Sax Rohmer in The Saint Mystery Magazine

posted: 20 January 2000


Twenty-four stories by Sax Rohmer were reprinted in Leslie Charteris' The Saint Detective Magazine. Most of Rohmer's series detectives or investigators were represented. Six of the stories featured Moris Klaw, the "Dream Detective"; five others featured Bimbāshi Barūk of Egypt; and master illusionist Bazarada (based on Rohmer's friend, Harry Houdini) appeared in yet another three stories. Sir Denis Nayland Smith appeared twice, in "The Turkish Yataghan" (one of the three Nayland Smith stories that do not include Fu Manchu) and again in "The Eyes of Fu Manchu" (one of the three Fu Manchu short stories).  Neville Kernaby and Abū Tābah appeared in "The Death-Ring of Sneferu" and "Breath of Allah"; and Paul Harley appeared twice, in "House of Golden Death" and "The Black Mandarin".

All but two or three of the stories in the U.S. Saint also appeared in the British edition, which was under separate editorial control and was not simply a reprint of the U.S. edition. In the list below, U.S. dates are given on the left and the corresponding British dates on the right. Rohmer stories in the French and Dutch editions of The Saint, also independent of the U.S. edition, are noted on the pages devoted to those languages.

In the U.S.,The Saint magazine was edited by Hans Stefan Santesson, with the close participation of Charteris himself. During its twelve-year run, the magazine had three different titles and three different publishers. It began as a quarterly with the Spring 1953 issue (v1#1) under the title The Saint Detective Magazine, and then ran on a bimonthly schedule through October 1958 (v10#4). With the November 1958 issue (v10#5) the title was changed to The Saint Mystery Magazine. There was a one-year hiatus after the August 1960 issue (v14#2), during which Charteris struggled to regain control of the magazine from a publisher with whose policies he disagreed. Publication resumed with the September 1961 issue (v15#1), with Charteris again in control. With the May 1966 issue (v23#5) the title was shortened to The Saint Magazine. The final issue in the twelve-year run was dated October 1967 (v25#6). One result of this checkered history is that there is no consistent relationship between cover date and volume-and-number, and the latter must be obtained from a published index or from the magazines themselves.   (The title The Saint Magazine was revived for a brief three-issue run in 1984, but there was no editorial connection between that incarnation and Charteris' magazine.

 

U.S. dates Title British dates
Spring
1953
v1#1 Murder Strikes at Lychgate
   [Bimbāshi Barūk of Egypt]
 December
1954
v1#2
January
1954
v1#5 The Man Who Killed Blackbirds
   [Bimbāshi Barūk of Egypt]
 July
1955
v1#9
November
1954
v2#5 The Laughing Buddha
   [Bimbāshi Barūk of Egypt]
 March
1955
v1#5
June
1955
v3#6 The Smell of Dead Men
   [The Tragedies in the
   Greek Room, in
   The Dream Detective]
August
1955
v4#2 The Potsherd of Anubis
   [The Dream Detective]
December
1955
v2#2
October
1955
v4#4 The Ivory Statue
   [The Dream Detective]
 April
1956
v2#6
December
1955
v4#6 The Blue Rajah Diamond
   [The Dream Detective]
 September
1956
v2#11
August
1956
v6#2 The Owl Hoots Twice
   [The Secret of Holm Peel]
 May
1957
v3#7
December
1956
v6#6 Omar of Ispahān
   [Tales of Secret Egypt]
 October
1957
v3#12
April
1957
v7#4 The Turkish Yataghan
   [Tales of East and West]
 January
1958
v4#3
September
1957
v8#3 The Case of the Headless
   Mummies
   [The Dream Detective]
 August
1958
v4#10
April
1958
v9#4 Limehouse Rhapsody
   [Salute to Bazarada]
 December
1958
v5#2
August
1958
v10#2 Deadly Plot of Mr. Ko
   [Blue Anemones, in
    Bimbashi Baruk of Egypt]
 April
1959
v5#6
November
1958
v10#5 Death in the King's Room
   [Salute to Bazarada]
 June
1959
v5#8
April
1959
v11#4 The Death-Ring of Sneferu
   [Tales of Secret Egypt]
   
August
1959
v12#2 House of Golden Death
   [Tales of Chinatown]
   
November
1959
v12#5 Breath of Allah
   [Tales of Secret Egypt]
 January
1960
v6#2
September
1961
v15#1 The Mummy of Cleopatra
   [Salute to Bazarada]
 May
1961
v7#3
May
1962
v16#1 Spirit of the Black Hawk
   [Tales of East and West]
March
1962
v8#1
January
1963
v18#1 Jamaican Rose
   [R. E. Briney has noted
   that much of this story
   was reused in Chapter 5
   of Virgin In Flames.]
 December
1962
v8#10
April
1963
v18#4 Serpent Wind
   [Bimbāshi Barūk of Egypt]
 March
1963
v9#1
September
1964
v21#2 Case of the Veil of Isis
   [The Dream Detective]
 September
1964
v10#7
January
1965
v21#5 The Eyes of Fu Manchu
   [The Wrath of Fu Manchu]
 February
1965
v10#12
December
1965
v23#1 The Black Mandarin
   [Tales of East and West]
 October
1965
v11#8

Information on the British Saint Detective Magazine is taken from Monthly Murders by Michael L. Cook (Greenwood Press, 1982). This index lacks data on the October 1959 issue (v5#11), so it is not known whether this issue contains a Rohmer story.


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Copyright © 2000 by Lawrence Knapp & R. E. Briney. All rights reserved.

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