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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).
Series characters:
- Simon Templar, The Saint
- Norman Kent, one of the Saint's "haloes"
- Roger Conway, one of the Saint's "haloes"
- Dicky Tremayne, one of the Saint's "haloes"
- Patricia Holm, Simon's girlfriend
- Chief Inspector Claude Eustace Teal
This title contains three novellas. Some reprints are rumored to only contain two.
The Man Who Was Clever
The Saint infiltrates a gambling den at "Danny's Club", run by owner Edgar Hayn and cocaine smuggler 'Snake' Ganning. He enlists the help of gambling-debt-laden Jerry Stannard and his girlfriend Gwen Chandler. The plan is to get a hold of $10,000 of ill-gotten gains and route them to charity, while getting Stannard back on the right path.
Mini-review: This is the standard Saint pattern: a repulsive crook, an innocent in need of help, a beautiful girl, and a plan to teach the crook a lesson. Lots of action and fisticuffs.
The Policeman With Wings
Roger Conway meets a girl, Betty Aldo, who has a strange story. Her uncle Sebastian built a house seven years ago; and suddenly some characters are insisting on buying the property. He had stubbornly refused, and one day he was seen getting into a car with a policeman; and neither were heard from again. Even stranger, no policeman is missing.
Mini-review: A clever setup with the bad guys suddenly interested in real estate. The Saint turns the tables on the fake policeman scam and has Roger Conway masquerade as one as well, but everybody gets tied up in a house full of dynamite with a slow-burning fuse. High adventure!
The Lawless Lady
Countess Anusia Marova has chartered a yacht to entertain some rich guests. However, her real name is Audrey Perowne, and she is the head of a group of crooks set on robbing the guests. The Saint is set on infiltrating her operation, as one of her crooks had murdered an innocent girl. Simon is too well known, and deputizes Dicky Tremayne to get aboard as one of the gang.
Mini-review: Dicky Tremaine handles most of the action, with The Saint popping in for a cameo at the end. Infiltration of the gang and the resulting love interest stretches believablity, but it's all in good fun and revenge is properly taken.
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