Saint Errant
First edition (US)
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| Author | Leslie Charteris |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Saint |
| Genre | Mystery, Short Stories |
| Publisher | The Crime Club |
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Publication date
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1948 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Preceded by | Call for the Saint |
| Followed by | The Saint in Europe |
Saint Errant is a collection of short stories by Leslie Charteris, first published in 1948 by The Crime Club in the United States and in 1949 by Hodder and Stoughton in the United Kingdom. This was the 28th book to feature the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint", and the first Saint short story collection since 1939's The Happy Highwayman. Several of the stories were based upon the then-current Saint comic strip, while the story "Judith" was first published in 1934 (the version featured in this book has been revised and updated, as have several other stories which were originally published in the 1930s).
Saint Errant was the first of several themed story collections that Charteris would publish over the next decade. In the case of Saint Errant, each story focuses on a different female acquaintance of Templar's. This was also the final book to feature Templar's longtime love interest and partner, Patricia Holm. Charteris decided that Templar should no longer be tied down to just one woman (although he had enjoyed romantic dalliances in several previous books, suggesting his relationship with Holm was non-exclusive). In later years, Charteris would refuse to allow continuation writers to bring Holm back to the series, although he might have made an exception with the unpublished Saint novel, The Saint's Lady (1979) as Holm appears in that work. There is also a brief reference to Holm in the final book of the series, Salvage for the Saint. In Saint Errant, Holm appears in the stories "Iris", "Lida" and "Luella" before making her exit from the series.
Most of the stories fall in the mystery/crime genre, except the closing story, "Dawn," which incorporates supernatural elements. "Dawn" also breaks the fourth wall by having Templar reference Charteris and his stories in dialogue.
The Saint book series went on hiatus after this release; the next Simon Templar story collection would not appear until 1953, although the character continued to appear in radio plays and comic strips during the interval. All further Saint books used the short story format until Vendetta for the Saint was published in 1963.
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