Novels↙ | 19 |
---|---|
Collections↙ | 14 |
Scripts↙ | 8 |
Translations↙ | 1 |
Novellas↙ | 11 |
Non-fiction↙ | 2 |
Introduction↙ | 1 |
References and footnotes |
Leslie Charteris (born Leslie Charles Bowyer Yin; 1907–1993) was a British-American writer best known for his series on stories featuring Simon Templar, also known as The Saint.[1] Born in Singapore to a Chinese father, Suat Yin Chwan, and his English wife, Lydia (née Bowyer), Charteris travelled extensively with his family until beginning his education in England in 1919.[2][3] In 1925 he enrolled at King's College, Cambridge, but left after a year in order to become a writer;[4] to support himself, he worked as a goldminer, bartender, professional bridge player and temporary policeman. In October 1926 he changed his name by deed poll to Leslie Charles Bowyer Charteris-Ian, and professionally used the shorter version, Leslie Charteris.[1]
Charteris's first five novels were published by Ward Lock & Co; he also had a story The Red River published in their Windsor Magazine in May 1927. The first novel, X Esquire, which he later described as "an appallingly bad book", was published in 1927;[5] his second novel—The White Rider, published in 1928—is "overwritten and poorly constructed", according to his biographer Joan DelFattore.[5] In his third novel, Meet the Tiger (1928), he introduced the character of Simon Templar, a debonair gentleman crook who goes by the nom de guerre, The Saint.[6]
Charteris continued writing Saint books and the series gained in popularity because of its "mix of light humour, sophisticated settings, and story-line emphasising the role of a crusader tackling the forces of evil", which had "special appeal in the depression".[1] Charteris moved to the United States in 1932 and soon began writing screenplays, the first of which resulted in Midnight Club, released in 1933.[7][8]
In the June 1954 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Charteris published Fish Story.[9] According to the editors, it was written during (or inspired by) a leisure trip to Florida.
Charteris also worked on three books of non-fiction and an introduction to the 1980 re-issue of The Saint Meets the Tiger. The works consisted of a translation from Spanish to English of the autobiography of the bullfighter Juan Belmonte, a language guide to Spanish, and a guide to Paleneo, a wordless, pictorial sign language invented by Charteris.[10] He died in Windsor, Berkshire, in April 1993.[1]
"You might have seen something of the Indian, too, in the intent lines of his tanned reckless face; but that would have been an easy illusion. The same lines would have fitted as naturally into the picture of a conquistador ... or of d'Artagnan mocking the courts of France: they were only the heraldry of a character that would have been the same in any age or place, the timeless brand of the born buccaneer."
Charteris's description of Simon Templar in The Saint Goes West.[11]
Title[12][13][14] | Year of first publication |
First edition publisher | Simon Templar book? | Format | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
X Esquire | 1927 | Ward Lock & Co, London | Novel | [15] | |
The White Rider | 1928 | Ward Lock & Co, London | Novel | [16] | |
Meet the Tiger | 1928 | Ward Lock & Co, London | Novel | [17] | |
The Bandit | 1929 | Ward Lock & Co, London | Novel | [18] | |
Daredevil | 1929 | Ward Lock & Co, London | [19] | Novel | [20] |
Enter the Saint | 1930 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Short story collection | [21] | |
Knight Templar | 1930 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novel | [22] | |
The Last Hero | 1930 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novel | [23] | |
Featuring the Saint | 1931 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | [24] | |
Alias the Saint | 1931 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | [25] | |
She Was a Lady | 1931 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novel | [26] | |
The Holy Terror | 1932 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | [27] | |
Getaway | 1932 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novel | [28] | |
Once More the Saint | 1933 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | [29] | |
The Brighter Buccaneer | 1933 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Short story collection | [30] | |
The Misfortunes of Mr. Teal | 1934 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | [31] | |
Boodle | 1934 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Short story collection | [32] | |
The Saint Goes On | 1934 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | [33] | |
The Saint in New York | 1935 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novel | [34] | |
Saint Overboard | 1936 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novel | [35] | |
The Ace of Knaves | 1937 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | [36] | |
Thieves' Picnic | 1937 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novel | [37] | |
Prelude for War | 1938 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novel | [38] | |
Follow the Saint | 1938 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Novellas | [39] | |
The Happy Highwayman | 1939 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Short story collection | [40] | |
The Saint in Miami | 1940 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Novel | [41] | |
The Saint Goes West | 1942 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | [42] | |
The Saint Steps In | 1942 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Novel | [43] | |
The Saint on Guard | 1944 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Novellas | [44] | |
Lady on a Train | 1945 | Shaw Press, Los Angeles, CA | Novelisation[a] | [8] | |
The Saint Sees it Through | 1946 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Novel | [45] | |
Call for the Saint | 1948 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | [46] | |
Saint Errant | 1948 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | [47] | |
The Saint in Europe | 1953 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | [48] | |
The Saint on the Spanish Main | 1955 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | [49] | |
The Saint Around the World | 1956 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | [50] | |
Thanks to the Saint | 1957 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | [51] | |
Señor Saint | 1958 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | [52] | |
The Saint to the Rescue | 1959 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | [53] | |
Trust the Saint | 1962 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | [54] | |
The Saint in the Sun | 1963 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | [55] | |
Vendetta for the Saint[b] | 1964 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Novel | [57] | |
The Saint in Pursuit[c] | 1970 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Novel | [59] | |
The Saint and the People Importers[d] | 1970 | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Novel | [61] |
Title[62] | Year | Co-writer(s) | Studio | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Midnight Club | 1933 | Seton I. Miller | Paramount Pictures | [63] |
The Saint's Double Trouble | 1940 | Ben Holmes | RKO Radio Pictures | [64] |
The Saint's Vacation | 1941 | Jeffrey Dell | RKO Radio Pictures | [65] |
The Saint in Palm Springs | 1941 | Jerome Cady | RKO Radio Pictures | [66] |
Lady on a Train | 1945 | – | Universal | [67] |
River Gang | 1945 | – | Universal | [68] |
Two Smart People | 1946 | Ethel Hill | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | [69] |
Tarzan and the Huntress | 1947 | Jerry Gruskin, Rowland Leigh | RKO Radio Pictures | [70] |
Title | Year of first publication |
First edition publisher | Category | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Juan Belmonte, Killer of Bulls: The Autobiography of a Matador | 1937 | Heinemann, London | Autobiography | Charteris undertook the translation from Spanish to English | [8] |
Spanish for Fun | 1964 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Language guide | – | [71] |
Paleneo: A Universal Sign Language | 1972 | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Sign language guide | Paleneo, a wordless, pictorial sign language, was invented by Charteris | [72] |
The Saint Meets the Tiger | 1980 | Charter Communications, Indianapolis, IN | Saint novel | Introduction only | [62] |