''The Saint on the Spanish Main'' is a collection of

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

Leslie Charteris Leslie Charteris (born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin, 12 May 1907 – 15 April 1993), was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter.The Crime Club ''The Crime Club'' was an imprint of the Doubleday publishing company, which later spawned a 1946-47 anthology radio series, and a 1937-1939 film series. Literature Many classic and popular works of detective and mystery fiction had their fir ...

in the United States and

Hodder and Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette. History Early history The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged 14, with Messrs Jackson and Walford, the official publisher ...

in the United Kingdom. This book continues the adventures of

Simon Templar ''The Saint'' is the nickname of the fictional character Simon Templar, featured in a series of novels and short stories by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. After that date, other authors collaborated with Charteris on books unt ...

, alias The Saint, and is the second of three consecutive books that take a "

travelogue Travelogue may refer to: Genres * Travel literature, a record of the experiences of an author travelling * Travel documentary A travel documentary is a documentary film, television program, or online series that describes travel in general or t ...

" approach to the stories, with each taking place in a different exotic locale.

Stories

The book consisted of 6 stories: #Bimini: The Effete Angler: A chance encounter with an arrogant business man raises paranoia about the Saint. Charteris addresses the reader several times in this story, which is also more sexually explicit than previous Saint stories. #Nassau: The Arrow of God: Templar investigates the bizarre murder of an acerbic journalist. #Jamaica: The Black Commissar (titled The Man from Moscow in some editions): Simon reunites with characters from "The Arrow of God" and "The Masked Angel" (from an earlier book, ''

Call for the Saint ''Call for the Saint'' is a collection of two mystery novellas by Leslie Charteris, first published in the United States in 1948 by The Crime Club, and later the same year in the United Kingdom by Hodder and Stoughton. This book continues the adve ...

'') to bring down a communist sympathizer who has installed himself as dictator of a semi-autonomous area of Jamaica. #Puerto Rico: The Unkind Philanthropist: Simon engages in a little identity theft as he plays a confidence scheme on a crooked businessman. The story is notable for having Templar directly refer to author Leslie Charteris by name and revealing in dialogue that novels based on his adventures exist in continuity. #The Virgin Islands: The Old Treasure Story: Simon engages the help of a film crew in aiding a woman in a race against time to recover a sunken treasure. #Haiti: The Questing Tycoon: Templar squares off against a man who is taking advantage of a young woman who may or may not be a voodoo priestess. Some editions, such as the 1955

Avon Books Avon Publications is one of the leading publishers of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles reach ...

printing, omit the Nassau and Puerto Rico stories, despite one of the remaining stories being a sequel to the former.

Television adaptations

Several stories from this collection formed the basis for episodes of the 1962-69 TV series, ''

The Saint The Saint may refer to: Fiction * Simon Templar, also known as "The Saint", the protagonist of a book series by Leslie Charteris and subsequent adaptations: ** ''The Saint'' (film series) (1938–43), starring Louis Hayward, George Sanders an ...

''. "The Arrow of God" was broadcast during the first series (episode 7) on 15 November 1962, followed by "The Effete Angler" on 29 November (episode 9). During the third series, "The Unkind Philanthropist" was broadcast on 24 December 1964 (episode 12). The Questing Tycoon was broadcast on 25 February 1965 as episode 21 of series 3 under the title "Sibao". "The Old Treasure Story" was broadcast as the final episode of the fourth series on 26 August 1965. 1955 short story collections Simon Templar books Short story collections by Leslie Charteris The Crime Club books {{1950s-mystery-story-collection-stub