New Mystery Crime Imprint

Mills and Boon, the British subsidiary of Harlequin, is going to launch Black Star Crime in August. The series will feature new and established authors of thrillers and crime fiction. The books will be priced the same as a Mills and Boon historical romance. They expect to release five titles every two months.

According to Publishers Lunch,

Mills and Boon expects the series to sell 250,000 to 500,000 units a year (no word on whether that is world-wide or solely in the UK.)

Bookseller says that figure would be

around 2% of the total UK crime and thriller market.

Bookseller also noted:

M&B will spend around £100,000 on its launch marketing campaign, and is due to start presenting the series to retailers this month. The company is keen that the brand is not tarred with the M&B brush, and that it is kept as far as possible from its romance publishing.

The International Thriller Writers said:

The series will publish crime fiction at low price points in an idea that sounds similar to Random House's Chick Lit "Little Black Dress" imprint.

ITW Blogger Russel McLean also noted:

If it gets new authors out there at a decent price point to pick up new readers, I'm all for it.

So, if you’re interested, you might want to note that the address for Mills and Boon offices, according to Publishers Lunch is

Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1SR