''Getaway'' is a mystery novel by

Leslie Charteris Leslie Charteris (; born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin; 12 May 1907 – 15 April 1993), was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter.Hodder and Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.H ...

. This was the fifth full-length novel featuring the adventures of the modern day

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...

-inspired crimebuster

Simon Templar The Saint is the nickname of the fictional character Simon Templar, featured in a List of works by Leslie Charteris, series of novels and short stories by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. After that date other authors collaborat ...

, and the ninth Saint book published overall since 1928. When first published in the United States by

The Crime Club ''The Crime Club'' was an imprint of the Doubleday publishing company, which later spawned a 1946-47 anthology radio series, and a 1937-1939 film series. Literature Many classic and popular works of detective and mystery fiction had their f ...

in February 1933, the title was modified to ''The Saint's Getaway'' which was later adopted by future UK editions. Prior to being published in book form, ''Getaway'' had appeared in serialized form in ''The Thriller'' magazine, with Part 1 published as "Property of the Deceased" on 6 February 1932 and Part 2, "Two Men from Munich", not published until 18 June 1932. Charteris, in his introduction to a mid-1960s reprint of the book for Fiction Publishing Company, describes ''Getaway'' as the third part of a trilogy of novels that began with ''

The Last Hero ''The Last Hero'' is a short fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the twenty-seventh book in his ''Discworld'' series. It was published in 2001 in a larger format than the other ''Discworld'' novels and illustrated on every page by ...

'' and ''

Knight Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

''.

Plot summary

The novel begins approximately three weeks after the events of the story "The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal" from '' The Holy Terror''. Simon Templar, accompanied by his lover/partner Patricia Holm, has departed England on a well-deserved holiday from crime-fighting. While visiting

Innsbruck, Austria Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a population of 132,493 in 2018. In the ...

with their friend, book editor Monty Hayward (making his first appearance in the series), the trio are out for a late-night walk when they see a man being attacked by thugs. They stop the attack, but the victim is particularly ungrateful, forcing Templar to knock him out, too. Intrigued by the man's attitude—as well as by a steel box attached to his wrist (which later turns out to be a miniature safe filled with recently stolen diamonds), Templar decides to take the unconscious man back to his hotel room. Before long, however, the man is stabbed to death in Templar's bed and Templar finds himself in yet another encounter with Prince Rudolf—one of the men responsible for the death of his friend Norman Kent in ''The Last Hero''. Simon and Patricia (with very reluctant adventurer Monty in tow) find themselves on a cross-continent race against Rudolf and his minions (who are pursuing the diamonds) and the police (who want Templar and Monty for the murder of the courier). Along the way, the trio picks up a female crime reporter who takes part in the adventure in her quest for a career-making scoop on The Saint. Whereas the previous book, ''The Holy Terror'', takes place over the course of nearly a year, the events of ''Getaway'' take place over little more than 24 hours. The text indicates that this story takes place about two years after the events of ''The Last Hero''. It is the first Saint story to take place completely outside Great Britain since the novella "The Wonderful War" in '' Featuring the Saint''. Some editions of the novel (such as the Fiction Publishing Co. edition) omit a prologue that recaps the events of "The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal". According to this prologue (and later repeated within the main body of the text), the Saint has been "

buccaneer Buccaneers were a kind of privateer or free sailors, and pirates particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from the Restoration in 1660 u ...

ing" for 10 years by the time of this novel, during which time he had amassed a personal fortune of approximately 100,000 pounds, which was finally topped up by his absconding with a villain's diamonds at the end of "Melancholy Journey". Much of the book is told from Monty Hayward's point of view. According to ''The Saint: A Complete History in Print, Radio, Film and Television 1928-1992'' by

Burl Barer Burl Barer (born 1947 in Walla Walla, Washington) is an American author, literary historian and radio host. He is best known for his writings about the character Simon Templar. Career Fiction ''The Saint'' ''The Saint: A Complete History in ...

, the character was based upon Charteris' real-life editor, Monty Haydon.

Film adaptation

In 1941, ''Getaway'' was adapted as a

motion picture A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

as part of its ongoing Saint series. Retitled ''

The Saint's Vacation ''The Saint's Vacation'' is a 1941 adventure film produced by the British arm of RKO Pictures. The film stars Hugh Sinclair as Simon Templar, also known as "The Saint", a world-roving crimefighter who walks the fine edge of the law. This was the ...

'', the film was the first to star

Hugh Sinclair Admiral Sir Hugh Francis Paget Sinclair, (18 August 1873 – 4 November 1939), known as Quex Sinclair, was a British intelligence officer. He was Director of British Naval Intelligence between 1919 and 1921, and he subsequently helped to se ...

as Simon Templar. Among the changes made for the film adaptation is that Rudolf now works for

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

(Hitler was not yet in power when the original book was published) and the character of Patricia Holm is absent.

References

{{The Saint 1932 British novels Simon Templar books Novels by Leslie Charteris Innsbruck Novels set in Austria Hodder & Stoughton books British novels adapted into films Novels first published in serial form