author of highly popular mystery-adventure novels and creator of Simon Templar, better known as “the Saint” and sometimes called the “Robin Hood of modern crime.” From 1928 some 50 novels and collections of stories about “the Saint” were published; translations existed in at least 15 languages.

The son of a Chinese surgeon and his English wife, Charteris (who changed his name in 1928) briefly attended King's College, Cambridge (1926), and then worked as a merchant seaman; a gold prospector, tin miner, and pearl fisherman, all in Malaya; a bartender; and a professional bridge player in a London club. A U.S. resident from 1932, he was employed from 1933 as a Hollywood screenwriter, preparing scripts for eight “Saint” movies and several other films. Although he was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1946, he later returned to England.