hungarian ĂŠmigrĂŠ Adam de Hegedus (1906-1958) using the pen name Rodney Garland, was first published in London by W. H. Allen in 1953. It was a commercial success and was positively reviewed by mainstream publications, and it continues to maintain a significant presence in the queer cultural imagination. The cover art for this first American pulp edition is by noted American artist Arthur Shilstone (1922-2020).
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