The Saint and the People Importers

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The Saint and the People Importers
1971 paperback edition
Author	Fleming Lee and Leslie Charteris, based on the teleplay by Donald James
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	The Saint
Genre(s)	Mystery novel
Publisher	The Crime Club
Publication date	1971
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0340150785
Preceded by	The Saint in Pursuit
Followed by	Catch the Saint

The Saint and the People Importers is the title of a 1971 mystery novel featuring the character of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint". The novel is credited to Leslie Charteris, who created the Saint in 1928, but the book was actually co-authored by Fleming Lee. It is a novelization of the episode "The People Importers" from the 1962-69 TV series, The Saint, originally written by Donald James. The episode sprang from an original outline by Lee, though this was discarded by the time the story hit TV screens. For the novelisation Lee went back to the original premise.

Some sources such as the Saintly Bible website, list Charteris as co-author of this book, although he did serve in an editorial capacity on all releases issued during this period. For the first time in more than 30 years, the British edition (by Hodder and Stoughton) predated the American release. It was also the first Saint book to be released in paperback first, although hardcover editions followed. The book was first published in the United States by The Crime Club in 1972.

[edit] Plot summary

This novel captures some flavour of the early-seventies English society by thrusting its titular hero against the immigration rackets exploiting the masses of underprivileged Asian workers (in this case, Pakistani) during the times when England "called the Empire home". The action starts when, getting in a cab in London, Simon Templar spots a particularly lurid headline on the frontpage of a newspaper forgotten by some previous customer, describing the horrible death of a Pakistani immigrant in Soho.

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v • d • e The Saint, created by Leslie Charteris Characters Simon Templar | Patricia Holm | Claud Eustace Teal | Hoppy Uniatz | Roger Conway Books by Leslie Charteris Meet - The Tiger! (1928) | Enter the Saint (1930) | The Last Hero (1930) | Knight Templar (1930) | Featuring the Saint (UK only – 1931) | Alias the Saint (UK only – 1931) | Wanted for Murder (US only – 1931) | She Was a Lady (1931) | The Holy Terror (1932) | Getaway (1932) | Once More the Saint (1933) | The Brighter Buccaneer (1933) | The Misfortunes of Mr. Teal (1934) | Boodle (1934) | The Saint Goes On (1934) | The Saint in New York (1935) | Saint Overboard (1936) | The Ace of Knaves (1937) | Thieves' Picnic (1937) | Prelude for War (1938) | Follow the Saint (1938) | The Happy Highwayman (1939) | The Saint in Miami (1940) | The Saint Goes West (1942) | The Saint Steps In (1942) | The Saint on Guard (1944) | The Saint Sees it Through (1946) | Call for the Saint (1948) | Saint Errant (1948) | The Saint in Europe (1953) | The Saint on the Spanish Main (1955) | The Saint Around the World (1956) | Thanks to the Saint (1957) | Señor Saint (1958) | The Saint to the Rescue (1959) | Trust the Saint (1962) | The Saint in the Sun (1963) Collaborations (credited to Charteris) Vendetta for the Saint (1964) | The Saint on TV (1968) | The Saint Returns (1968) | The Saint and the Fiction Makers (1968) | The Saint Abroad (1969) | The Saint in Pursuit (1970) | The Saint and the People Importers (1971) | Catch the Saint (1975) | The Saint and the Hapsburg Necklace (1976) | Send for the Saint (1977) | The Saint in Trouble (1978) | The Saint and the Templar Treasure (1979) | Count on the Saint (1980) | Salvage for the Saint (1983) Books by Burl Barer The Saint (film novelization) (1997) | Capture the Saint (1997) Unpublished works Bet on the Saint (1968) | The Saint's Lady (1979) Theatrical films The Saint in New York (1938) | The Saint Strikes Back (1939) | The Saint in London (1939) | The Saint's Double Trouble (1940) | The Saint Takes Over (1940) | The Saint in Palm Springs (1941) | The Saint's Vacation (1941) | The Saint Meets the Tiger (1943) | The Saint's Girl Friday (1953) | Le Saint mène la danse (1960) | Le Saint prend l'affut (1966) | The Saint (1997) Made-for-TV films The Fiction Makers (1968) | Vendetta for the Saint (1969) | The Saint and the Brave Goose (1983) | The Saint in Manhattan (1987) Television series The Saint (1962 – 1969) | Return of the Saint (1978 – 1979) | Mystery Wheel of Adventure (1989) The Saint Actors Louis Hayward | George Sanders | Hugh Sinclair | Félix Marten | Jean Marais | Roger Moore | Ian Ogilvy | Andrew Clarke | Simon Dutton | Val Kilmer Related articles Daredevil (1929) (Teal's first appearance) | S.W.O.R.D. (fictional organization)