About the author: Leslie Charteris (1907 – 1993), was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter. He was best known for his many books chronicling the adventures of his charming hero Simon Templar, alias "The Saint". Charteris spent 55 years – 1928 to 1983 – as either writer of or custodian of Simon Templar's literary adventures, one of the longest uninterrupted spans of a single author in the history of mystery fiction, equalling that of Agatha Christie (from Wikipedia).
This is a collection of 14 short stories, all reprinted from earlier 1930's collections.
The Export Trade - Simon's old friend is an expert at making copies of jewelry. Then a priceless necklace is stolen, and Simon is hired to take a small package to Paris. Light and predictable.
The Owner’s Handicap - Patricia Holm steps in to convince an ungodly race horse owner that it would be to his benefit to intentionally lose a race.
The Perfect Crime - The Saint gives an unscrupulous moneylender a taste of his own medicine, with what appears to be a swindle, but isn't.
The Unpopular Landlord - The Saint is on the trail of a devious landlord whom none of the real estate agents will touch. The Saint rents an apartment from him, then turns the tables on him.
The Five Thousand Pound Kiss - The Saint is after a valuable diamond necklace at a society party. Unfortunately, he has a pretty competitor who wants it, too. The Saint grabs it first - and gets caught.
The Unfortunate Financier - W. Titus Oates has perfected a stock scheme. The Saint devises a way to get Oates out of the picture at the critical time, and turn the scheme to his own advantage.
The Prince of Cherkessia - The prince is in London to oversee the purchase of a priceless new crown, a tempting tidbit for The Saint. Scotland Yard provides a ring of extraordinary security around the prince and the crown, but Simon manages to penetrate it easily.
The Treasure of Turk’s Lane - A quaint row of cottages is being gobbled up by a real estate developer, and Simon figures out a way to mitigate the damage.
The Uncritical Publisher - a publisher runs a vanity printing press (still common nowadays) in which desperate authors pay dearly to have their book published. Of course, Simon cannot resist and becomes an author himself.
The Man Who Liked Toys - A locked room murder mystery. Lewis Enstone is found murdered in his room, the gun in his hand. But who shoots a gun using their thumb on the trigger?
The Wicked Cousin - Jacqueline Laine had been caregiver to her elderly grandmother for years before she passed away. Jacqueline is peeved as the grandmother changed her will in favor of Jacqueline's cousin, stiffing her with only $100 and some worthless old love letters. Simon finds a way to increase the value of the letters tremendously.
The Charitable Countess - A dilettante countess loves to do charity work. She and Simon hatch with a amusing idea: At a fundraising dinner, Simon will steal her $100k necklace for charity as the guests watch. This sells lots of tickets. But the necklace is safely in the bank vault while she wears an imitation. How can the Saint get it?
The Man Who Liked Ants - Simon encounters a mad scientist who is breeding ants to extraordinary size, capable of dominating mankind. While Simon ponders this, some of the ants escape from the lab.
The Owner’s Handicap - Patricia Holm steps in to convince an ungodly race horse owner that it would be to his benefit to intentionally lose a race.
The Perfect Crime - The Saint gives an unscrupulous moneylender a taste of his own medicine, with what appears to be a swindle, but isn't.
The Unpopular Landlord - The Saint is on the trail of a devious landlord whom none of the real estate agents will touch. The Saint rents an apartment from him, then turns the tables on him.
The Five Thousand Pound Kiss - The Saint is after a valuable diamond necklace at a society party. Unfortunately, he has a pretty competitor who wants it, too. The Saint grabs it first - and gets caught.
The Unfortunate Financier - W. Titus Oates has perfected a stock scheme. The Saint devises a way to get Oates out of the picture at the critical time, and turn the scheme to his own advantage.
The Prince of Cherkessia - The prince is in London to oversee the purchase of a priceless new crown, a tempting tidbit for The Saint. Scotland Yard provides a ring of extraordinary security around the prince and the crown, but Simon manages to penetrate it easily.
The Treasure of Turk’s Lane - A quaint row of cottages is being gobbled up by a real estate developer, and Simon figures out a way to mitigate the damage.
The Uncritical Publisher - a publisher runs a vanity printing press (still common nowadays) in which desperate authors pay dearly to have their book published. Of course, Simon cannot resist and becomes an author himself.
The Man Who Liked Toys - A locked room murder mystery. Lewis Enstone is found murdered in his room, the gun in his hand. But who shoots a gun using their thumb on the trigger?
The Wicked Cousin - Jacqueline Laine had been caregiver to her elderly grandmother for years before she passed away. Jacqueline is peeved as the grandmother changed her will in favor of Jacqueline's cousin, stiffing her with only $100 and some worthless old love letters. Simon finds a way to increase the value of the letters tremendously.
The Charitable Countess - A dilettante countess loves to do charity work. She and Simon hatch with a amusing idea: At a fundraising dinner, Simon will steal her $100k necklace for charity as the guests watch. This sells lots of tickets. But the necklace is safely in the bank vault while she wears an imitation. How can the Saint get it?
The Mug’s Game - A couple Simon encounters are in deep trouble - the husband has been gambling away their house fund. Simon also meets a salesman for a marked cards system. Simon figures the husband must be one of the marks.
The Man Who Liked Ants - Simon encounters a mad scientist who is breeding ants to extraordinary size, capable of dominating mankind. While Simon ponders this, some of the ants escape from the lab.
Mini-reviews:
The good:
The Perfect Crime and The Unpopular Landlord are The Saint at his best - when he is not out for his own gains, but is out to right wrongs inflicted upon the innocent.
The Unfortunate Financier contains a hilarious episode when Titus Oates is misdirected to an insane asylum and tries to convince the administrators he is sane, in this Manning Coles style adventure.
The Wicked Cousin has a clever plot by which Simon saves the heroine, and makes a fool of the wicked cousin. Perfect.
The Mugs Game has a lot of tedious poker play-by-play (yawn), but the real sparkler is the sudden twist at the end which redeems the whole story if you stick with it.
The so-so:
The Owner's Handicap is all about horse racing, and heavy on mathematical odds discussions. Not knowing anything of the topic, I was really unable to follow the plot other than Simon and Patricia convince an owner to throw a race.
The Treasure of Turk’s Lane is different in a couple of aspects... Simon cannot save the cottages from being developed, and I found the ending ambiguous and could not really figure out what happened.
The Man who Liked Toys is a longer story, a bit predictable. Was is suicide, accident, or murder? It is left to the reader to decide.
The Man Who Liked Ants is really a science fiction story. No mystery to it, but puts the Saint in the position of making an ethical choice.
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