Thursday 7 October 1999

Leslie Charteris: Featuring the Saint (1931)

Edition: Hodder & Stoughton, 1969
Review number: 352

Reverting to his favourite length of Saint story after two full-length novels, Charteris published these extremely typical novelettes in his fourth volume from the Saint saga. This includes one of my favourite of all Saint stories, The Wonderful War, in which Simon Templar brings off a South American revolution with the help of two friends.

The other two stories are set in England, now safe once again for Templar following his royal pardon. In these, the Saint aims to rid the world of two men who prey upon others: a drug dealer, and a man who has made his fortune after murdering his partner. The serious side of the preceding stories is still apparent; the Saint's activities lack something of the facetiousness that came to characterise them later.

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