The Saint Detective Magazine, April 1955

The Saint Detective Magazine, April 1955 This issue features six detective and mystery stories edited by Leslie Charteris. "The Sporting Chance" by Charteris opens with Simon Templar fishing on Cowichan Lake in British Columbia when he hears an airplane engine; the narrative emphasizes the Saint's focus on both the sport of fishing and an increasingly irregular engine sound. George Fielding Eliot contributes "Shadow of the Guillotine," described as factual despite reading as fiction, drawing on Eliot's background as a wartime military analyst. Samuel Hopkins Adams provides "The Seven Curses," a melodramatic tale featuring a sinister house. Hugh Wiley's "The Cigarette of Death" introduces detective James Lee of the Oriental school. Michael Innes offers "Chocolates for Miss Pinhorn," a deduction story; Thomas Walsh contributes "The Blonde Nurse," a New York police procedural. Additional stories include E.R. Punshon's "Three Sovereigns for a Corpse" and others. Charteris notes an innovation: the Saint consults characters from concurrent magazine serials, including Walt Sheldon's Tokyo-based investigators.