Customer Reviews (1)

Saint Saga #20
Three novellas, from the time just before WWII when the Saint was still living in London at Cornwall House.

"The Miracle Tea Party" details what happens when Simon opens a packet of tea he has chanced upon, and finds it stuffed full of fifty pound notes.

"The Invisible Millionaire" has him investigating a murder mystery.

And finally, we have "The Affair of Hogsbotham".I've never met anyone named Hogsbotham (although my grandmother apparently went out with someone -- fortunately not my grandfather -- named Shufflebotham).Nonetheless, the pronouncements of a character of this name ("and with a face to match", according to Simon) are what lead the Saint unexpectedly into the third adventure, involving a bank robbery.

Patricia Holm and Simon's faithful manservant Orace figure prominently, having of course both been with him since the very first Saint adventure, Meet the Tiger.And for those who have (perhaps) wondered what happened to some of the other characters in that opus: a close reading reveals that the "moribund aunt" that Pat has to meet in the last story can only be Aunt Agatha.

I find myself re-reading the middle story less often than the others (although I'm not quite sure why), but the other two are well up to the usual Charteris standard of this period.

P.S. For a list of -- and discussion of -- all Charteris's Saint books, see my So You'd Like To... Guide. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Saint Saga #32
Six more stories in which Simon solves mysteries, swindles swindlers, and (in the final tale) hoists an Engineer with his own petard.

But the plots have become repetitive and formulaic, and the writing -- especially relative to the author's earlier works -- rather tired.

This is possibly the dullest of all the post-war Saint books.Roger, Dickie, Archie, Monty, Peter, Claud Eustace and even Patricia have all disappeared, leaving the Saint rootlessly wandering the globe solving other people's problems like some cross between the Wandering Jew and the the Lone Ranger; but never truly at home anywhere as he was in pre-war England (despite his expostulations about its licensing laws).Leaving him, in fact, pretty much as he's portrayed in the TV series.

Fernack, so admirable in his debut (The Saint in New York), has been deformed into a futile Teal-substitute.

Charteris seldom wrote a bad story -- in fact his worst is better than many authors' best -- and those coming to this book without having read the previous ones may wonder what I'm talking about.

But if I give the pre-war stories four or five stars (as I have), then this book has to be a three.

P.S. For a list of -- and discussion of -- all Charteris's Saint books, see my So You'd Like To... Guide. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Saint Saga #25 in disguise?
Hey ho, the book-renamers have been at it again.

I don't posses this exact edition; but the title indicates that it contains "The Sizzling Saboteur" (from The Saint on Guard, 1945), and the picture on the cover is a scene from "The Black Market", in the same.

I therefore refer you to that opus for my review. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Saint Saga #22
This full-length Saint adventure, although published in 1941, appears to be set just before the outbreak of war in Europe; it seems unlikely that Simon, Pat and Peter would be idling about on a Florida beach otherwise, even in response to an appeal for help.

This is thus the last of the pre-war Saint stories, the last where the Saint is still clearly British and not a naturalised American, and, perhaps not coincidentally, the last before the quality starts dropping through the floor and the plots (with a few exceptions) become formulaic.

Nonetheless, Nazis and pro-Nazis are the villains of this one, which also features our old friend Hoppy Uniatz, in fine form.The incidental details of Florida, the Everglades and their denizens seem to my uninformed judgment totally convincing, and a friend of mine considers this possibly the best Saint story.

P.S. For a list of -- and discussion of -- all Charteris's Saint books, see my So You'd Like To... Guide.

Saint Saga #22
This full-length Saint adventure, although published in 1941, appears to be set just before the outbreak of war in Europe; it seems unlikely that Simon, Pat and Peter would be idling about on a Florida beach otherwise, even in response to an appeal for help.

This is thus the last of the pre-war Saint stories, the last where the Saint is still clearly British and not a naturalised American, and, perhaps not coincidentally, the last before the quality starts dropping through the floor and the plots (with a few exceptions) become formulaic.

Nonetheless, Nazis and pro-Nazis are the villains of this one, which also features our old friend Hoppy Uniatz, in fine form.The incidental details of Florida, the Everglades and their denizens seem to my uninformed judgment totally convincing, and a friend of mine considers this possibly the best Saint story.

P.S. For a list of -- and discussion of -- all Charteris's Saint books, see my So You'd Like To... Guide. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Saint Saga #29
This is easily the best of the post-war collections of short stories, of which there are seven: they are set in Paris, Amsterdam, The Rhine, The Tyrol, Lucerne, Juan-les-Pins and Rome.

Of these stories, my favourite is the fourth, "The Golden Journey".But "The Spanish Cow" is sheer entertainment, even though the Saint comes perilously close to becoming a gigolo.And "The Rhine Maiden" at least is a return to the old, pre-war Saint.

P.S. For a list of -- and discussion of -- all Charteris's Saint books, see my So You'd Like To... Guide.

Adventure pursues him, not the other way round
I should mention that the Saint (a.k.a. Simon Templar) began his career by boldly seeking out adventure, and after awhile, it began coming to him. Templar mentions from time to time (e.g. in "The Elusive Ellshaw" in _The Saint Goes On_) that he also attracts women looking for lost dogs, con men looking for a mark, and a public who generally see him as "something between a benevolent if weak-minded uncle and a miracle-working odd job man." He's adept at sorting the wheat from the chaff to find profitable adventures.

"The Covetous Headsman" (Paris) - The headless body of a shipping office clerk was found in Paris - but the decapitation took place after death. Templar uses some of his old Resistance connections to solve the mystery. Note that this isn't a mystery story as such; Templar's problems generally have only 1 suspect, and aren't arranged to ensure that the reader necessarily has a fair chance at guessing things. Incidentally, the fictional story mentioned in passing is G.K. Chesterton's "The Secret Garden", from _The Innocence of Father Brown_.

"The Angel's Eye" (Amsterdam) - A respectable-looking middle-aged couple approach Templar in a restaurant with a problem. The diamond cutter to whom they just delivered the Angel's Eye for recutting (on behalf of a firm of jewelers) now denies that he ever heard of it or them.

"The Rhine Maiden" (The Rhine) - This is Templar's private label for a girl met on a (train) journey along the Rhine - a girl with an aura of enchantment about her, traveling with her newly retired grandfather. (His ideal of a Rhine maiden is closer to the original myth than the popular image fostered by opera singers.)

"The Golden Journey" (The Tirol) - The Saint, meeting a spoiled, beautiful girl, decides to try to salvage her, by arranging matters so that she must hike overland with him to Innsbruck. While this is an unusual tack for him to take, there are precedents - "The Sleepless Knight" and "The Man Who Was Clever", for instance. Oddly enough, it also reminds me of George MacDonald's _The Wise Woman_, although stylistically they are quite different.

"The Loaded Tourist" (Lucerne) - While walking up to his hotel by the lake on a dark night, Templar fails to stop two thugs from fatally stabbing a shoe manufacturer and stealing the victim's briefcase. Following the usual investigator's tack (looking for breaks in established patterns) nets an interesting collection of observations, starting with the victim: a businessman (and looking like it) in a tourist's paradise, on the eve of his immigration to the U.S.

"The Spanish Cow" (Juan-les-Pins) - Templar doesn't rate the title of Saint here. The lady mentioned in the title is an aging, rich widow who hasn't done any harm. Templar's plan to steal her diamonds has no justification. What good he does is more accidental than intentional, at least initially. Not a bad story, but not consistent with the Saint's original swashbuckling philosophy.

"The Latin Touch" (Rome) - Back to the old Saint, fortunately. Templar casually makes the acquaintance of Sue Inverest while sightseeing in the Colosseum - only to be knocked cold when Mafia kidnappers ambush her.(The daughter of the U.S. Secretary of State, she had eluded her escort as a lark.) Fortunately, upon Templar's awakening in jail, the Secretary has not only checked his war record with the O.S.S., but is prepared to trust him rather than risk his daughter's life to cops who may be in the Mafia's pay. ... Read more