Catch the Saint is a collection of two mystery novellas by Fleming Lee, based upon stories by Norman Worker continuing the adventures of the sleuth Simon Templar a.k.a. "The Saint", created by Leslie Charteris. Following usual practice at this point in the series, the front cover credits Charteris, although Lee and Worker receive interior title page credit; Charteris served in an editorial capacity. Some editions misspell the author's name "Flemming Lee."[citation needed]
A novella is a text of written, fictional, narrative prose normally longer than a short story but shorter than a novel, somewhere between 17,500 and 40,000 words.
Fleming Lee (1933–2013), born Fleming Lee Blitch, was an American author, best known for his collaborations with Leslie Charteris on his series of "Saint" novels.
Norman Worker was a British comic book writer, best known for his work on comic books featuring Lee Falk's The Phantom.
Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.
The Crime Club was an imprint of the Doubleday publishing company, which later spawned a 1946-47 anthology radio series, and a 1937-1939 film series.
Charteris, in his foreword to this volume, defines Catch the Saint as an experiment in trying to return Simon Templar to his roots in 1930s mystery fiction. While recent Saint novellas and novels published since 1968 had taken place in contemporary times and had been either adaptations of teleplays from the 1962–69 TV series, The Saint, or based upon storylines from the Saintcomic strip, the two stories in Catch the Saint were original works said to take place prior to the Second World War. This makes Catch the Saint the first original (non-adapted) Saint stories to be published since 1964's Vendetta for the Saint.[citation needed]
The Saint is a British ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the United Kingdom on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It was based on the literary character Simon Templar created by Leslie Charteris in the 1920s and featured in many novels over the years. He was played by Roger Moore. Templar helps those whom conventional agencies are powerless or unwilling to assist or protect, often using methods that skirt or are outside the law. Chief Inspector Claud Eustace Teal, his nominal nemesis, considers Templar a common criminal, but often grudgingly tolerates his actions for the greater good.
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, these have been published in newspapers and magazines, with horizontal strips printed in black-and-white in daily newspapers, while Sunday newspapers offered longer sequences in special color comics sections. With the development of the internet, they began to appear online as webcomics. There were more than 200 different comic strips and daily cartoon panels in South Korea alone each day for most of the 20th century, for a total of at least 7,300,000 episodes.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
These were the last Simon Templar novellas to be written by Fleming Lee.[citation needed]
Stories
The book consisted of the following stories:
The Masterpiece Merchant
The Adoring Socialite
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Related Research Articles
Simon Templar is a fictional character known as The Saint. He is featured in a series of books by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. After that date, other authors collaborated with Charteris on books until 1983; two additional works produced without Charteris's participation were published in 1997. The character has also been portrayed in motion pictures, radio dramas, comic strips, comic books and three television series. The most recent film was in 1997, most recent television pilot aired as a TV movie was 2017.
Leslie Charteris, was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter. He was best known for his many books chronicling the adventures of the charming antihero Simon Templar, alias "The Saint."
Knight Templar is the title of a mystery novel by Leslie Charteris first published in October 1930. This was the fourth book—and third full novel—featuring Charteris' Robin Hood-inspired anti-hero, Simon Templar, alias "The Saint". The title of the book is a pun on the religious organization Knights Templar. Later editions were titled The Avenging Saint and the book is also well known by this title, which was first used in a 1931 edition.
Enter the Saint is a collection of three interconnected adventure novellas by Leslie Charteris first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder and Stoughton in October 1930, followed by an American edition by The Crime Club in April 1931.
Featuring the Saint is a collection of three mystery novellas by Leslie Charteris, first published in the United Kingdom in February 1931 by Hodder and Stoughton. This was the fifth book to feature the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint". It was the first novella collection to be published since Enter the Saint a year earlier. The three stories had previously been published in The Thriller magazine in the UK.
Getaway is a mystery novel by Leslie Charteris first published in the United Kingdom in September 1932 by Hodder and Stoughton. This was the fifth full-length novel featuring the adventures of the modern day Robin Hood-inspired crimebuster Simon Templar, and the ninth Saint book published overall since 1928. When first published in the United States by The Crime Club in February 1933, the title was modified to The Saint's Getaway which was later adopted by future UK editions.
The Brighter Buccaneer is a collection of short stories by Leslie Charteris, first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder and Stoughton in June 1933. This was the eleventh book to feature the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint". It was the first volume to make use of the short story format; previously Charteris had written either short novels or full-length novels featuring the character. This format would dominate the series during the late 1940s and through the 1950s.
The Misfortunes of Mr. Teal is a collection of three mystery novellas by Leslie Charteris, first published in the United Kingdom in May 1934 by Hodder and Stoughton and the United States by The Crime Club. The book was republished under two additional titles: The Saint in England and, as of 1952, The Saint in London.
The Saint Goes West is a collection of three mystery novellas by Leslie Charteris, first published in the United States in 1942 by The Crime Club, and in the United Kingdom the same year by Hodder and Stoughton.
The Saint Sees it Through is the title of a mystery novel by Leslie Charteris featuring his creation, Simon Templar, alias The Saint. The book was first published in 1946 in the United States by The Crime Club. Hodder and Stoughton published the first British edition in 1947.
The Saint on TV is a collection of two mystery novellas by Fleming Lee, continuing the adventures of the sleuth Simon Templar a.k.a. "The Saint", created by Leslie Charteris. This book was first published in the United States in 1968 by The Crime Club, and in the United Kingdom later that year by Hodder and Stoughton. This is the first time since 1948's Call for the Saint that the novella format had been used in the series; with a few exceptions where full-length novels were published, the novella format would remain the norm until the series concluded in the early 1980s. It is the first of three Saint books to first see publication in 1968, which was also the 40th anniversary of the character's introduction.
The Saint Returns is a collection of two mystery novellas by Fleming Lee, continuing the adventures of the sleuth Simon Templar a.k.a. "The Saint", created by Leslie Charteris. This book was first published in the United States in 1968 by The Crime Club, and in the United Kingdom in 1969 by Hodder and Stoughton.
The Saint Abroad is a collection of two mystery novellas by Fleming Lee, continuing the adventures of the sleuth Simon Templar a.k.a. "The Saint", created by Leslie Charteris. This book was first published in the United States in 1969 by The Crime Club, and in the United Kingdom in 1970 by Hodder and Stoughton.
The Saint in Pursuit is the title of a 1970 mystery novel featuring the character of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint". The novel is credited to Leslie Charteris, who created the Saint in 1928, but the book was authored by Fleming Lee and is adapted from a comic strip story by Charteris. Charteris served in an editorial capacity on the adaptation. It was the first full-length Saint novel since 1964's Vendetta for the Saint.
The Saint and the People Importers is the title of a 1971 mystery novel featuring the character of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint". The novel is credited to Leslie Charteris, who created the Saint in 1928, but the book was actually co-authored by Fleming Lee. It is a novelization of the 1968 episode "The People Importers" from the 1962-69 TV series, The Saint, originally written by Donald James. The episode sprang from an original outline by Lee, though this was discarded by the time the story hit TV screens. For the novelisation Lee went back to the original premise.
Send for the Saint is a collection of two mystery novellas by Peter Bloxsom, based upon stories by John Kruse and Donald James written for the 1962-1969 television series The Saint and continuing the adventures of the sleuth Simon Templar, created by Leslie Charteris. As per the custom of the time, Charteris received front-cover author credit while Bloxsom was credited inside; Charteris served in an editorial capacity.
The Saint in Trouble is a collection of two mystery novellas by Graham Weaver, continuing the adventures of the sleuth Simon Templar a.k.a. "The Saint", created by Leslie Charteris. This is the first of three Saint books written by Weaver. Charteris, who served in an editorial capacity, received front cover author credit.
Count On the Saint is a collection of two mystery novellas by Graham Weaver and Donne Avenell, continuing the adventures of the sleuth Simon Templar a.k.a. "The Saint", created by Leslie Charteris. Charteris served in an editorial capacity and received front-page author credit.
Claud Eustace Teal is a fictional character who made many appearances in a series of novels, novellas and short stories by Leslie Charteris featuring The Saint, starting in 1929. A common spelling variation of his first name in reference works and websites is Claude, however in his works Charteris uses the spelling without the 'e'.
Bet on the Saint is the title of an unpublished novel by Fleming Lee, featuring the character of criminal-turned-detective Simon Templar, created by Charteris in 1928.
