Enter the Saint
First edition (UK)
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| Author | Leslie Charteris |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Saint |
| Genre | Mystery fiction |
| Publisher | Hodder and Stoughton (UK) |
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Publication date
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1930 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Preceded by | Meet the Tiger |
| Followed by | The Last Hero |
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.
This was the second book featuring the adventures of Charteris' Robin Hood-inspired anti-hero, Simon Templar, alias "The Saint". It followed the 1928 novel, Meet the Tiger which introduced the character. In the introduction to a 1983 republishing of Enter the Saint as part of an omnibus collection by Avenel Books, Charteris identifies the three stories in this collection as being the first stories written about Templar (not counting Meet the Tiger), although other sources such as the website Saint.org list Enter the Saint as the third Saint book after the novel The Last Hero (this, however, is not correct as The Last Hero makes direct reference to events in the Enter the Saint stories).
The stories in Enter the Saint mark the first series appearance of Scotland Yard Inspector Claud Eustace Teal, a character that Charteris had introduced in the 1929 novel, Daredevil.
The three novellas in the book are:
In "The Lawless Lady", Patricia Holm states that she and the Saint have been in love for a year,and "The Policeman with Wings" indicates that Templar is 28 years old, which means the events of these stories take place about a year after the events of Meet the Tiger. The three stories introduce a cast of supporting characters who make up Templar's team (referred to at one point in this book as "Saints"); only Patricia Holm and Templar's butler, Orace, had appeared in the previous book. The introductions of Roger Conway and Dicky Tremayne, the two operatives featured prominently in this volume, are perfunctory and it is left to the reader to assume that they have a longstanding relationship with the Saint. Several other members of "the Saints" are mentioned briefly, but would make their proper introductions in later books.
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Wikipedia