Simon Templar is at his cavalier best in this collection of South American adventures. In Mexico, he meets an ice-cool blonde with her own Saintly ideas - and joins in the fun. In Baja California he gets caught up in a strange story of two women and a blind man's oyster bed. In Havana the Saint answers a beautiful woman's plea for help and discovers a revolution that isn't quite what it claims. And finally, in Panama he plays the sucker - but it doesn't last.

Simon Templar never goes anywhere with the intention of getting into trouble, but trouble seems to like following him. In seven adventures round Europe, he discovers dead bodies, missing jewels, kidnappers and swindlers galore. He was meant to be on holiday - but when push comes to shove, he'll make sure that justice is done. 'The character of Simon Templar forms the perfect literary bridge between John Buchan's Richard Hannay and Ian Fleming's James Bond.' Mike Ripley

The Saint never asks for adventures, but they will keep happening to him, and these three classic stories force him into action once more. In The Spanish Civil War, a £10 debt leads to a dead body, a large quantity of bearers' bonds, and another tussle with Inspector Teal. The Unlicensed Victuallers sees Simon get involved with liquor smuggling in Dorset and a dangerous femme fatale; while The Beauty Specialist entangles him with film stars and movie moguls, and a particularly unpleasant blackmailer...

Simon Templar is the Saint - daring, dazzling, and just a little disreputable. On the side of the law, but standing outside it, he dispenses his own brand of justice one criminal at a time. The Saint is on holiday in Austria with Patricia and his friend Monty, fully intending to give up crime and lead a respectable life. All his good intentions come to nothing, though, when he sees a man being attacked by thugs and feels obliged to intervene. The stranger seems remarkably ungrateful, and soon they learn why: he is a thief, with a prize that men will kill for. Before the day is out, the Saint and his friends find themselves in a race against time, Prince Rudolf and the police to retain ownership of the priceless jewels.

Three more stories of Saintly adventure show Simon Templar interpreting the law to his own advantage. In The Simon Templar Foundation, a poisonous legacy from his enemy Rayt Marius gives him the opportunity to make a great deal of money - if he can survive equally great danger. The Higher Finance puts him up against the police, a reclusive millionaire, and the wild beast that roams his mansion at night. And in The Art of Alibi, he faces the most impudent opponent of all: someone who is stealing his symbol, and committing crimes in his name.

Simon Templar is the Saint - daring, dazzling, and just a little disreputable. On the side of the law, but standing outside it, he dispenses his own brand of justice one criminal at a time. Simon Templar finds himself on the side of the righteous for once when he agrees to work with the police. They're after the gang known as the Angels of Doom, who specialise in abetting convicted criminals escape. But Templar finds a kindred spirit in Jill Trelawney, the mastermind behind the gang, and Scotland Yard soon learn that you can't hire a Saint and hope to have things all your own way...

In these six stories, Simon Templar's uncanny ability to find an adventure wherever he goes leads him into some very strange affairs. In Bermuda, he has to solve the case of a missing husband; in England, he has to stop a husband whose wives tend not to last long. He also deals with a murder in a nudist colony, hunts for oil, matches wits with a woman as ruthless as himself and goes fishing for a drug-smuggling ring.

The Saint is a traditionalist - he knows what a good pirate story needs. Gold, hidden treasure, smugglers, dastardly villains and damsels in distress. From Bimini to Nassau, via Jamaica and Haiti, the Saint travels the Caribbean - interrupting his holidays to settle disputes, solve murders, overthrow governments, and hunt for treasure. Wherever he lands, you can be sure that the Ungodly will get what's coming to them.

In these two wartime stories, the Saint finds himself on the side of the angels and up against Americans who are undermining the war effort for their own gain. In The Black Market, a shipment of iridium is stolen and the Saint hatches a scheme to recover the goods - but then one of his prime leads is murdered and he's framed for the crime. Soon after, in The Sizzling Saboteur, his attempt to find a man who has been sabotaging weapons factories is frustrated when his suspect turns up burnt to a crisp. Simon has to contend with the local police, a trio of mysterious men and a beautiful Russian while he tries to uncover the truth and bring the criminals to justice.

How could the Saint possibly resist the chance of a treasure hunt? When his sailing trip along the French coast is interrupted by gunfire and shouting, naturally he gets curious. The cause of the commotion is a group of men pursuing a young woman - and once Simon steps in to help the damsel in distress, he soon finds himself on the trail of a group of modern-day pirates - and searching for a huge amount of gold.

In these three classic stories, the Saint investigates crimes that have left the police confounded. In The High Fence, he hunts down a villain who somehow manages to kill people just before they can reveal his identity; The Elusive Ellshaw sees him on the track of a man meant to have died a year before; and a letter calling for help sends him to a sleepy seaside pub disturbed by mysterious underground rumblings in The Case of the Frightened Innkeeper. One thing is sure: despite death threats, gunfire and kidnapping, the Saint will go on until his curiosity is satisfied.

The Saint has become better known - but that just increases the number of people who seek out his help. In these nine short stories Simon has a chance to show off his skills: he matches his wits against confidence tricksters, objects to a hanging, gets the better of a patent pill millionaire, solves a locked-room murder in a secret laboratory, goes fishing, turns journalist and ends the book with a bang - literally!

In these six stories, the Saint encounters monsters of both the human and the animal variety: unscrupulous fraudsters in Hamburg; a confrontation with a rhino; perfect murders in Paris; a temperance leader deserving to be taken down a peg or two; a thief duping tourists in Sweden; and the hunt for the most famous monster of them all on the shores of Loch Ness. You can trust the Saint to deal with anything life throws at him with charm, imagination and steely determination...

Whether he is in Cannes, St Tropez, Nassau or Lucerne, the Saint always finds some action to interest him. In these seven stories Simon faces competition in the jewel thief business, encounters an unpleasant movie mogul, uncovers a Ponzi scheme that isn't what it seems, deals with sabotage in the world of motor racing, finds a missing body, tangles with the Russians and rescues an heiress. Evil flourishes in the sun as well as the shadows, but the Saint always stands ready to prevent it.

In these two novellas, crooked charity collectors and bent boxing promoters attract the Saint's attention... and will wish they hadn't.

The female of the species is supposed to be deadlier than the male... Simon Templar is about to find out if that's true. In this collection of stories, the Saint encounters nine fascinating women. Whether they need help, to be avenged, or to brought to justice, the Saint handles their cases with panache and in his usual gentlemanly style.

Simon Templar heads to New York - to sip cocktails, listen to jazz, and have a good time. But he has a way of making enemies, and a quiet night in 'Cookie's Cellar' sets him on a trail involving drugs, smuggling, dead bodies, a beautiful singer called Avalon Dexter and finally the loathsome Cookie herself. The battle is on.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the Saint has almost turned respectable. Employed by a secret wing of the government to track down spies and take on cases the ordinary police can't touch, he is dining in Washington DC when a young woman asks for his help. Her father, a noted scientist, has invented a new form of synthetic rubber - and now he has disappeared, and she is under threat. Simon is sceptical - but he swiftly realises there's something to her story. Soon he finds himself on the hunt of a band of conspirators who will stop at nothing to ensure the invention never sees the light of day.

The Saint and Patricia go to visit some friends in Miami - but when they get there they are shocked to learn their friends have disappeared. They move into their friends' house and start to investigate. Things get complicated when a tanker explodes off the Florida coast and a dead British sailor washes up on the shore. Simon suspects a link between the explosion and the disappearance, as well as the activities of shady millionaire Randolph March. There seems to be a Nazi spy ring operating out of Florida.

In these three stories, everyone's favourite criminal follows his nose and finds yet more trouble.In The Miracle Tea Party, an attack on Inspector Teal leads Simon to discover a packet of Miracle Tea with truly miraculous properties. In The Invisible Millionaire the Saint and Hoppy agree to meet a woman with information on a major swindle - only to find her dead. And finally, in The Affair of Hogsbotham, Simon is irritated by the self-appointed guardian of the nation's morality Ebenezer Hogsbotham and decides to take him down a peg or two. But though he sets out for some light-hearted fun, he soon stumbles into the middle of a bank-robbing conspiracy...

In this collection of short stories, the Saint intervenes to teach a motley bag of criminals the error of their ways. Crooked financiers, bookies, fake inventors, dodgy bankers, dealers in pornography, unethical businessmen, murderers, thieves and liars - all will come to regret the day their actions caught the Saint's attention.

In Prohibition-era New York, criminals rule the city: the gangsters do what they like, and pay the judges for the privilege; the few honest cops are helpless; and above them all the Big Fellow pulls the strings. With that many sinners, cleaning up the town will take a Saint... Simon Templar is a long way from home, and facing great danger from directions both expected and entirely unforeseen. But he promised to do the job; and a saint never goes back on his word.

In these three stories, the Saint finds himself embroiled in further plots and facing new enemies. The Inland Revenue sees him up against the most unyielding opponent ever - the taxman. In The Million Pound Scandal, a good deed leads Simon to uncover a plot to undermine the Italian economy, and in The Melancholy Journey of Mr Teal the Saint's retirement plans are scuppered when a couple of murderous diamond smugglers object to his scheme of taking their loot for his pension.

Simon Templar is the Saint - daring, dazzling, and just a little disreputable. On the side of the law, but standing outside it, he dispenses his own brand of justice one criminal at a time. In Paris, a dying man claims his brother can make gold... a secret that men are prepared to kill for. In London, a small-time American criminal sets up a violent gang, only to learn that there are certain things the Saint will not put up with. And in the Scilly Isles, drug-smuggling, drugged beer and a damsel in distress combine to make for a most unusual holiday for Simon Templar. In these three stories, the Saint needs all his wits to survive - and to stay out of jail.