The Singer Not the Song is a 1953 novel by the British writer Audrey Erskine Lindop. It was published in the United States by Pocket Books under the alternative title of The Bandit and the Priest. A priest sent to a small Mexican town engages in a moral battle with a local bandit. First American Edition, Second Printing. Published in England by Heinemann. A Fine copy in goldenrod paper covered boards stamped in red, 371pp. Basis for a British cinema adaptation, a 1961 production with a screenplay by Nigel Balchin, and starring Dirk Bogarde, John Mills and Mylene Demongeot. Scarce in the trade edition. A bishop is interviewing priests for an appointment in Quantana to replace the elderly Father Gomez who hasn’t exactly stuck to his vows and has lost the respect of his parishioners. Quantana is a small village in the mountains and is very cut off from the rest of society and the whole place has been taken over by Malo, a young bandit, and his sidekicks. Basically Malo – the Bad One – runs a protection racket in that if the villagers don’t pay him ‘tax’, nasty things are going to happen to them. Malo has an affinity with cats and he has the same habit of playing with his victims. Father Keogh, a young priest from Ireland, is chosen for the difficult position. Just about the first thing he has to do is get Father Gomez out of the village alive as Gomez believes Malo will kill him. The whole book becomes a fight for the lives and souls of the villagers as Malo is determined to keep his evil hold on them and tries to humiliate the priest. Father Keogh struggles against Malo for the good of the people who are all terrified of the bandit gang