Sun 1 Feb 2009
(1) David L. Vineyard —
As far as I know, the only Saint novel to contain original Charteris material after about 1960 was Salvage for the Saint, and that only because it was based on stories Charteris wrote for the long running Saint comic strip drawn by Mike Roy and later John Spanger and Doug Wildey (TV’s Jonny Quest). I’ve read that he also wrote original stories for the Saint comic book too, but all the ones I’ve seen were reprints of the comic strip.
Towards the end of the run of The Saint television series and the Saint Mystery Magazine Charteris authorized novelizations of the series and several were run in the magazine and later reprinted in hardcovers and paperback.
None of them really capture the Saint or Charteris, though the best is probably Vendetta for the Saint by veteran American sf writer Harry Harrison (author of Make Room Make Room, the basis for Soylent Green, and the Flash Gordon comic strip), based on a two part episode of the series and released as a movie.
I don’t know how many of these were done, but they did continue into the Ian Oglivy Return of the Saint series.
(2) Ian Dickerson —
The last Saint book solely by Charteris was the 1963 short story collection The Saint in the Sun, making the last Saint novel solely by Charteris the 1946 story The Saint Sees It Through.
Some of the latterday collaborations do indeed read like novelisations, but some of them read quite close to original Charteris. Charteris was never shy about crediting his collaborators –- except Harry Harrison because he didn’t want his name on the book –- and always edited the manuscripts before they went to print.
Salvage for the Saint was not based on a comic strip story, it was in fact based on the two part Ian Ogilvy episode entitled “Collision Course.”
“The Red Sabbath” [mentioned by Steve as having unknown antecedents] was based on the Ogilvy episode “One Black September.”
EDITORIAL COMMENT: For a long online biographical appreciation of Leslie Charteris by Ian, complete with several photos, follow this link.
February 1st, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Thanks for all the info on Charteris. I’ve yet to read one of the SAINT novels, even though I have a couple kicking around the apartment. One of them is THE SAINT IN EUROPE. Where is a good place to start in the series?
Thanks,
Cullen
February 1st, 2009 at 5:19 pm
I think it depends on what you know of The Saint. If you’re familiar with the Roger Moore incarnation and are looking for something similiar then The Saint in Europe is a great place to start.
If you’re looking for the original character then go for something like The Saint in New York, Getaway (aka The Saint’s Getaway), Enter the Saint…
You can find more of the titles I’d recommend towards the bottom of this page: http://www.spywise.net/iandickerson.html
Ian
February 1st, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Thanks, Ian!
Anyone who’s reading this, by all means follow the link in Ian’s post — it’s well worth the visit, tenfold.
— Steve
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:54 am
I don’t know when Charteris began using ghostwriters, but I find it difficult to believe that he would have written stories for the “Thrilling Group” pulp POPULAR DETECTIVE. Are this magazine’s three 1935 Saint stories reprints, or were they ghosted? Ned Pines’ Thrilling Group wasn’t exactly a top market and I can’t imagine Charteris being bothered with it after having just sold SAINT IN NEW YORK to THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE, a top-paying slick.
February 2nd, 2009 at 2:54 am
They were reprints–of the three stories from ‘The Saint Goes On’–which had originated in Thriller magazine the year before. So although I wasn’t there at the time I can say with some certainty they weren’t ghosted…
Ian
February 9th, 2009 at 3:53 am
Nicholas Boving, who writes the Maxim Gunn novels (Serpent Force, Demon Plan, The Leopard Legion — all Taurus Publishing), is a fellow Saint fan and sent me this site http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2007/08/14/scroguely-works-the-saints-getaway/
a review/commentary on Charteris and the Saint and well worth reading.
The Saint in Pursuit is the 1971 book based on a story from the comic strip (1959-60) that I misidentified as Salvage for the Saint. I assume someone other than Charteris wrote the adaptation, though Charteris may have written the original comic strip story. Thanks to Ian Dickerson for catching the mistake.