Once More the Saint is a collection of three interrelated mystery novella

Novella

A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...

s by Leslie Charteris

Leslie Charteris

Leslie Charteris , born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin, was a half-Chinese, half English author of primarily mystery fiction, as well as a screenwriter. He was best known for his many books chronicling the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint."-Early life:Charteris was born to a Chinese father...

, first published in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 by Hodder and Stoughton in 1933. This was the tenth book to feature the adventures of Simon Templar

Simon Templar

Simon Templar is a British fictional character known as The Saint featured in a long-running series of books by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. After that date, other authors collaborated with Charteris on books until 1983; two additional works produced without Charteris’s...

, alias "The Saint". The first American edition, published the same year, changed the title to The Saint and Mr. Teal, which was later adopted by UK editions of the book. (Mr. Teal refers to Scotland Yard

Scotland Yard

Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...

 Inspector Claud Eustace Teal

Claud Eustace Teal

Claud Eustace Teal is a fictional character who made many appearances in a series of novels, novellas and short stories by Leslie Charteris entitled The Saint, starting in 1929...

, a recurring character.)

The first two stories in the book were originally published in the UK magazine, Thriller in 1932, with the third story being written exclusively for the book.

Stories

The book, which picks up soon after the events of the previous full-length novel, Getaway

Getaway (The Saint)

Getaway is the title of a mystery novel by Leslie Charteris first published in the United Kingdom in 1932 by Hodder and Stoughton. This was the fifth full-length novel featuring the adventures of the modern day Robin Hood-inspired crimebuster Simon Templar, and the ninth Saint book published...

, consisted of the following stories (designated as Part One, Part Two, and Part Three):

1. The Gold Standard - In Paris, Simon Templar finds a mortally wounded man who claims his brother can create gold
   Alchemy
   Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
   
   . Upon returning to England, Templar finds himself pursued by the man's murderer. The man, known as Jones, kidnaps Templar's girlfriend, Patricia Holm
   Patricia Holm
   Patricia Holm is the name of a fictional character who appeared in the novels of Leslie Charteris from the 1920s to the 1940s. She was the on-again, off-again girlfriend and partner of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint" and shared a number of his adventures....
   
   , leading Templar to discover the truth about the alchemy, which results in the Saint choosing to become judge, jury and executioner for Jones. The leads to a narrow escape for Templar when Inspector Teal arrives on the scene. This story takes place two months after the events of the novella "The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal" from The Holy Terror
   The Holy Terror (The Saint)
   The Holy Terror is a collection of three mystery novellas by Leslie Charteris, first published in the United Kingdom in 1932 by Hodder and Stoughton. This was the eighth book to feature the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint". When published in the United States for the first time, also...
   
   , and includes considerable character development of both Teal and Holm. Holm is shown asserting herself more than in previous stories, challenging Templar about both his treatment of Teal in this and previous stories (asking Templar at one point when "open season" on Teal is expected to end), and at the end questions Templar's decision to kill Jones. Templar would go up against another would-be alchemist in "The Mixture As Before", a short story in Boodle
   Boodle (The Saint)
   Boodle is a collection of short stories by Leslie Charteris, first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder and Stoughton in 1934. This was the thirteenth book to feature the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint", and the second short story collection featuring the character...
   
   .
2. The Man from St. Louis - Tex Goldman, a small-time crime boss from the U.S., comes to London and sets up his own American-style gang, the Green Cross Gang. He soon finds himself in a pitched battle against The Saint, who (with unofficial encouragement from Mr. Teal) sets out to prevent London from becoming another Chicago, along the way dodging assassination attempts, including a bomb that destroys part of Simon and Patricia's new home in London. In order to stop Goldman's string of killings and robberies, Templar decides to kill the gangster, but relents at the last minute when he learns that Goldman has just been married and has promised his new wife that he'll turn over a new leaf; he settles for capturing Goldman's trigger man, instead. This story takes place three months after the events of "The Gold Standard" and is unusual for its lack of resolution -- Goldman apparently goes free, despite indicating his plan to conduct a major heist soon. (The Green Cross Gang returns in the short story "The Export Trade" included in the next book, The Brighter Buccaneer
   The Brighter Buccaneer
   The Brighter Buccaneer is a collection of short stories by Leslie Charteris, first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder and Stoughton in 1933. This was the eleventh book to feature the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint"...
   
   however that short story was actually published in a magazine before "Man from St. Louis", therefore Templar is unfamiliar with the group in that piece).
3. The Death Penalty - Soon after the events of the above story (with interior decorators still repairing the bomb damage), Templar gives up the lease on his new flat and he and Patricia move in to a swank London hotel. But an unusual heat wave drives the two out of the city to the remote Isles of Scilly
   Isles of Scilly
   The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. The islands have had a unitary authority council since 1890, and are separate from the Cornwall unitary authority, but some services are combined with Cornwall and the islands are still part...
   
    where Simon has learned an African dope smuggler whom he encountered five years earlier is joining forces with a British counterpart, adding white slavery into the mix. When his target ends up being killed by one of his victims, it is up to the Saint to arrange things so that the victims of the smuggler go free and the truly guilty parties are punished.

Television adaptation

All three stories in this collection were adapted as episodes of The Saint

The Saint (TV series)

The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...

.

"The Death Penalty" was first broadcast during the show's third season on December 3, 1964. "The Man from St. Louis" was retitled "The Set-Up" and aired on January 14, 1965. "The Gold Standard" was retitled "The Abductors" and aired on July 8, 1965, as part of the fourth season.