The Thriller magazines

Many of Leslie's stories began life in The Thriller magazine. Here he developed the character of The Saint. The Saint started out as The Joker, leader of a gang called 'The Five Kings'. Most of these stories were later re-written as Saint stories, so these are the true first publications. The Thriller magazin invariably have stains & tears from rusty staples and are fragile down the crease, so please allow for this. These pulps were not designed to be saved! I always remove the staples to avoid further damage. The width is slightly larger than my A4 scanner, so the right-hand edges cannot be seen.
My prices for magazines with Leslie Charteris stories featured on the front cover are £19.50, and £9.50 for the others POST FREE. CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO MAGNIFY - Windows IE may require you to click the new image that appears to fully magnify it.
Scroll to the bottom to see the Saint and his Hirondel.
Contact me for other issues not shown here.


In 1929 Leslie began writing stories for a new magazine called The Thriller. Two of these serialised stories (The Creeping Death and Sudden Death) were later combined to form The Last Hero. The Saint's calling card in this story is a Joker from a pack of cards, not a stickman. 9 Nov 29.	Alias the Saint is usually a collection of three novelettes reprinted from The Thriller. The National Debt first appeared April 6 1929 as The Secret of Beacon Inn where pirates operated, and was rewritten as a Saint short starring Simon instead of Rameses Smith (which the Saint used as an alias). This copy has some staining & is a bit worn.	The Wonderful War included in Featuring the Saint began life as The Judgment of the Joker on 1st June 1929. The crease down the spine of the cover has almost disintegrated but it's a nice clean copy.

The Story of a Dead Man March 2 1929 starred Jimmy Traill. It was rewritten to star Simon Templar when included in Alias the Saint (Wanted for Murder). Jimmy becomes an office manager to solve a murder and recover a legacy.	Crooks' Cargo October 19 1929 was rewritten as The Lawless Lady, and included in Enter the Saint. Spine taped.	She Was a Lady first appeared in The Thriller 1930 as a three-parter on February 1 as Number One!; March 15 as The Second Victim; and April 12 as The Third Victim.

These original Thriller stories were about Jill Trelawney’s ‘Angels of Doom’ gang but were re-written for the book to include Simon Templar. The hero of those stories was Lyn Peveril, who Leslie thought at the time was a better character than Simon.		Wanted for Murder/Featuring the Saint has stories reprinted from The Thriller. The Logical Adventure first appeared May 24 1930 as Without Warning.

The Man who Could not Die (from Featuring the Saint) first appeared October 11 1930 as Treachery! Was Miles Hallin invincible?	The Impossible Crime first appeared March 7 1931 as Bumped Off! A locked-room murder mystery. Was included in books Wanted for Murder/Alias the Saint.	The Inland Revenue first appeared April 25th 1931 as The Masked Menace. The Saint gets his income tax paid. Was included in The Holy Terror.

The Holy Terror consisted of three stories which first appeared in The Thriller: One was The Million Pound Day, first published in June 1931 as Black Face, where the Saint foils a plot to steal from the Bank of Italy.	Getaway first appeared as two stories in The Thriller 1932: February 6 as The Property of the Deceased and June 18 as Two Men from Munich.

Once More The Saint aka The Saint and Mr Teal consists of three novellas: One is The Gold Standard, originally published in The Thriller October 15 1932 as The Gold Flood.	The Book of Fate Feb 10 1934 was retitled The Simon Templar Foundation when it was included in The Misfortunes of Mr Teal.	After The Murder Mar 24 1934 was retitled The Art of Alibi when it was included in The Misfortunes of Mr Teal.
The Man who Knew June 16 1934 was retitled The High Fence when included in The Saint Goes On.	The Race Train Crime July 28 1934 was retitled The Elusive Ellshaw when included in The Saint Goes On.	Voyage of Terror by John Hunter December 29 1934. Contains The Treasure of Turk's Lane, reprinted from Empire News Oct 29 1933. Later included in Boodle.
The Death Duty Mystery by David Whitelaw Feb 9 1935. Contains The Noble Sportsman reprinted from Boodle (this story is udually omitted from UK editions).	Mystery of the Kidnapped Killer by G H Teed April 18 1936. Contains part 1 of Saint serial The Five Kings. Enter the Saint was basically a rewrite of Five Kings stories from 1929. The Saint's calling card in this story is a Joker from a pack of cards, not a stickman.	The Secret of the Indian Courier by Ladbroke Black April 25th 1936. Contains part of Saint serial The Five Kings. Enter the Saint was basically a rewrite of Five Kings stories from 1929. The Saint's calling card in this story is a Joker from a pack of cards, not a stickman.
The Spanish War (first published in The Thriller Feb 13 1937as The Return of the Saint) was included in The Ace of Knaves. (Called The Work of Art when used for the TV series)	Blackmail by J Jefferson Farjeons. Feb 20 1937. Contains part Serial The Saint in New York.	Crooks' Castle by John Hunter. Feb 27 1937. Contains part Serial The Saint in New York.
An Inside Job by George Dilnot. Mar 20 1937. Contains part Serial The Saint in New York.	Traitor No. 1 by Captain Frank Shaw Sept 3 1938. Contains part Serial The Policeman with Wings (originally appeared whole Aug 1929).	Follow the Saint Contains three novelettes. One is The Miracle Tea Party which first appeared in The Thriller January 29 1938 as The T.N. Tea Party.