| Author: | Leslie Charteris |
| Novel: | 19 |
| Novellink: | Novels and story collections |
| Collection: | 14 |
| Collectionlink: | Novels and story collections |
| 1Option: | 11 |
| 1Optionname: | Novellas |
| 1Optionlink: | Novels and story collections |
| Script: | 8 |
| Scriptlink: | Screenplays |
| Editorbooklink: | Others |
| Translation: | 1 |
| Translationlink: | Non-fiction |
| 2Option: | 2 |
| 2Optionname: | Non-fiction |
| 2Optionlink: | Non-fiction |
| 3Option: | 1 |
| 3Optionname: | Introduction |
| 3Optionlink: | Non-fiction |
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. Born in Singapore to a Chinese father, Suat Yin Chwan, and his English wife, Lydia (Bowyer), Charteris travelled extensively with his family until beginning his education in England in 1919. In 1925 he enrolled at King's College, Cambridge, but left after a year in order to become a writer; 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.
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; his second novel—The White Rider, published in 1928—is "overwritten and poorly constructed", according to his biographer Joan DelFattore. In his third novel, Meet the Tiger (1928), he introduced the character of Simon Templar, a debonair gentleman crook who goes by the French: [[nom de guerre]], The Saint.
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". Charteris moved to the United States in 1932 and soon began writing screenplays, the first of which resulted in Midnight Club, released in 1933.
In the June 1954 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Charteris published Fish Story.[1] 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. He died in Windsor, Berkshire, in April 1993.
| Title | Year of first publication | First edition publisher | Simon Templar book? | Format | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| X Esquire | 1927 | Ward Lock & Co, London | Novel | |||
| Ward Lock & Co, London | Novel | |||||
| Meet the Tiger | Ward Lock & Co, London | Novel | ||||
| Ward Lock & Co, London | Novel | |||||
| Daredevil | Ward Lock & Co, London | [2] | Novel | |||
| Enter the Saint | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Short story collection | ||||
| Knight Templar | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novel | ||||
| Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novel | |||||
| Featuring the Saint | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | ||||
| Alias the Saint | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | ||||
| She Was a Lady | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novel | ||||
| Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | |||||
| Getaway | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novel | ||||
| Once More the Saint | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | ||||
| Hodder & Stoughton, London | Short story collection | |||||
| Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | |||||
| Boodle | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Short story collection | ||||
| Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | |||||
| Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novel | |||||
| Saint Overboard | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novel | ||||
| Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | |||||
| Thieves' Picnic | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novel | ||||
| Prelude for War | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novel | ||||
| Follow the Saint | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Novellas | ||||
| Hodder & Stoughton, London | Short story collection | |||||
| Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Novel | |||||
| Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | |||||
| Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Novel | |||||
| Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Novellas | |||||
| Lady on a Train | Shaw Press, Los Angeles, CA | Novelisation | ||||
| Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Novel | |||||
| Call for the Saint | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Novellas | ||||
| Saint Errant | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | ||||
| Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | |||||
| Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | |||||
| Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | |||||
| Thanks to the Saint | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | ||||
| Señor Saint | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | ||||
| Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | |||||
| Trust the Saint | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | ||||
| Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Short story collection | |||||
| Vendetta for the Saint | Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Novel | ||||
| Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Novel | |||||
| Doubleday, Garden City, NY | Novel |
| Title | Year | Co-writer(s) | Studio | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midnight Club | Paramount Pictures | ||||
| RKO Radio Pictures | |||||
| RKO Radio Pictures | |||||
| RKO Radio Pictures | |||||
| Lady on a Train | – | Universal | |||
| River Gang | – | Universal | |||
| Two Smart People | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | ||||
| Tarzan and the Huntress | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Title | Year of first publication | First edition publisher | Category | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juan Belmonte, Killer of Bulls: The Autobiography of a Matador | Heinemann, London | Autobiography | Charteris undertook the translation from Spanish to English | |||
| Spanish for Fun | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Language guide | – | |||
| Paleneo: A Universal Sign Language | Hodder & Stoughton, London | Sign language guide | Paleneo, a wordless, pictorial sign language, was invented by Charteris | |||
| Charter Communications, Indianapolis, IN | Saint novel | Introduction only |
Notes
References