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The Saint #20
Follow the Saint
1971 Pan edition paperback, vg In stock shipped from our UK warehouse
200 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1938
23 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
Leslie Charteris
595 books162 followersBorn Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin, Leslie Charteris was a half-Chinese, half English author of primarily mystery fiction, as well as a screenwriter. He was best known for his many books chronicling the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint."
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 21, 2022
These three stories from 1939 featuring Simon Templar, the Robin Hood of modern crime, are full of amusing dialogue & battles against the ungodly. It's good to see some of the Saint's early partners in crime (Patricia Holm & Hoppy Uniatz) come along for the ride. The stories themselves are not very exciting compared to other books by Leslie Charteris, but it's a pleasant piece of light relief.
October 30, 2019
Yet another vintage Saint - a collection of three novellas featuring his typical daredevilry and contempt for authority.
1. The Miracle Tea Party - In this story, for a change, the Saint does a good turn for the Scotland Yard. A series of coincidences involving his long-term nemesis Chief Inspector Claude Eustace Teal puts Simon abreast of a curious operation involving a patent medicine seller. A very far-fetched tale, but fast moving.
2. The Invisible Millionaire - This one is a real mystery, a rarity among the Saint tales. It is well-plotted but falls rather flat on its face because it is so predictable - I guessed the solution a good ten pages ahead of Simon Templar!
3. The Affair of Hogsbotham - this one is the quintessential Saint story, with the buccaneer fighting against the law and the crooks at the same time, and most enjoyable one in the collection. A desire to do mischief against the moralist crusader Hogsbotham dumps the Saint right into the middle of a bank heist.
As I said before - perfect escapist fare.
1. The Miracle Tea Party - In this story, for a change, the Saint does a good turn for the Scotland Yard. A series of coincidences involving his long-term nemesis Chief Inspector Claude Eustace Teal puts Simon abreast of a curious operation involving a patent medicine seller. A very far-fetched tale, but fast moving.
2. The Invisible Millionaire - This one is a real mystery, a rarity among the Saint tales. It is well-plotted but falls rather flat on its face because it is so predictable - I guessed the solution a good ten pages ahead of Simon Templar!
3. The Affair of Hogsbotham - this one is the quintessential Saint story, with the buccaneer fighting against the law and the crooks at the same time, and most enjoyable one in the collection. A desire to do mischief against the moralist crusader Hogsbotham dumps the Saint right into the middle of a bank heist.
As I said before - perfect escapist fare.
August 27, 2022
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 the 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.
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 the 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.
April 19, 2025
Three novellas of varying style and story. "The Miracle Tea Party" leads off the book, and it's a clever espionage story that Charteris laces with a fair amount of comic dialogue. Poor Inspector Teal becomes the center of things, both as a running joke and an entry point into the spy tale. Next up is "The Invisible Millionaire," which is a classic murder mystery mostly enclosed in a stately house. Relatively serious and deadly in tone, it doesn't leave much happiness at all at the end. Finally, "The Affair of Hogsbotham" seems the best of the bunch. It's imaginative and even a bit original. On a mission to punish the ever morally outraged Hogsbotham, Simon Templar mistakes the house next door for Hogsbotham's and falls into a group of thieves quarrelling over a just completed bank robbery. Plenty of surprises, twists, and reveals pepper the story, which matches the Saint's wit against the charms of a plotting femme fatale. Simon becomes stricken by her.
All of which makes for an interest view of Simon's love life. For most of the series, Patricia Holm appears as the Saint's sometimes accomplice and also live-in girlfriend. She plays that role here. But despite this domestic situation, Simon is frequently falling for a third woman, as he does here, with Angela Lindsay. Patricia never seems to mind. And Simon never seems to grow up. For both he and Patricia should be nearing 40 years of age by now. The Saint was Charteris' same age, twenty-five, when the series started. By the early 1930s, a few books in the series also noted that the Saint was nearing middle age, close to his early thirties as well. I suppose, then, the series is at that stage where its main characters stop aging, and an early middle aged Saint will stand in for the duration. One other thing: Hoppy Uniatz is becoming irritating.
All of which makes for an interest view of Simon's love life. For most of the series, Patricia Holm appears as the Saint's sometimes accomplice and also live-in girlfriend. She plays that role here. But despite this domestic situation, Simon is frequently falling for a third woman, as he does here, with Angela Lindsay. Patricia never seems to mind. And Simon never seems to grow up. For both he and Patricia should be nearing 40 years of age by now. The Saint was Charteris' same age, twenty-five, when the series started. By the early 1930s, a few books in the series also noted that the Saint was nearing middle age, close to his early thirties as well. I suppose, then, the series is at that stage where its main characters stop aging, and an early middle aged Saint will stand in for the duration. One other thing: Hoppy Uniatz is becoming irritating.
January 1, 2024
One of the better Saint books with three well crafted tales in which Simon acts more like a detective solving three crimes with a clever twist; two of them become Roger Moore TV episodes with very little change. Sidekick Hoppy and his frankly worrying drink problem have ceased to be funny by this one if you're reading them chronologically, mind.
July 11, 2017
Love the saint!
April 29, 2025
Funny. Not clever.
January 4, 2017
Originally published on my blog here in October 2000.
After the anti-Fascist outburst of The Saint Plays with Fire, Leslie Charteris' next published Saint book is a collection of three stories (previously published in magazines) which are typical of an earlier period in the development of Simon Templar. Pretty average parts of the series they are too, being not particularly memorable but of a reasonable standard.
The first story, Miracle Tea, is the most interesting, and from the start revels in the cliches of the genre. ("This chronicle starts with four wild coincidences" is the first sentence.) A packet of a patent medicine accidentally falls into Simon Templar's hands, but proves to contain £1500. Naturally intrigued, he sets out to track down the source of the money.
The other two stories are a straightforward murder mystery and the hijacking of the proceeds of an armed robbery which has as its most interesting feature the Saint's attack on a self-proclaimed "guardian of society". This is one of the more amusing stories in the series, though none of the three rise above the average, as I have said.
After the anti-Fascist outburst of The Saint Plays with Fire, Leslie Charteris' next published Saint book is a collection of three stories (previously published in magazines) which are typical of an earlier period in the development of Simon Templar. Pretty average parts of the series they are too, being not particularly memorable but of a reasonable standard.
The first story, Miracle Tea, is the most interesting, and from the start revels in the cliches of the genre. ("This chronicle starts with four wild coincidences" is the first sentence.) A packet of a patent medicine accidentally falls into Simon Templar's hands, but proves to contain £1500. Naturally intrigued, he sets out to track down the source of the money.
The other two stories are a straightforward murder mystery and the hijacking of the proceeds of an armed robbery which has as its most interesting feature the Saint's attack on a self-proclaimed "guardian of society". This is one of the more amusing stories in the series, though none of the three rise above the average, as I have said.
February 8, 2017
I'd never read a Saint book before. It wasn't for me. When the Saint's henchman blows someone's brains out, then tells a joke, it puts me off. There are a couple of comic situations, but I don't feel the stories hold up.
I did love the form factor and design of the book.
I did love the form factor and design of the book.
October 28, 2013
Written surprisingly early - 1929, and surprisingly amoral. A hapless bank manager is steadily coshed to death as the antihero, his girlfriend and his thug try to rob some bankrobbers. I wonder what level of moral panic this series caused at the time..
March 6, 2014
Three short stories :
The Miracle Tea Party
The Invisible Millionaire
The Affair of Hogsbotham
The Miracle Tea Party
The Invisible Millionaire
The Affair of Hogsbotham
December 7, 2016
Much better than the previous: instead of a single novel, with a pulp-style villain, this book comprises three novellas, which is a better format for the Saint's adventures.
March 22, 2017
3 courtes histoires du Saint. Pour passer le temps en se rappelant les épisodes.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews