I started reading this series last month. Got the idea from an episode of Corner Gas. Sherlock Holmes meets James Bond meets Robin Hood. So far I love them, regardless of how trashy and dated they are.
But they are IMPOSSIBLE to find. No ebooks, and the series seem to be pretty out of print. I’ve been scouring AbeBooks to find them. Anyone else read them/enjoy them?
“As the Bishop said to the call girl…”
Yep, read them in the 1950’s, checked out from my local library. No doubt libraries have thrown out book of that vintage.
Try finding a local used book store, if such a thing exists in your neck of the woods.
Sorry that I can’t really help either (but I’m going to blather on about the Saint for a couple of paragraphs anyway. Sorry.)
I found a copy of The Saint in New York in a storage closet at my grandmother’s house in the mid-1960’s (the book itself dated from the '30s), read it, and loved it. The phonetically-spelled accent of the NYC sidekick was hilariously unlike any spoken English anyone has ever heard, but it didn’t hurt my enjoyment of the adventure at all. I then read every Saint book that our local small-town library had. These were all later books, published in the 1950s and '60s. Even then, it was hard to find the earlier books in the series, but those were the ones I preferred.
If I remember correctly, Charteris published his first Saint story in the late 1920’s when he was still a teenager. In the 1960’s when I discovered him, he was still publishing occasionally, but it was usually collections of short stories. I lost interest when it seemed like the books were being co-written or ghost written.
I did find an early Saint story in huge paperback volume called The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps which my wife gave me as a gift a couple of years back. I was amazed at how terrible the writing was. I really loved those stories back when I was a kid.
I’ve scoured a few here in town, but with no success. It seems to be a rare commodity here!
Czarcasm, will check your link. Thanks a lot!!
I loved Leslie Charteris’ writing style, and the Saint’s banter. The Mr Teal stories were the best. The early stories had a slightly xenophobic touch, and the later ones, where he joined the OSS, were too serious. But fun reads on the whole.
I got most of mine from book fairs where there would be stalls of old unsold books, twenty years or more ago. Don’t see them any more. Czarcasm’s link might be the answer. Thanks!.
Do you get different selections if you join the club? I’m looking there now, and all I see is French translations! 
I was in high school when Ace Charter republished most of them. I bought all I could find and I’ve been guarding them for over thirty years. I still pull them out and re-read them occasionally.
Check out this eBay page, especially the lot of ten books.
edited to add: If you don’t wish to bid, try this half.com selection.
Check out items #31 and #32-The Best Of The Saint volumes 1 and 2. They contain rare pre and post war short stories.
For fun, The Hindenburg Murders is a mystery by Max Allen Collins featuring Leslie Charteris - good fun, especially if you like airships!
My favorite story is “The Star Makers”, in which people running an acting lessons scam which is just barely legal get scammed in turn by the Saint. Things don’t turn out exactly the way he planned, however… It’s unusual for con artists to come out financially ahead after the Saint has dealt with them.
It’s in a collection called The Saint and the Happy Highwayman. I recommend it.
Hodder and Stoughton imprint Mulholland Books will be re-issuing 35 Saint books in print and in digital format within the next 12 months. First batch is due before Christmas and there’ll be lots of added extras such as introductions by noted fans, additional essays etc.
Hoppy
I loved the Saint books, it’s been a bit of a sad co-incidence that I’ve just found out that at least one of the later books was actually written by one of my other favourite authors - Harry Harrison.
I loved the earlier books with Pat Holm, 'Orace , Roger Conway et al.
I got all my copies from second hand shops and garage sales.
I haven’t looked for these, but I find almost all of my used books on Amazon. Probably one of their sellers has one or more copies. I’m not sure you can find the entire series though.
Is it possibly a series that Google scanned?
Bob
Heh. I stumbled across Mr Charteris a long time ago in a jury duty waiting room. The Misfortunes of Mr Teal, IIRC, was the story that I began reading, and never finished. Took over ten years for me to find the book again and finish the story.
Nowadays with the internet, the search is much simpler.