Señor Saint (Simon Templar ‘The Saint’ #33)

These are not the spy adventures of the saint in the longer book form but the typical saint-takes-on-the-criminal world short stories which I find more enjoyable. For some reason I intensely dislike spy novels perhaps because I intensely dislike war. But these are tales of jaunty crime sprees that generally only hurt other criminals not as clever as the saint. I suppose one reason I love them is that even with a pretty extensive vocabulary I need to keep using the marvelous system that comes with ebooks to look up words and their derivations. If you have an old fashioned public school education in England you really have been taught!

This book is another great compilation of adventures, in which Simon Templar visits Latin America. Cudos to Mr. Charteris for another great book!

This book collects four longish tales of Charteris’ adventurer with Latin American settings. The first of them, “The Pearls of Peace,” will seem quite familiar to readers old enough to remember the old Roger Moore television show, for it served as the basis for one of the early episodes. In it we see a tender and sentimental, almost maudlin side to the Saint, one not often put to the fore. The others are more indicative of a character often termed The Twentieth Century Robin Hood. All are quite good, however, and quite fun. Being from the Fifties, these stories present both author and protagonist more matured, a little mellowed, from their raucous origins in the Twenties. Charteris is more restrained in his writing, less intrusively snarky, and Simon Templar is more reliant upon wit and cleverness; but both rise to the occasion when circumstances demand action, courage and derring-do. All in all, an excellent collection for fans of The Saint and adventure.

Four tales set in Latin America, specifically: Baja California, Mexico City, Cuba and Panama.

The first is a love story, and demonstrates well Charteris’s narrative ability. I particularly like the way the readers are left to fill in the conclusion of the story for themselves.

Charteris always seems to be personally acquainted with all the places he sets stories in; if this isn’t actually the case, it’s a remarkable imitation. The geographical and circumstantial detail help to disguise that the remaining stories are all variations on the “swindling swindlers” plot, which has by now become formulaic. The details are still inventive, though.

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

For some reason Leslie Charteris preferred writing short story adventures for the Saint. They’re good stories but tend to be over just as you get into it. The four in “Senor Saint” meet his high standard. In each adventure, while seriously trying to mind his own business, Simon Templar gets embroiled in other peoples’ misadventures and saves the day.

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