The Saint in New York

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The Saint in New York
Saint New York Doubleday.jpg
First American edition
Author Leslie Charteris
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Series The Saint
Genre Mystery novel
Publisher Hodder and Stoughton
Publication date
1935
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Preceded by The Saint Goes On  
Followed by Saint Overboard  

The Saint in New York is a mystery novel by Leslie Charteris, first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder and Stoughton in 1935. It was published in the United States by Doubleday in January 1935. A shorter version of the novel had previously been published in the September 1934 issue of The American Magazine . [1]

Contents

The Saint in New York was the 15th book chronicling the adventures of Simon Templar (alias The Saint), an anti-hero character patterned after Robin Hood. The book is considered the most popular Saint volume. [2] Saint expert Burl Barer in his history Saint: A Complete History in Print, Radio, Film and Television 1928–1992, indicates that The Saint in New York was the first "bestseller" of the Simon Templar series, and was the book that established Charteris as a literary celebrity in America and Britain. Due to the book's popularity, it became the first Simon Templar story to be adapted for film.

Up until this point, Charteris had published at least two (sometimes more) Saint books in any given calendar year. The Saint in New York broke the pattern by being the only series entry published in 1935.

Plot

During a visit to Europe, Simon Templar (alias "The Saint") befriends a rich American whose son was recently murdered in New York City; the culprit went free due to police and courtroom corruption. Templar is given an offer he can't refuse: $1 million if he goes to New York and deals out his unique brand of justice to evildoers in that city.

The book begins with the New York Police Department receiving a letter of warning from Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Claud Eustace Teal, indicating that Templar, after being inactive for six months (presumably since the events of The Saint Goes On ), has relocated to the United States. The letter is accompanied by a dossier on Templar's career thus far (Charteris proceeds to give new readers a brief summary of past adventures dating back to the first Saint novel, 1928's Meet - The Tiger! ).

When an accused cop-killer is found shot to death, the NYPD knows the Saint has arrived in New York. After Templar rescues a child who has been kidnapped by a mob boss (assassinating the gangster in the process), the whole city learns that the Saint is on the job. Templar's ultimate goal is to discover the identity of the city's main kingpin who is known only as "The Big Fellow".

Templar is abducted by one of the remaining crime lords and two corrupt, high-ranking New York City officials offer him $200,000 to reveal who is backing him. Templar claims to be working on his own, and the crime lord orders Templar to be taken for the proverbial "ride". Templar is taken to a remote location in New Jersey but manages to escape his fate thanks to the intervention of Fay Edwards, a beautiful young woman who happens to be a cold-blooded killer, and who claims to be working for The Big Fellow. Simon Templar and Fay Edwards fall in love with each other, in a completely Platonic way (they exchange only two kisses and exchange only a few words) which seems nevertheless very deep and poignantly emotional. (On his return to London, in the last page of the book, Templar would refuse to tell Patricia Holm about his American experiences.)

The Saint eventually learns that he is being manipulated into killing off certain crime bosses in order that The Big Fellow will not have to split a $17 million cache of blood money that was going to be shared among the gangsters. In effect, rather than being a daring and idealistic vigilante, as he thought of himself, Templar finds that he had been made into a gangland hit man – and very much dislikes to see himself in such a role.

And when Big Fellow's identity is finally revealed, he ends up being the last person Templar would suspect.

Film adaptation

It was this book that RKO Radio Pictures purchased and made the basis for their first Saint film, which was released in 1938. William Sistrom was the producer. Louis Hayward was cast as Simon Templar. A minor change was made to the character of Inspector Fernack; the spelling of his name was changed to Farnack and remained so for all future film appearances.

In 1987, a television pilot for a potential new Saint TV series was broadcast on CBS. Entitled The Saint in Manhattan , the pilot was not directly based upon the novel but did feature the character of Inspector Farnack.

Cultural references

A copy of the novel The Saint in New York was featured prominently in an episode of the Canadian sitcom Corner Gas in 2004. In the episode "Comedy Night", the show's lead character, Brent Leroy, attempts to sway a local ladies' reading club away from examining Oprah's Book Club-style titles like The Life of Pi and into adventure fiction such as Don Pendleton's The Executioner and The Saint in New York. Brent compares The Saint in New York's plot with the "fish out of water" plot of The Life of Pi. According to the book Tales from Dog River: The Complete Corner Gas Guide by Michele Sponagle, the show's prop department had to obtain multiple copies of the novel for filming, but found it difficult to do so since it is out of print; they had to order copies from as far away as Florida. (Ultimately, however, only one copy of the book actually appeared on screen, specifically the 1980s reprint edition by Charter Books.)

In the film Inglourious Basterds , the character Shosanna Dreyfus can be seen reading The Saint in New York while sitting in a Paris café. The same book is present in a scene where Shosanna and her lover Marcel are planning to kill all the top Nazis in Chapter Five ("Revenge of the Giant Face").

Related Research Articles

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<i>Getaway</i> (The Saint)

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.

<i>Boodle</i> (short story collection)

Boodle is a collection of short stories by Leslie Charteris, first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder and Stoughton in August 1934. This was the thirteenth book to feature the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint", and the second short story collection featuring the character. The title is taken from the British slang term "boodle" meaning bribery, stolen goods or loot. When first published in the United States by The Crime Club, the unfamiliar-sounding title was changed to The Saint Intervenes, and this title was later applied to future UK editions.

<i>The Saint Steps In</i>

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<i>The Saint in Pursuit</i>

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<i>Meet the Tiger</i> Novel by Leslie Charteris

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Holm</span> Fictional character

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claud Eustace Teal</span> Fictional character

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'.

<i>The Saint</i> (novel)

The Saint is a mystery novel by Burl Barer published by Pocket Books in 1997. It was based upon the screenplay for the film The Saint, which in turn was loosely based upon the character Simon Templar, created by Leslie Charteris. Val Kilmer portrayed Templar and is pictured on the book's front cover.

The Saint's Lady is an unpublished novel by Joy Martin featuring the character of criminal-turned-detective Simon Templar who had been created by Leslie Charteris in 1928.

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.

The Hirondel is a fictional car driven by Simon Templar, the protagonist of a book series by Leslie Charteris. The Hirondel is an opulent, eight-cylinder, cream and red vehicle costing £5,000 and is a recurring element in many of The Saint books. The Hirondel is also used by Storm in the non-Saint novel Daredevil.Daredevil also features inspector Teal. The Hirondel was featured in a 1972 issue of Automobile Quarterly.

The Saint refers to eight B movies made by RKO Pictures between 1938 and 1941, based on some of the books in British author Leslie Charteris' long-running series about the fictional character Simon Templar, better known as The Saint.

References

  1. Barer, Burl (1993). The Saint: A Complete History in Print, Radio, Film and Television, 1928-1992. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. p. 393. ISBN   0-7864-1680-7.
  2. "Saint.org".

Sources