THE SAINT CLOSES THE CASE - A Positronic Book

Simon Templar, the Saint, returns in an early, high-stakes adventure of crime, danger, and audacious heroics. First published as The Last Hero and later reissued as The Saint Closes the Case, this fast-moving Leslie Charteris novel helped establish the tone that made the Saint one of the great figures of twentieth-century popular crime fiction: elegant, reckless, witty, and perpetually at war with villainy. The novel first appeared in British magazine form in 1929 before book publication in 1930, and the later Saint title became the better-known reprint form. Here Simon Templar is drawn into a sinister plot involving secret weapons, ruthless ambition, and enemies whose schemes threaten far more than ordinary criminal profit. Charteris blends mystery, thriller, scientific menace, and the sharp-edged glamour of interwar adventure fiction, giving the Saint a case that tests both his nerve and his code. For readers of vintage mystery, classic British thrillers, pulp adventure, gentleman rogues, and early espionage-tinged crime fiction, The Saint Closes the Case remains a brisk and stylish entry in the long-running Saint series. Explore other exciting Positronic Books devoted to classic science fiction, fantasy, and mystery.

Leslie Charteris (1907-1993), born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin in Singapore, was a British-Chinese author best known as the creator of Simon Templar, the Saint. Charteris introduced the character in the late 1920s and developed him across novels, novellas, and story collections that blended crime, adventure, wit, romance, violence, and moral outlawry. The Saint became one of the durable figures of twentieth-century popular fiction, later moving into film, radio, television, comics, and continued reprint editions.Charteris's great invention was a hero who belonged neither to ordinary detective fiction nor ordinary criminal fiction. Simon Templar is elegant, dangerous, theatrical, and self-directed: a man who understands the underworld from the inside, yet turns his talents against criminals whose greed and cruelty make them more contemptible than the laws they violate. Knight Templar, or The Avenging Saint shows the early Saint in one of his most aggressive forms, confronting organised crime and international corruption with charm, nerve, and private vengeance. For readers of classic thrillers, vintage crime adventure, gentleman-rogue fiction, and early twentieth-century popular series fiction, Charteris remains a major and highly discoverable author.