Saint Errant

The Saint #28

by Leslie Charteris

Nine classic adventures for the Saint in which he finds out whether the female of the species really is more deadly than the male.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Adventure, Audiobook, Thriller, Action

276 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1948

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

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love The Saint and his creator Leslie Charteris - the former because I have always been a sucker for the Robin Hood character, the outlaw who robs from the rich (in the Saint's case, rich criminals) and gives to the poor: and the latter because he writes beautiful prose, the likes of which are usually unknown in mysteries and thrillers.

Simon Templar alias The Saint, is a character who is so over-the-top that the stories of his exploits read like myth or legend. He is, in the words of one character:

The Robin Hood of Modern Crime, the twentieth century's brightest buccaneer, the devil with dames.

And that is how it should be, because this is escapist literature, and it should be the "escapiest" possible.

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A Knight Errant is a medieval character who wanders the country, searching for adventures to prove his chivalric nature (usually in the name of some lady). This modern buccaneer also wanders the land (in this case, the North American continent) - and this book chronicles nine of his exploits, mostly undertaken at the behest of a member of the fairer sex, many of them classic damsels in distress. (There are also a few females who are anything but, but Simon takes all of them in his stride and comes away victorious on each occasion.)

As Saint stories go, these were pretty average and some were eminently predictable. However, the lighthearted tone and Charteris's mastery of the written word made enjoyable vacation reading.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

An average colection of short stories in which the Saint meets various ladies & discovers that some of them are not quite who they appear to be. Mildly entertaining, but quite a weak entry in the saga of the Saint.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here in July 2001.

This collection of Saint stories is a repeat of the idea of The Saint Meets His Match. There are nine stories, each with a different woman at the centre whose name is the title of their story. There are in fact more similarities than this architectural one; in each book there is one woman who appears in several stories, who is a thief who is effectively hijacked by the Saint, but in a gentler way than is often the case with his victims.

The final story, Dawn, is however completely unique in Charteris' output. Most of the Saint stories are quite prosaic, whereas in this one the main idea is supernatural. Simon is staying alone in the mountains, when a fugitive arrives at his cabin. This man tells a fantastic if rather unimaginative story about rivalry to obtain a gem carved in the semblance of a beautiful face and a girl named Dawn who is the living version of the stone. The man also explains that the whole thing is a dream, that he is in fact asleep in Glendale, California. (This is the reason for the derivative nature of the scenario and aspects of it such as the villain's distinct resemblance to the actor Sidney Greenstreet.)

This story makes the collection one of the more interesting books in the series. The other tales are competent, enjoyable and well written, but remain comfortably within the usual parameters of Charteris' writing.

[Saddleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saint Errant marked the beginning of the "short story era" for The Saint. After 20 years of writing novels and novellas featuring Simon Templar, Leslie Charteris decided to focus on the short story format for the remainder of his time as solo writer of the Saint books (beginning with 1964's Vendetta for the Saint, they became collaborative works). Some of the stories originated from the radio series, others dated back to the early 1930s. As such, they're a rather inconsistent bunch of tales, even though one story is a sequel to a story that had been published years earlier - and that story is included here too. I won't say which ones for spoilers.

Saint Errant also marked the final appearance of Templar's girlfriend, Patricia Holm, in the books. Which is a shame because her appearances in 3 stories of this collection show why she was such an amazing part of the Templar canon - basically a female Saint. Unfortunately, Charteris pretty much phased her out at the start of the 1940s as he preferred not having Templar tied down, as it were.

I don't know if I'm a fan of the short story format. With the full-length novels (i.e. The Saint in New York) or novella collections (such as the excellent Call for the Saint, which immediately preceded Saint Errant), the characters had room to breathe and Charteris was able to include more "world-building". The short stories, while they do an admirable job in establishing characters, tend to fall into patterns, with a "twist" that you can usually see coming a mile away.

The final story in this collection, "Dawn", is a definite oddity, as it has a supernatural feel. I'm not sure if I like it, to be honest. However I will be candid and say my view was coloured by the fact that the edition I read - an early 1980s printing by Ace Charter - could not have been proofread - or raw copy was published in error as the rest of the edition was fine, but for some reason "Dawn" had bizarre typos, text in all-caps at random points, misspelled words and some sentences seemed to be missing words. I happened to have a second copy from the 1950s (but I didn't want to read that one because the book was fragile) but I carefully compared the text, and those errors weren't in the original. Just proves that different editions can give off different impressions. I'll trust the more recent reprints were more closely proofed!

I wouldn't call Saint Errant a jumping on point for newcomers, but for people well into reading the Charteris canon, it's a good read. But I'd still recommend one of the novels first.

[Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic set of thriller stories

I bought this out of a feeling of nostalgia. It's the only Saint book I've ever read, and in fact the only example of The Saint I know. As a kid people talked about the show but the Moore original had gone from screens by the time I was old enough to watch it, and I was too old to care about the later remake. I think I had a Corgi miniature car when I was about 6 years old, a white Jaguar XJS or something with the saint logo stuck on the bonnet...

Anyway, these nine stories are lovely, quick, clever affairs where the Saint restores justice and evades the law, in aide of a damsel (apparently) in distress. They are not just wonderfully plotted, the use of language is exquisite. They're old enough that it's hard to know if the prose is pastiche or the real deal, a style that we are used to seeing parodied.

Either way it makes every paragraph a delight to read, and for stories written in the 30s and 40s there isn't even much of anything in the way of poor ideology or attitude to speak of, which is impressive.

Addendum: I used to get this out on Chivers Complete & Unabridged audio book from the library. It's only now I've read a book version I've discovered there was a whole story not included in that! Presumably it would have been a logistical annoyance compared to one story per side of four cassettes and the final tale is quite different to the others (but still good)

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I've read through Leslie Charteris's Saint works, I've become convinced that he was at his best as a writer of short stories. His novels, and even his novellas, often felt cluttered with filler material unnecessary to the story or the characterization of the Saint, his friends, and his enemies. With this collection of eight short stories that stretch over time from 1934 to 1948, I'm now sure of my assumption. The work is excellent, and spans the dramatic to the comedic and at the end, surprisingly, even into what might be termed the surreal. Note: surreal often seems a shorthand for "weird" in many writers' views. But, here, I mean actually surreal, rooted in a dream-like series of connected imagery melting into one another on an associative level. The story concerned is "Dawn," and I've never seen anything else like it in Charteris's writing. It also serves as a culmination of the self-referential, which has been coming increasingly into play in the Saint. Here, the direct allusion to Charteris himself appears in the text.

The remaining stories are some of the best of Charteris's career. I remember several of them being adapted into the Roger Moore television series. They are among the most memorable there as well, especially "Judith" and "Teresa." They each contain memorable twists, with young women masquerading as daughters and wives, all to cheat already miserable people out of the things that matter most to them, money. Morality tales in a fresh light.

[Art Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seem a shame that Leslie Charteris' fame has faded almost to obscurity and his once hugely popular character, The Saint, has not fared much better. His output rivals that of Agatha Christie and Rex Stout as does his longevity as a writer. As with the aforementioned, his writing can nowadays seem a dated and at times borders on florid. His remarkable life, (Cambridge, Hollywood, pearl fisher, passenger on the maiden voyage of the Hindenberg, really, you should look him up!) was lived with a gusto that he imbues in every twist and turn of his plots. This book is a collection of short stories that are all entertaining, some a little more formulaic that the others BUT THE LAST ONE!!!! The last story is so completely out there it could 'school' a post modernist or two. Part Twilight Zone, part cartoon, part parody part philosophical/psychological thriller it is a complete joy!

[Andy Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read the Saint Around The World earlier in the year and I have to say that, for originality, I preferred that collection. But these were amusing and well written too. There is quite a nice pairing of the Montreal opener and a follow up with the same female crook in New Orleans. And an interesting Miami set murder story called Lida. All the stories have a strategically important female character and have been rebadged under the names of those characters, having originally been published under other titles in magazines etc. One that I would have left out is "Dawn", a slightly oddball super natural story that doesn't sit comfortably alongside the others

[Paul Magnussen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This, the last Saint book to feature Patricia Holm, consists of nine short stories, each bearing a lady’s name. Various old adversaries also appear, such as Newt Haskins (from The Saint in Miami) and Alvin Kearney (from Call for the Saint).

The stories are varied and interesting, except for the last one which is just plain silly.

[Federico Kereki · Rating 3 out of 5]

The books with collections of short stories are much better, in my opinion, that the previous novels.

[De Ongeletterde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leslie Charteris verzamelde in dit boek allerlei kortere verhalen van The Saint, sommige (losjes) met elkaar verbonden. Dit blijft uitstekend ontspannende lectuur.

[Steven Heywood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the plots of most of these short stories are generally formulaic the writing is peppered with gems of description and dialogue that are well worth the ride.

[Michele bookloverforever]

A collection of short stories featuring "The Saint". The last one is a " trip"

[Ronnie Rice Talbot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delightfully Entertaining!!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable collection of short stories.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly standard collection of Saint short stories.
They are all entertaining and contain the usual charteris humour and saintly coincidences.
The final story is slightly different from the norm but did make a nice change of style (if that is the right word).
Do wish sometimes that there were still magazines being published that would include short stories amongst their articles, adverts and such.
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Re-Read was via audio book and rating kept at 3 stars.
The reader was very good for this book I thought as he has been for the other Saint books I have listened to. The majority of these stories are okay, nothing outstanding and apart from the rather strange final one, are not really terrible. Just underwhelming.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars. A series of stories in which the Saint acts as a king of Knight Errant for a woman. Full of danger, intrigue and typical Saint daring. Though there all sorts of women, troubles and locations many of them begin to be somewhat similar. Overall, I give it an average rating (which is my mind is where a vast majority of all books fall). Of course, some of the stories all a little better than others.

Dawn in probably the most unusual of all Saint stories. You don't know if the Saint is dreaming, delirious or experience some supernatural phenomena.

If you like the Saint, you'll like this book. And for first time readers it gives a person an idea of what the Saint is all about, but there are other stories that show a broader range of the Saint's exploits.

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book contains of 9 stories:

"Judith" aka "The Naughty Niece"
"Iris" aka "The Old Routine"
"Lida" aka "The Foolish Frail"
"Jeannine" aka "The Lovely Sinner"
"Lucia" aka "The Homecoming of Amadeo Urselli"
"Teresa" aka "The Uncertain Widow"
"Luella" aka "The Saint and the Double Badger"
"Emily" aka "The Doodlebug"
"Dawn" aka "The Darker Drink"

Several stories were novelisations of radio show episodes.

[Gerry · Rating 2 out of 5]

A series of short stories about various ladies. Not one of his best, the Saint books are usually good, rip-roaring, all-action stories, this one isn't. Certainly errant in the literal sense!

[Dale Rosso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good entry in the Saint series.

[Rob Messenger · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Robin Hood of Modern Crime, the twentieth century's brightest buccaneer, the devil with dames, the headache of cops and crooks alike...' Well, you get the drift...a lot of fun...