Fri 26 Dec 2025
Diary Review: THE SAINT DETECTIVE MAGAZINE September 1957.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews , Magazines[8] Comments
THE SAINT DETECTIVE MAGAZINE – September 1957. Editor: Hans Stefan Santesson. Overall rating: ***
LESLIE CHARTERIS “The Good Medicine.” Simon Templar (The Saint). Novelette. The Saint brings pills to the rescue of a man whose wife has used him to build up a large pharmaceutical business. Pills guaranteed to keep away insects, but not the Saint’s brand of justice. (4)
AARON MARC STEIN “Battle of Wits.” A man patiently builds up a lot to get rid of his wife, but it fails by being smarter than the sheriff it’s supposed to fool. (3)
AUGUST DERLETH “Adventure of the Little Hangman.” Solar Pons. Novelette. Solar Pons discovers the murderer, but provincial solidarity keeps the man from prison, in its own form of absolute justice. (4)
LOUIS GOLDING “The Vandyke Beard.” A man’s return from prison, and his effect on his family and relatives. (3)
RICHARD HARDWICK “He Came Back.” Murder on a shrimp boat, and retribution, pulp-style. (3)
RICHARD SALE “Ghosts Don’t Make Noise.” Daffy Dill. Novelette. Published previously as “Ghosts Don’t Make No Noise” in Detective Fiction Weekly, 07 June 1941. Daffy Dill is almost convinced that a ghost does exist, and this fact helps trap the murdered man’s killer. (3)
FREDRIC BROWN “Mr. Smith Kicks the Bucket.” Henry Smith. Published previously in Detective Story Magazine, August 1944, as “Bucket of Gems Case.” Mr. Smith, insurance investigator, is on the scene when a candy jewel is stolen, and then has the real one, to the surprise of all. (4)
SAX ROHMER “The Headless Mummies.” Morris Klaw. Published previously in The New Magazine (UK) October 1913, as “Case of the Headless Mummies.” Morris Klaw knows the secret of why museum mummies are being decapitated. Oriental poppycock. (1)
CHARLES FRITCH “First Job.” Illuminating story of how a juvenile delinquent is born. (2)
December 26th, 2025 at 9:09 pm
I always liked THE SAINT DETECTIVE/MYSTERY MAGAZINE; in 1957 I would place it just behind EQMM in consistent quality and with its mixture of the old and the new. (MANHUNT was beginning to become a pale shadow of itself, while AHMM was still publishing readable but ultimately forgettable stories with their classic twist.)
In 1967, Leslie Charteris had not yet reached the tired stage of his Saint stories, keeping them remarkably fresh. Aaron Marc Stein published little short fiction, keeping busy writing mystery novels under three names — most of his stories went to MANHUNT; this was his only appearance in THE SAINT. Derleth is one of my favorite writers and he produced far more good Solar Pons stories than bad; this was one of the good ‘uns. Golding was a well-known literary figure, very popular in his day; he is probably best-known today for his short story “Pale Blue Nightgown.” He died a year after “The Vandyke Beard” was published; his last four short stories were published in THE SAINT that year, rather than in his usual established British magazines. Richard Hardwick had a prolific fifteen-year career in the digest, most often in AHMM; he had placed three stories with THE SAINT. Richard Sale was a mainstay in the pulps and was one of the highest paid pulp writers in the Thirties. While continuing with the pulps, he also transitioned to s successful career as a screenwriter and director. His Daffy Dill series ran to sixty stories, each of which is recommended. (On a personal note, he co-created the television show YANCY DERRINGER, for which my wife would be forever grateful.) Fredric Brown was one of the most innovative short story writers we had; Mr. smith was an early character who appeared in a half dozen or so stories. Moris Klaw, Sax Rohmer’s “Dream Detective,” is one of those fictional characters you either hate or love; despite the clunky writing I am one of those who love his stories. Charles Fritch was a prolific West Coast writer who started in the science fiction mags then shifted somewhat to include detective and mystery stories. I have always found his work readable, but forgettable. He edited MIKE SHAYNE MYSTERY MAGAZINE for sis years.
All in all, judging from the authors, this was a pretty damn good issue and I plan to read it in the near future.
December 26th, 2025 at 10:20 pm
“… this was a pretty damn good issue…” It sure was. Only a couple pf stories less than a 3 or 4, and someone could easily disagree with me on those. You’re right. THE SAINT DETECTIVE MAGAZINE was a unique mixture of old stories and new, and they all had a grittiness to them that I didn’t find as often in either EQMM or AHMM. Comes from the older stories, I think, many of them reprints from the pulps and/or from that era.
December 27th, 2025 at 3:50 pm
That’s a really good line-up of authors. I think after MSMM folded, Chuck Fritch edited a few other magazines, and then for years he worked for the California DMV. We got along great when I was writing for MSMM.
December 27th, 2025 at 10:24 pm
Looking at the list of authors earlier today, I was thinking the very same thing. These guys wrote the kind of stories I like to read.
December 28th, 2025 at 1:23 am
Solid issue of a digest I always tried to pick up though distribution wasn’t always great. There always seemed to be an exceptional lineup of reprints along with the originals.
December 28th, 2025 at 7:13 pm
A number of these Saint issues have been popping up recently on an archive.org page, including all three issues of the three-issue revival of the magazine in 1984. The latest addition to the site, October-November, 1953 includes the Woolrich story, “It Had To Be Murder”, a reprint from Dime Detective (February, 1942), later retitled and of course filmed as “Rear Window. Link:
https://archive.org/details/@the_ibis_rebellion
December 28th, 2025 at 11:14 pm
Archive.org is temporarily down, or so says the error message I received just now. I’ll try again tomorrow.
It’s good to know that they have a number of issues there that can be retrieved and read. The magazines themselves are not particularly easy to find. Some people are not happy with what the people there are doing, and I understand that, but you’ll hear no complaints from me.
January 4th, 2026 at 3:47 am
IA is back up, they do maintenance once in a while or are temporarily overwhelmed. There are a number of new and some older Saint issues available including VOl.1 #1. I recently downloaded one with an excellent Barry Perowne Raffles story, “The Return of Diana Raffles.”
The reprints in the Saint tended to be more esoteric and exotic than EQMM or AHMM, and they frequently featured Lawrence Blochman and Sale’s Daffy Dill stories.