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Simon Templar Books in Order

Part ofLeslie Charteris Books in Order

See the Simon Templar books in order by Leslie Charteris, with short summaries, series background, and tips on where to start with the Saint.

Last updated: June 30, 2026

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Publication Order

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56 books

1

The Saint Meets the Tiger / Meet the Tiger!

by Leslie Charteris

1928

Simon Templar investigates murder, criminal empire, and a dangerous woman in the novel that introduces the Saint. The character is rougher here than later, but his nerve, wit, and moral swagger are already in place.

2

Enter the Saint

by Leslie Charteris

1930

This early collection shows Simon Templar settling into his role as a self-appointed enemy of the ungodly. The linked stories introduce the mix of wit, audacity, and criminal-hunting energy that defines the Saint.

3

The Avenging Saint / Knight Templar

by Leslie Charteris

1930

Simon Templar faces kidnappers, schemers, and men willing to gamble with Europe for power and profit. It is an energetic early novel that shows the Saint as a hard, idealistic adventurer rather than a polished later celebrity.

4

The Saint Closes the Case / The Last Hero

by Leslie Charteris

1930

A stolen weapon and a high-stakes conspiracy push Simon Templar into one of his darkest early cases. The story widens the Saint's world, mixing adventure, science-tinged menace, and real personal stakes.

5

Alias the Saint

by Leslie Charteris

1931

Simon Templar works under false names, unexpected roles, and risky cover stories as he moves through this early collection. The mood is pulpy and playful, with traps, escape acts, and crooks who underestimate him.

6

Featuring the Saint

by Leslie Charteris

1931

One of the early Saint collections, this book introduces a wider circle of Simon Templar's allies and gives him a string of quick, sly adventures. The stories mix high spirits, disguise, and a strong taste for poetic justice.

7

The Saint Meets His Match

by Leslie Charteris

1931

Simon Templar crosses paths with Jill Trelawney, a clever female crime boss who may be ally, rival, or both. Their partnership gives this Saint adventure extra spark, since each is always weighing the other.

8

The Saint Meets His Match / She Was a Lady / Angels of Doom

by Leslie Charteris

1931

Simon Templar crosses paths with Jill Trelawney, a clever female crime boss who may be ally, rival, or both. Their partnership gives this Saint adventure extra spark, since each is always weighing the other.

9

The Saint versus Scotland Yard / The Holy Terror

by Leslie Charteris

1932

This early collection pits Simon Templar against crooks and against the police trying to catch him at the same time. It shows the Saint at his most impish and dangerous, still close to his outlaw roots.

10

The Saint's Getaway / The Getaway

by Leslie Charteris

1932

A simple job turns into murder, pursuit, and a tightening trap as Simon Templar tries to protect the innocent and punish the guilty. It is a fast early novel with the Saint half hunted, half in control.

11

The Brighter Buccaneer

by Leslie Charteris

1933

Fifteen short adventures send Simon Templar after swindlers, crooked officials, fake investors, and other easy targets. The stories are brief, fast, and full of the jaunty Robin Hood spirit that defines the early Saint.

12

The Saint and Mr. Teal / Once More the Saint

by Leslie Charteris

1933

Three linked novellas deepen the long-running game between Simon Templar and Inspector Teal. The cases are twisty, connected, and especially good at showing how much the Saint enjoys needling the law.

13

The Saint Goes On

by Leslie Charteris

1934

These stories catch Simon Templar in confident early form, moving from scams and robberies to cases with real danger behind them. It is a punchy collection that helped define the Saint as both prankster and crusader.

14

The Saint in London / The Misfortunes of Mr. Teal

by Leslie Charteris

1934

These linked stories pit Simon Templar against crime in and around London, with Inspector Teal never far behind. The fun comes from watching the Saint solve problems while making the police work twice as hard.

15

The Saint Intervenes / Boodle

by Leslie Charteris

1934

A short-story collection in which Simon Templar keeps dropping into smaller crimes that reveal much larger dishonesty underneath. Crooks, swindlers, and respectable frauds all learn that the Saint is hard to shake once interested.

16

The Saint in New York

by Leslie Charteris

1935

The Saint crosses the Atlantic to stop a ruthless gang that has made New York a killing ground. Fast, hard-edged, and more openly violent than later books, it shows Simon Templar at his most relentless.

17

Saint Overboard

by Leslie Charteris

1936

Simon Templar rescues a young detective from the sea and gets pulled into a treasure-salvage mystery off the French coast. Modern pirates, missing gold, and divided loyalties make this one of the Saint's best seafaring adventures.

18

Concerning the Saint

by Leslie Charteris

1937

An omnibus-style Saint collection that showcases Simon Templar in brisk, varied adventures. It is less about one big arc than about the ongoing pleasure of watching the Saint bait crooks and outthink everyone else.

19

The Saint Bids Diamonds / The Saint at the Thieves' Picnic / Thieves' Picnic

by Leslie Charteris

1937

What starts as a hunt around stolen diamonds turns into a crowded game of treachery among professional thieves. Simon Templar has to stay half a step ahead of crooks who are all planning to betray each other.

20

The Saint in Action / Ace of Knaves

by Leslie Charteris

1937

Three novellas send Simon into profiteering, war-shadowed intrigue, and showy criminal schemes. The mood is a little harder and more political than in some Saint collections, but the pace never drops.

21

The Saint Plays with Fire / Prelude for War

by Leslie Charteris

1938

As Europe edges toward war, Simon Templar gets mixed up with fascists, murder, and a plot that could do real damage. It is one of the Saint books where politics and adventure are tightly bound together.

22

Follow the Saint

by Leslie Charteris

1939

Three novellas put Simon Templar on the trail of counterfeiters, swindlers, and moral crusaders who are not as pure as they look. It is classic Saint material, witty, restless, and happy to make fools of authority.

23

The Happy Highwayman

by Leslie Charteris

1939

This lively collection turns the Saint loose on corrupt mayors, crooked art dealers, acting-school frauds, and even one strange scientific menace. The range is broad, but the pleasure is always Simon's mix of nerve, style, and mischief.

24

The Saint in Miami

by Leslie Charteris

1940

In wartime Miami, Simon Templar finds Nazi agents, murder, and a city full of money and menace. This novel begins the Saint's American war years and gives him an enemy bigger than the usual crook.

25

The Saint Goes West

by Leslie Charteris

1942

Three novellas send Simon Templar across Arizona, Palm Springs, and Hollywood, chasing spies, rich eccentrics, and murder. The Western and California settings give these Saint adventures a fresh, widescreen feel.

26

The Saint Steps In

by Leslie Charteris

1943

In Washington, a young woman asks Simon Templar to protect her inventor father and soon lands him in wartime intrigue. What looks like gangland pressure turns into a fight over patriotism, power, and a valuable scientific breakthrough.

27

The Saint and the Sizzling Saboteur

by Leslie Charteris

1944

Simon Templar heads to Galveston on the trail of a factory saboteur, only to find murder, local suspicion, and bigger forces behind the damage. It is a compact wartime Saint adventure with plenty of heat.

28

The Saint on Guard

by Leslie Charteris

1944

Two wartime novellas send Simon Templar after stolen strategic materials and a saboteur loose in Texas. These stories put the Saint into direct conflict with enemy agents and black-market operators.

29

The Saint Sees it Through

by Leslie Charteris

1946

Back in New York, Simon Templar investigates a rising crime syndicate built on postwar opium smuggling. The case grows from one racket into a larger network of murder, corruption, and dangerous alliances.

30

Call for the Saint

by Leslie Charteris

1948

Two novellas put Simon Templar back into longer, more dangerous cases, including one that brings Patricia Holm back into the action. It is a good bridge between the wartime books and the later short-story collections.

31

Saint Errant

by Leslie Charteris

1948

This postwar collection pairs Simon Templar with a different woman in each story, so the cases shift in tone while keeping the same easy confidence. It is a looser, more playful Saint book with plenty of movement.

32

The Saint in Europe

by Leslie Charteris

1953

This collection restarts the Saint after a gap and sends him across Europe for murders, kidnappings, jewel thefts, and swindles. The stories lean hard into travel, giving Simon Templar a new city and a new problem each time.

33

Saint Cleans Up

by Leslie Charteris

1955

This paperback gathering offers more Saint adventures in a compact, fast-reading format. Expect Simon Templar doing what he does best, stepping into dirty situations and leaving crooks, blackmailers, and cheats much worse off.

34

The Saint on the Spanish Main

by Leslie Charteris

1955

Simon Templar roams the Caribbean in six stories full of journalists, dictators, treasure, and crooked businessmen. It is one of the Saint's most openly globe-trotting collections, with a breezy holiday surface and real danger underneath.

35

The Saint Around the World

by Leslie Charteris

1956

These six stories send Simon Templar from Bermuda to Malaya and beyond, solving trouble wherever he lands. The appeal is the mix of travelogue colour, brisk plotting, and the Saint's amused confidence.

36

Thanks to the Saint

by Leslie Charteris

1957

Six stories show Simon Templar dealing with con artists, terrorists, and people who think they can outplay him. It is a confident mid-period collection, quick to read and full of traps turning back on their makers.

37

Señor Saint

by Leslie Charteris

1958

This collection takes Simon Templar into warmer, Latin-flavoured settings for four sharp adventures involving pearls, revolutions, romance, and old-fashioned greed. The mood is relaxed on the surface, but the schemes are not.

38

The Saint to the Rescue

by Leslie Charteris

1959

In six short adventures, Simon Templar keeps stepping into other people's bad situations and making them much worse for the crooks involved. It is a nimble collection of rescues, reversals, and neatly handled sting operations.

39

Trust the Saint

by Leslie Charteris

1962

This short-story collection throws Simon Templar at swindlers, reformers, and stranger problems than usual. The cases are brisk and witty, and one of them edges into the fantastic without losing the Saint's cool tone.

40

The Saint in the Sun

by Leslie Charteris

1963

Seven sunlit adventures send Simon Templar through resorts, seaside towns, and holiday settings where crime is never far away. It is the last Saint collection written solely by Charteris, light, sharp, and comfortably worldly.

41

Vendetta for the Saint

by Leslie Charteris

1964

A chance encounter in Naples pulls Simon Templar into a maze of false identities, private islands, and Mafia power. The Saint has to work fast when every answer brings another attack.

42

The Saint on TV

by Leslie Charteris

1967

Two novella-length adventures adapt the Saint's television era into print. Simon Templar faces staged games and power plays, with the same fast pace, banter, and clean cliffhanger energy that made the screen version work.

43

The Saint and the Fiction Makers

by Leslie Charteris

1968

Simon agrees to protect a reclusive thriller writer and finds himself kidnapped by criminals who think fiction can become a blueprint. It is a playful Saint adventure about pulp, performance, and a very real heist.

44

The Saint Returns

by Leslie Charteris

1968

This two-story collection brings Simon Templar back for cases involving a missing young woman and people far too interested in clever devices. It has the brisk, stylish feel of the TV-linked Saint books.

45

The Saint Abroad

by Leslie Charteris

1969

Two novellas send Simon Templar into international trouble involving collectors, schemers, and dangerous patriots. These TV-era Saint stories are light on their feet and built for quick, globe-trotting entertainment.

46

The Saint in Pursuit

by Leslie Charteris

1970

Simon Templar goes on the chase in a later novel built from a comic-strip storyline. Expect disguises, pursuit across shifting leads, and a Saint mystery driven by movement, bluff, and pressure rather than quiet deduction.

47

The Saint and the People Importers

by Leslie Charteris

1971

After spotting a headline about a dead Pakistani immigrant, Simon Templar starts probing a brutal people-smuggling racket in London. The case pushes the Saint into a darker, more topical story about exploitation and murder.

48

Catch the Saint

by Leslie Charteris

1975

This two-novella collection pits Simon Templar against an art theft mystery and a hunt for a hidden crime boss. The stories aim for a classic Saint feel, with damsels in distress, elegant swindles, and quick-footed detection.

49

The Saint and the Hapsburg Necklace

by Leslie Charteris

1975

On the eve of war, Simon Templar helps a young countess protect the fabled Hapsburg Necklace from Nazi hands and rival thieves. It is part treasure hunt, part espionage caper, with Vienna under growing pressure.

50

Send for the Saint

by Leslie Charteris

1977

Two linked late-era adventures send Simon after con artists, kidnappers, and schemes bigger than they first appear. This collection keeps the Saint moving fast, with cases driven by bluffing, pursuit, and sudden twists.

51

The Saint in Trouble

by Leslie Charteris

1978

Two novellas find Simon Templar untangling trouble that starts with odd requests and turns quickly dangerous. It is a brisk late Saint collection built around sharp reversals, criminals with plans, and the hero's refusal to stay out of it.

52

The Saint and the Templar Treasure

by Leslie Charteris

1979

In prewar Vienna, Simon Templar teams with a countess to keep a legendary necklace out of Nazi hands. Jewel hunting, divided loyalties, and looming war give this Saint novel an unusually tense historical backdrop.

53

Count on the Saint

by Leslie Charteris

1980

This two-story collection sends Simon Templar into a church theft and a university murder plot. It is a compact late-era Saint book with puzzles, imposture, and the hero's cool, needling wit.

54

Salvage for the Saint

by Leslie Charteris

1983

Simon Templar tackles a high-stakes salvage case that leads from wreckage and missing treasure to murder. One of the last Saint novels, it gives him a tough modern mystery with danger on land and sea.

55

The Saint Is Heard

by Leslie Charteris

1995

This radio-era collection brings Simon Templar to audio, where voice, pace, and cliffhanger plotting suit him perfectly. It is a chance to hear how well the Saint's polish and mischief translated off the page.

56

Capture the Saint

by Leslie Charteris

1997

In Seattle for a film premiere, Simon Templar is pulled into murder and a modern criminal scheme. This late Saint adventure mixes show-business glamour, old enemies, and the hero's usual taste for dangerous improvisation.

Series background & context

Simon Templar, better known as the Saint, is Leslie Charteris's great trickster hero. He is a gentleman adventurer, sometime thief, sometime detective, and full-time nuisance to people who profit from cruelty. He goes after swindlers, blackmailers, gangsters, arms dealers, spies, and worse, not because anyone appointed him, but because he thinks the world needs the job done.

He is never quite on the police side, and that is the point.

The nickname comes from his initials, S.T., and from the halo calling card he likes to leave behind. In the early books he can be surprisingly hard-edged, closer to a vigilante than a tidy drawing-room detective. He has charm, money, nerve, and a taste for mockery, but he also carries a real streak of moral anger. Around him you get a memorable supporting cast, especially Patricia Holm, his capable early partner, Hoppy Uniatz, his loyal sidekick, and the long-suffering Inspector Claud Eustace Teal, who spends years trying to catch him while also needing his help.

The books move around a lot. Early adventures are rooted in London, the English countryside, and the kind of underworld where apparently respectable people are often the dirtiest players in the room. Then the map widens. Simon crosses to New York, spends time in wartime America, and later drifts through Europe, the Caribbean, and a string of sunlit resorts where murder, fraud, and stolen jewels seem to follow him from port to port.

The setting changes, but the engine stays the same.

What links the series is Simon himself, and the tension he brings with him. He is rich enough to avoid danger, clever enough to walk away, and vain enough to enjoy the show, yet he keeps stepping into other people's messes anyway. Sometimes the stories are full novels, sometimes linked novellas, sometimes quick short stories, but they all run on the same charge, a fast plot, a cool hero, and a steady belief that crooks deserve to be embarrassed before they are beaten.

The tone shifts over the decades. The 1930s books are the sharpest and roughest, full of swagger and outlaw energy. The wartime books bring in espionage and larger political stakes. The 1950s collections often feel more like globe-trotting capers, with travel, scams, and elegant villains. The later, TV-linked books are smoother and more overtly playful. That range is part of the fun.

If you read the Saint in order, you can watch Charteris changing with the century while keeping his hero recognizable. If you just dip in, the best thing to expect is this, Simon Templar will walk into a bad situation, smile at the wrong moment, and somehow leave with the crooks exposed, the police irritated, and the reader very glad he showed up. The books later fed films, radio, comics, and the Roger Moore television series, but the page version is still the heart of it.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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