The Saint In The Sun

The Saint #36

by Leslie Charteris

The book consisted of 7 stories:

Cannes: The Better Mousetrap
St. Tropez: The Ugly Impresario
England: The Prodigal Miser
Nassau: The Fast Women
Florida: The Jolly Undertaker
Lucerne: The Russian Prisoner
Provence: The Hopeless Heiress

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Born 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."

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

These seven adventures (ably read by John Telfer) see Simon Templar battling the badmen (& women) around the world. Sometimes the Saint is central to the story & occasionally he observes from the sidelines. One thing each of these stories has in common is that they make me smile every time I read them.

[Melissa S · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was three stars until the whole plot of the last story was "rescuing" a woman from an evil relative who was keeping her fat so no one would marry her and take her fortune...

[Paul Magnussen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the last Saint book written in toto by Leslie Charteris, subsequent efforts being ghosted under his “supervision” with increasingly dismal results (although the first such, Vendetta for the Saint by Harry Harrison, is worthy of inclusion in the canon).

There are seven stories here, set in Cannes, St Tropez, England*, Nassau, Florida, Lucerne and Provence.

The later Saint books seem to feature gradually increasing gastronomic content, this topic being particularly prominent in the final story. Personally I find this unobjectionable — in fact, rather interesting, especially since Charteris seems to know much more about the subject than I do.

Simon still seems to be pulling the birds with no trouble, although by this time he must be in his early 60s; and there are in fact a few references to his advancing years, so fair enough.

*Yes, really. Opening sentence: “Contrary to the belief of many inhabitants of less rugged climes, the sun really does sometimes shine in England, though it is admittedly a fickle phenomenon which imparts a strong element of gambling to planning any outdoor activity”.

[Phil Webster · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this Saint book – the last to be written by Leslie Charteris himself – we see a more mature and mellow Saint than the one in the early books. This probably reflects the aging of Charteris himself, who was very young when he wrote the first Saint stories.

If we compare this later Saint to the young Saint, we could say that he was “the same but different”, as we all are compared to our younger selves, I suppose.

In order to survive and thrive, the early Saint relied in equal measure on his quick brain and his physical toughness. For the later Saint the second of these has become less important: fisticuffs and guns play a relatively minor role. (Unlike in the TV version, whose producers seem to feel that every episode has to contain a couple of repetitive fist fights, even though they have also softened the Saint of the books by taking away his hard, ruthless edge.)

This later Saint seems to spend his time floating around the world spending the money that he accumulated in his younger days when he robbed crooks of the criminal variety and crooks of the ruthless capitalist variety. But he still runs into adventures, villains and “damsels in distress”, as he does in the seven short stories in this volume.

Almost all of these seven stories are enjoyable. The one I liked least was the one which involves the Cold War themes of Russian agents and a defecting scientist. For me, this is not really the Saint’s territory. If I want a good spy story I’ll read books like Deighton’s “The Ipcress File” and “Funeral in Berlin”. The Saint’s world is one of criminals, not spies.

There is also one story (the last one in the book) which has quite a good plot, but which gets bogged down in over-long descriptions of cuisine and drink.

The other five stories are good. And there is one which has a particular resonance for today. This is the tale which involves an obnoxious film producer who abuses his powerful position by subjecting actresses to the “casting couch”. This is very reminiscent of the recent scandals involving Harvey Weinstein and others.

Overall, I am a fan of the Saint books, but rather a selective one. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed some of them (as I did when I first read some as a teenager in the 1960s), but I’ve been disappointed with others. This one is certainly worth reading.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of seven short stories, the last Saint book solely written by Charteris, is a well rounded edition. Charteris pulled back from sole authorship while still in command of his character and at the top of his style. It's been fascinating to see him develop from the first volume in the series until this one. The manic, almost uncontrolled Simon Templar of the early novels and novellas gradually learned to restrain himself. So much so that he seems downright sedentary in this and the last few preceding books in the series. Lots of hotels and restaurants feature in the latter Saint books, as does fancy dining, wines, and liqueurs. At one point in the final story, "The Hopeless Heiress," Simon even admits to being elderly. All this, I'm sure, is because the Saint has aged right along with his author. As this book was published Charteris would have been around 56 years old. Simon Templar doesn't seem too far behind him. I doubt I'll continue reading the post-Charteris entries in the series, other than a couple of them, just to see how they compare. But interesting it is to see how an author can start with one character so early in his life and turn it into an entire literary and film/television career.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here in October 2001.

This early sixties collection includes stories from the preceding decade, several of which were turned into scenarios for the TV series. One is set in the Bahamas, and in the TV series a gloomy Brands Hatch (I think) stood in for a race track at Nassau, cheaper but not nearly so glamorous, and that is possibly the most interesting thing to say about these stories.

[colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

read 10.27.85

[Peter Webb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was somewhat disappointed as this was my introduction to the Saint in written form. The stories are good, but the style somewhat ponderous. Having said that, these are classics of the genre. I have read a number of Saint short stories and novels and have to say I prefer the former. Well worth exploring, however.