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The Saint #11
The Brighter Buccaneer
“The art of crime,” said Simon Templar, “is to be versatile,” and in these fifteen tales the Saint is as good as his word. Whilst dispensing his own brand of justice to a rich assortment of villains, he kisses a policewoman, buys a racehorse, recovers a stolen treaty, and plans “The Perfect Crime.”
296 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1932
47 people are currently reading
182 people want to read
About the author
Leslie Charteris
592 books161 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 - 26 of 26 reviews
January 6, 2023
Even today, The Saint is almost always remembered by the television series played by Roger Moore.
Many of us remember black and white television and an evening well spent. The Saint was synonymous with a good history, charm, beautiful women nearby, and that white Volvo "coupé."
Leslie Charteris left us with perfect stories and crimes.
Many of us remember black and white television and an evening well spent. The Saint was synonymous with a good history, charm, beautiful women nearby, and that white Volvo "coupé."
Leslie Charteris left us with perfect stories and crimes.
January 12, 2022
Here's a delightful collection of stories featuring the famous Simon Templar. They were originally published in a newspaper, then collected in book form way back in 1933. The Saint finds himself dealing with multiple villains, but still keeps a smile on his face & the reader cannot help smiling along with him.
Ian Dickerson sums it all up perfectly in his introduction to the book: "I have read and reread the adventures of the Saint. Sure, they're dated now, but the quality of the characters and the writing shines through. Just don't take them too seriously-this if fun, life-affirming escapist entertainment." I could't have put it better myself!
Ian Dickerson sums it all up perfectly in his introduction to the book: "I have read and reread the adventures of the Saint. Sure, they're dated now, but the quality of the characters and the writing shines through. Just don't take them too seriously-this if fun, life-affirming escapist entertainment." I could't have put it better myself!
September 10, 2015
Once again, I'll review each tale as I come to it:
The Brain Workers
It’s great to see, even in a particularly story like this, how smoothly and seamlessly Charteris is able to bring the disparate plot elements together. What’s more it’s all done in a seemingly a laidback and leisurely way, which makes sense as even when Simon Templar is moving swiftly, it is never with haste. The supporting characters are perhaps ciphers – a damsel in distress and some scumbags – but The Saint is most certainly on form.
The Export Trade
For a long stretch of this tale it appears that Templar is a patsy, that he doesn’t have the sense of agency which is his usual badge of pride. Woe betide the foolish reader who genuinely believes that though. Jewel theft, smuggling and Chief Inspector Teal – it’s all in a day’s work for The Saint.
The Unblemished Bootlegger
It’s fun that one of the scams this story’s ‘con artist who becomes a target for The Saint’ comes up with is recycling tin-cans. What would have looked a bizarre scheme in the 1920s, gives a nice contemporary resonance to this prohibition tale – although to be fair it’s not your usual prohibition yarn. Maybe Simon does get one over on the charmingly named Melford Croon a little too easily, but it’s hard not to enjoy such a man – who preys on the great and good, as well as lowly clerks – getting a bit of poetic, and distinctly saintly, comeuppance.
The Owner’s Handicap
Skulduggery at the race track is the kind of plot made for Simon Templar, but I found this one a bit small and inconsequential – like a seaside donkey in The Grand National. I’m not though predisposed to talk about the ‘going’, or the reciting of odds, so maybe that’s why it filled me with inertia.
The Tough Egg
Effectively two short tales rammed together.
The first is the most intriguing as it gives a glimpse of what the aftermath of The Saint looks like. Showing only the consequences of one of his schemes and what it must be like for Claude Eustace Teal to always be chasing a puff of smoke.
The second half is more stereotypical: run of the mill with a lot of charm. It does add an incredible capacity for disguise to The Saint’s many talents though.
The Bad Baron
The idea of a rival to The Saint is one that’s never really explored in these stories. I guess that Chaerteris would have seen Teal as the slow-witted, doughy Holmes to Templar’s more fleet-footed, morally upright Moriarty. Their relationship doesn’t work in the same way though, as Teal is so obviously and constantly outmatched and, really, the two of them are friends in a weird way.
Here a criminal rival to The Saint is introduced – The Fox, London’s newest jewel thief. However his threat to our hero’s supremacy is soon over and they don’t even have a confrontation along the way.
The Brass Buddha
In the opening passages, where an old, over-bearing, double-chinned gent plies young, handsome, charming Simon with drink after drink, it almost feels like we’re reading a seduction of the ‘Withnail & I’ kind. Really, it’s such an odd scene with the subtext so much to the fore that it’s disappointing Charteris doesn’t do more with it and instead it just settles down into a simple (but Saintly) con story. The meat of the story is duplicitous and fun, but one can’t help thinking that the darker and more sexual tale it might have been would have lingered longer in the memory.
The Perfect Crime
Some of these tales are dated (although in the most charming way), some of them still work if you change a few of the details, while some feel suddenly and spookily relevant to the NOW.
In these days of pay-day lenders and the bad press they leave in their grubby-fingered wake, it’s fantastic to see Simon Templar take on one of their spiritual forefathers. Of course this is a much smaller and more low-tech operation than those which exist today, but one can’t help thinking of the likes of Wonga and punching the air in delight at The Saint’s inevitable triumph.
The Appalling Politician
A locked-room mystery in which Simon is recruited to the side of the law – well, kind of. The Saint loses something though if he’s not carrying out deliciously Saintly schemes.
As you’d expect the story has a certain elegance, even if there’s nothing else the twist – and a story like this always has to have a twist – can possibly be.
The Unpopular Landlord
There a couple of prose gems in this one which amused me so much I noted them down:
‘Mr Potham put back the sheet with the air of an adoring mother removing her offspring from the vicinity of some stranger who had wantonly smacked it.’
and
‘He thought that too long an interval of stability would weaken his resistance to regular hours and Times reading and other low forms of activity.’
Simon takes on a scum landlord.
It’s a middle class story and so doesn’t remotely touch on the kind of scum landlord who actually operated back then (and no doubt still do today, but are more subtle about it). But it’s smart and it’s funny and once again a delight to see a bastard get the Simon Templar treatment.
The New Swindle
There isn’t really much for The Saint to do in ‘The New Swindle’ – apart from recognise a bloke, realise what he's up to and then hold him up. The realising what they’re up to is a smart deduction – although it’s not totally clear how he does that – but I like a brighter spark of intelligence in my Saint stories.
The Five Thousand Pound Kiss
There’s an unfortunate sexism to this one, as the victim is chosen entirely because – and I’m quoting Simon here – she’s “a hag”. As such it doesn’t matter that we have the return of a glamorous female equivalent of The Saint (first espied in ‘The Export Trade’ earlier in this volume, I didn’t note her arrival at the time because hey – how was I to know it would play out later on?) this is definitely one of those tales to leave a less than appealing taste in the mouth of a modern day reader.
The Green Goods Man
Hands down, one of the best stories here.
I particularly like that Simon so disappears into his portrayal of Mr Tomes – lowly insurance clerk – that the story actually changes to be told from Tomes’ point of view.
The mechanism by which The Saint’s scheme succeeds is also brilliant.
The Blind Spot
The Saint at his most saintly. That’s the great thing about the character Charteris created: sometimes he’s an out and out crook, and sometimes he’s the most virtuous man in the world. Here he is actually throwing himself onto some railway tracks to rescue a suicidal old man, before taking revenge on the individual who brought him to that state. A tad sentimental perhaps (in almost a Damon Runyon sense), but a typically smart tale.
The Unusual Ending
So here’s how the volume ends – with a confrontation between Simon and Teal which crackles with electricity and confirms once again that they’re like Batman and the Joker. Simon is never going to wish harm on Teal as it’s just too much fun having him around, while Teal seems like he would be without a sense of purpose if Simon was ever banged up. The only thing left for him as a police officer, after the arrest of The Saint, would be tedious retirement.
A fine story to end a fine volume – with one drawback. Here sees the return of Kate Allfield, the female adventurer/equivalent of The Saint previously seen earlier in this collection in ‘The Export Trade’ and ‘The Five Thousand Pound Kiss’. A sustained rival to The Saint is one of those great unexplored ideas, an attractive female version even more so, here though Kate has been reduced to clerical work. It’s a path disappointingly not taken, which makes you think that no matter how much one enjoys this volume, it clearly could have been so much better.
The Brain Workers
It’s great to see, even in a particularly story like this, how smoothly and seamlessly Charteris is able to bring the disparate plot elements together. What’s more it’s all done in a seemingly a laidback and leisurely way, which makes sense as even when Simon Templar is moving swiftly, it is never with haste. The supporting characters are perhaps ciphers – a damsel in distress and some scumbags – but The Saint is most certainly on form.
The Export Trade
For a long stretch of this tale it appears that Templar is a patsy, that he doesn’t have the sense of agency which is his usual badge of pride. Woe betide the foolish reader who genuinely believes that though. Jewel theft, smuggling and Chief Inspector Teal – it’s all in a day’s work for The Saint.
The Unblemished Bootlegger
It’s fun that one of the scams this story’s ‘con artist who becomes a target for The Saint’ comes up with is recycling tin-cans. What would have looked a bizarre scheme in the 1920s, gives a nice contemporary resonance to this prohibition tale – although to be fair it’s not your usual prohibition yarn. Maybe Simon does get one over on the charmingly named Melford Croon a little too easily, but it’s hard not to enjoy such a man – who preys on the great and good, as well as lowly clerks – getting a bit of poetic, and distinctly saintly, comeuppance.
The Owner’s Handicap
Skulduggery at the race track is the kind of plot made for Simon Templar, but I found this one a bit small and inconsequential – like a seaside donkey in The Grand National. I’m not though predisposed to talk about the ‘going’, or the reciting of odds, so maybe that’s why it filled me with inertia.
The Tough Egg
Effectively two short tales rammed together.
The first is the most intriguing as it gives a glimpse of what the aftermath of The Saint looks like. Showing only the consequences of one of his schemes and what it must be like for Claude Eustace Teal to always be chasing a puff of smoke.
The second half is more stereotypical: run of the mill with a lot of charm. It does add an incredible capacity for disguise to The Saint’s many talents though.
The Bad Baron
The idea of a rival to The Saint is one that’s never really explored in these stories. I guess that Chaerteris would have seen Teal as the slow-witted, doughy Holmes to Templar’s more fleet-footed, morally upright Moriarty. Their relationship doesn’t work in the same way though, as Teal is so obviously and constantly outmatched and, really, the two of them are friends in a weird way.
Here a criminal rival to The Saint is introduced – The Fox, London’s newest jewel thief. However his threat to our hero’s supremacy is soon over and they don’t even have a confrontation along the way.
The Brass Buddha
In the opening passages, where an old, over-bearing, double-chinned gent plies young, handsome, charming Simon with drink after drink, it almost feels like we’re reading a seduction of the ‘Withnail & I’ kind. Really, it’s such an odd scene with the subtext so much to the fore that it’s disappointing Charteris doesn’t do more with it and instead it just settles down into a simple (but Saintly) con story. The meat of the story is duplicitous and fun, but one can’t help thinking that the darker and more sexual tale it might have been would have lingered longer in the memory.
The Perfect Crime
Some of these tales are dated (although in the most charming way), some of them still work if you change a few of the details, while some feel suddenly and spookily relevant to the NOW.
In these days of pay-day lenders and the bad press they leave in their grubby-fingered wake, it’s fantastic to see Simon Templar take on one of their spiritual forefathers. Of course this is a much smaller and more low-tech operation than those which exist today, but one can’t help thinking of the likes of Wonga and punching the air in delight at The Saint’s inevitable triumph.
The Appalling Politician
A locked-room mystery in which Simon is recruited to the side of the law – well, kind of. The Saint loses something though if he’s not carrying out deliciously Saintly schemes.
As you’d expect the story has a certain elegance, even if there’s nothing else the twist – and a story like this always has to have a twist – can possibly be.
The Unpopular Landlord
There a couple of prose gems in this one which amused me so much I noted them down:
‘Mr Potham put back the sheet with the air of an adoring mother removing her offspring from the vicinity of some stranger who had wantonly smacked it.’
and
‘He thought that too long an interval of stability would weaken his resistance to regular hours and Times reading and other low forms of activity.’
Simon takes on a scum landlord.
It’s a middle class story and so doesn’t remotely touch on the kind of scum landlord who actually operated back then (and no doubt still do today, but are more subtle about it). But it’s smart and it’s funny and once again a delight to see a bastard get the Simon Templar treatment.
The New Swindle
There isn’t really much for The Saint to do in ‘The New Swindle’ – apart from recognise a bloke, realise what he's up to and then hold him up. The realising what they’re up to is a smart deduction – although it’s not totally clear how he does that – but I like a brighter spark of intelligence in my Saint stories.
The Five Thousand Pound Kiss
There’s an unfortunate sexism to this one, as the victim is chosen entirely because – and I’m quoting Simon here – she’s “a hag”. As such it doesn’t matter that we have the return of a glamorous female equivalent of The Saint (first espied in ‘The Export Trade’ earlier in this volume, I didn’t note her arrival at the time because hey – how was I to know it would play out later on?) this is definitely one of those tales to leave a less than appealing taste in the mouth of a modern day reader.
The Green Goods Man
Hands down, one of the best stories here.
I particularly like that Simon so disappears into his portrayal of Mr Tomes – lowly insurance clerk – that the story actually changes to be told from Tomes’ point of view.
The mechanism by which The Saint’s scheme succeeds is also brilliant.
The Blind Spot
The Saint at his most saintly. That’s the great thing about the character Charteris created: sometimes he’s an out and out crook, and sometimes he’s the most virtuous man in the world. Here he is actually throwing himself onto some railway tracks to rescue a suicidal old man, before taking revenge on the individual who brought him to that state. A tad sentimental perhaps (in almost a Damon Runyon sense), but a typically smart tale.
The Unusual Ending
So here’s how the volume ends – with a confrontation between Simon and Teal which crackles with electricity and confirms once again that they’re like Batman and the Joker. Simon is never going to wish harm on Teal as it’s just too much fun having him around, while Teal seems like he would be without a sense of purpose if Simon was ever banged up. The only thing left for him as a police officer, after the arrest of The Saint, would be tedious retirement.
A fine story to end a fine volume – with one drawback. Here sees the return of Kate Allfield, the female adventurer/equivalent of The Saint previously seen earlier in this collection in ‘The Export Trade’ and ‘The Five Thousand Pound Kiss’. A sustained rival to The Saint is one of those great unexplored ideas, an attractive female version even more so, here though Kate has been reduced to clerical work. It’s a path disappointingly not taken, which makes you think that no matter how much one enjoys this volume, it clearly could have been so much better.
April 29, 2021
One of the very best Saint collections
These stories were originally published in a British Sunday newspaper called the Empire News, now long out of business. Charteris was contracted to write a story for each weekly edition in 1932. They were then published as a book in 1933. Eight years later, Hodder & Stoughton were on their sixteenth imprint, making THE BRIGHTER BUCCANEER one of the bestselling volumes in the Saint’s series. In 1951 Queen’s Quorum, a collection of the 125 best crime short stories published since 1845 as rated by Ellery Queen, named this collection number 86. I believe that this is one of the few Saint books which has never had its English language title changed.
I first read this book late in high school about the same time I read SENOR SAINT, obtaining both in paperback from the once ubiquitous bookracks in convenience stores. This helped convince me that Leslie Charteris was more entertaining in his short stories than in his novels. However I found and do find both to be well written entertainment. These stories are shorter than the usual Saint stories because of the market for which they were written and the speed at which Charteris wrote them.
These stories were originally published in a British Sunday newspaper called the Empire News, now long out of business. Charteris was contracted to write a story for each weekly edition in 1932. They were then published as a book in 1933. Eight years later, Hodder & Stoughton were on their sixteenth imprint, making THE BRIGHTER BUCCANEER one of the bestselling volumes in the Saint’s series. In 1951 Queen’s Quorum, a collection of the 125 best crime short stories published since 1845 as rated by Ellery Queen, named this collection number 86. I believe that this is one of the few Saint books which has never had its English language title changed.
I first read this book late in high school about the same time I read SENOR SAINT, obtaining both in paperback from the once ubiquitous bookracks in convenience stores. This helped convince me that Leslie Charteris was more entertaining in his short stories than in his novels. However I found and do find both to be well written entertainment. These stories are shorter than the usual Saint stories because of the market for which they were written and the speed at which Charteris wrote them.
May 28, 2017
Greatly entertaining collection of short stories!
I have seen many of these stories, naturally with some variations, on tv in "The Saint" series. ( And no one will ever play the Saint better than it was played by Rodger Moore,) None the less, the written version is far more entertaining for me, because we get to see his interaction the with characters more intimately connected in his life. beside his trusted reliable frie-nemy Claude Eustace Teal.
I have seen many of these stories, naturally with some variations, on tv in "The Saint" series. ( And no one will ever play the Saint better than it was played by Rodger Moore,) None the less, the written version is far more entertaining for me, because we get to see his interaction the with characters more intimately connected in his life. beside his trusted reliable frie-nemy Claude Eustace Teal.
Want to read
February 11, 2019Synopsis: a collection of short stories: The Brain Workers, The Export Trade, The Bad Baron, The Brass Buddha, The Perfect Crime, etc.
December 29, 2014
A collection of fifteen shorts, all previously published in a long-vanished British Sunday newspaper, and all very much along the same lines as each other: a thoroughly nasty piece of work (alternating between low-class and high-class criminals) comes to Templar's attention, and he comes up with a clever way to impose his own brand of Saint-ly poetic justice on them (leaving himself significantly better off in the process, natch).
There's just enough variation on the theme to not get too repetitive, and for every eye-rolling piece of wildly overblown prose that doesn't quite work (“The feat of muscular prestidigitation was performed so swiftly and slickly that she took a second or two to absorb the fact that it had indubitably eventuated and travelled on into the past tense”) there's another that does (“Using our renowned gifts of vivid description, it would be possible for us to dilate upon Mr Lamantia’s emotions at great length, but we have not the time. Neither, in point of fact, had Mr Lamantia. He suffered more or less what a happy bonfire would suffer if the bottom fell out of a reservoir suspended directly over it.”)
These are generally more light-hearted than I remember some of the longer-form stories and books being, but they'd make a good introduction to the oeuvre for a newcomer.
There's just enough variation on the theme to not get too repetitive, and for every eye-rolling piece of wildly overblown prose that doesn't quite work (“The feat of muscular prestidigitation was performed so swiftly and slickly that she took a second or two to absorb the fact that it had indubitably eventuated and travelled on into the past tense”) there's another that does (“Using our renowned gifts of vivid description, it would be possible for us to dilate upon Mr Lamantia’s emotions at great length, but we have not the time. Neither, in point of fact, had Mr Lamantia. He suffered more or less what a happy bonfire would suffer if the bottom fell out of a reservoir suspended directly over it.”)
These are generally more light-hearted than I remember some of the longer-form stories and books being, but they'd make a good introduction to the oeuvre for a newcomer.
May 13, 2020
This selection of 15 short stories is a good nightstand read when you just need a quick, self-contained adventure.
The Brain Workers - Simon provides some karma to a woman who was swindled out of some stock.
The Export Trade - Simon pulls the old switcheroo with the help of a friend who makes jewelry imitations.
The Unblemished Bootlegger - A con man who specializes in getting mugs to invest in a liquor export scheme to the prohibition-era USA gets the Saint treatment.
The Owners' Handicap - Patricia Holm steps in to enact some justice on a crooked racing horse owner.
The Tough Egg - Simon stages a gambling grab which also serves to annoy Claud Eustace.
The Bad Baron - Simon gets fooled by some stand-ins but gets a nice little compensation from a policewoman.
The Brass Buddha - Simon finds out what makes a souvenir Buddha so valuable.
The Perfect Crime - Simon puts up some suspicious Latvian bonds as collateral. He seems to have an endless supply of them. Is that a crime?
The Appalling Politician - An annoying politician has an important treaty stolen from his wall safe. Yet the room was guarded and watched the whole time.
The Unpopular Landlord - A landlord who takes advantage of his tenants gets taken advantage of himself.
The New Swindle - A priceless piece of jewelry is sent through the mail. What can possibly go wrong?
The Five Thousand Pound Kiss - Simon is caught almost-red-handed with a precious jewel in his fist. How to get rid of it quickly?
The Green Goods Man - A swindler sets up the old switcheroo of a packet of real currency with a packet of pieces of newspaper. Simon doesn't fall for it.
The Blind Spot
The Unusual Ending
The Brain Workers - Simon provides some karma to a woman who was swindled out of some stock.
The Export Trade - Simon pulls the old switcheroo with the help of a friend who makes jewelry imitations.
The Unblemished Bootlegger - A con man who specializes in getting mugs to invest in a liquor export scheme to the prohibition-era USA gets the Saint treatment.
The Owners' Handicap - Patricia Holm steps in to enact some justice on a crooked racing horse owner.
The Tough Egg - Simon stages a gambling grab which also serves to annoy Claud Eustace.
The Bad Baron - Simon gets fooled by some stand-ins but gets a nice little compensation from a policewoman.
The Brass Buddha - Simon finds out what makes a souvenir Buddha so valuable.
The Perfect Crime - Simon puts up some suspicious Latvian bonds as collateral. He seems to have an endless supply of them. Is that a crime?
The Appalling Politician - An annoying politician has an important treaty stolen from his wall safe. Yet the room was guarded and watched the whole time.
The Unpopular Landlord - A landlord who takes advantage of his tenants gets taken advantage of himself.
The New Swindle - A priceless piece of jewelry is sent through the mail. What can possibly go wrong?
The Five Thousand Pound Kiss - Simon is caught almost-red-handed with a precious jewel in his fist. How to get rid of it quickly?
The Green Goods Man - A swindler sets up the old switcheroo of a packet of real currency with a packet of pieces of newspaper. Simon doesn't fall for it.
The Blind Spot
The Unusual Ending
March 10, 2025
With Buccaneer, it seems Charteris makes something of a breakthrough. It's a solid improvement over the earlier books in The Saint series. It's also the first instance of a volume being given over to a series of true short stories. Until now, the series had mostly allowed for Charteris' slightly longer form novellas, usually three per volume, to serve as the book versions of tales published in earlier crime novels. These stories, here, also appeared in an earlier but shorter format. And it appears Charteris hit his stride. Either forced through word count restraints or intentional experimentation, Charteris retells these stories in a much more efficient manner and without the bloated dialog of the earlier books. Most of the banter is gone, replaced with almost hard boiled conversations and clear narration. It makes for a strong sense of place and time--London in 1933.
The plots of the stories are themselves nothing new. What Charteris does in fact is take a directory of confidence games and tricks and employ the twist of Simon Templar acting as an avenging angel to save people who have been tricked out of their savings or well earned work. Thus the reader encounters such cons as The Big Store, The Green Goods game, the Ponzi, and the Spanish Prisoner. They're also all introduced and resolved in a somewhat lighthearted manner. A few fisticuffs take place but nobody dies or gets killed. And Simon ends up coming across as not only a witty fellow but the righter of wrongs the justice system can't solve.
The plots of the stories are themselves nothing new. What Charteris does in fact is take a directory of confidence games and tricks and employ the twist of Simon Templar acting as an avenging angel to save people who have been tricked out of their savings or well earned work. Thus the reader encounters such cons as The Big Store, The Green Goods game, the Ponzi, and the Spanish Prisoner. They're also all introduced and resolved in a somewhat lighthearted manner. A few fisticuffs take place but nobody dies or gets killed. And Simon ends up coming across as not only a witty fellow but the righter of wrongs the justice system can't solve.
September 1, 2018
Fifteen lightweight but entertaining short stories of the Saint, wherein mysteries are unravelled, swindlers swindled, and many pints of beer consumed.
The Export Trade, despite its inclusion here, must be set before the previous book, Once More the Saint, since the Saint has at this point never heard of the Green Cross bunch, who figure prominently in that opus.
The Unblemished Bootlegger is notable for introducing Simon’s friend Peter Quentin, who reappears many times thereafter; The Unpopular Landlord, my favourite, features not only Peter but old stalwarts Roger Conway and Monty Hayward; and Patricia Holm and Claud Eustace Teal are never far away.
Fans of Georgette Heyer or Damon Runyon (for example) will readily concede that it’s not the plot but the style that counts; and the same certainly applies to Leslie Charteris.
The Export Trade, despite its inclusion here, must be set before the previous book, Once More the Saint, since the Saint has at this point never heard of the Green Cross bunch, who figure prominently in that opus.
The Unblemished Bootlegger is notable for introducing Simon’s friend Peter Quentin, who reappears many times thereafter; The Unpopular Landlord, my favourite, features not only Peter but old stalwarts Roger Conway and Monty Hayward; and Patricia Holm and Claud Eustace Teal are never far away.
Fans of Georgette Heyer or Damon Runyon (for example) will readily concede that it’s not the plot but the style that counts; and the same certainly applies to Leslie Charteris.
September 26, 2021
The best of a lovable rogue
A bit wordy for my tastes, but the plots make up for that as Simon Templar swindles the swindlers and upholds the Code of Chivalry...in his own way. A good read for a calm night..sit back, relax and have a good chuckle or two as Simon springs his traps.
A bit wordy for my tastes, but the plots make up for that as Simon Templar swindles the swindlers and upholds the Code of Chivalry...in his own way. A good read for a calm night..sit back, relax and have a good chuckle or two as Simon springs his traps.
June 4, 2022
Found an old friend
How lovely to encounter The Saint again after all these years, old dear. I had forgotten how fond I was of Charteris’s casually flippant style and globe-trotting settings. Now I’m old enough to appreciate the work behind the fun.
How lovely to encounter The Saint again after all these years, old dear. I had forgotten how fond I was of Charteris’s casually flippant style and globe-trotting settings. Now I’m old enough to appreciate the work behind the fun.
March 3, 2017
A book called the Saint
The book was a very good read I have read better books but I don't know when I hope they pick up some more as soon as possible
The book was a very good read I have read better books but I don't know when I hope they pick up some more as soon as possible
April 10, 2018
Good reading
A bit formulaic but has plenty of good reasons to read another story! Short punchy stories.
Made me hungry for a novel.
A bit formulaic but has plenty of good reasons to read another story! Short punchy stories.
Made me hungry for a novel.
November 27, 2022
Fifteen short stories featuring The Saint doing Saintly thing (smiting the Ungodly) with style and panache - through craftiness and smarts rather than (for the most part) fists and guns.
Great fun.
Great fun.
June 27, 2023
Liked the way this book is actually a compilation of about 12 short stories.
August 16, 2024
Great fun collection of 15 shorts, showing our hero at his most ebullient and ingenious.
February 21, 2017
Getting into mystery stories I had discovered the British Hard Boiled stuff. This included folks like Bulldog Drummond and Simon Templar. I had picked up this book on the kindle format since it was on sale at the time. This is completely different than the version of "The Saint" that I have seen or heard before. One was the Vincent Price radio show and the other being Roger Moore's TV version. Both of them hold a weakened candle to the source material. Here we have a collection of short stories about eleven of them in total and they show the sort of character that are typical in the Pre-WW2 Saint stories. From Simon Templar himself as a crook always looking to expand his bank account but only from those that deserve to get the comeuppance of being robbed to his foil from Scotland Yard Inspector Claud Teal, as well as Templar's on again and off again girlfriend Patricia Holm. Templar is sort of like the Raffles character from the age of Sherlock Holmes. A crook, but an upper class sort of crook that targets folks if not for the sport of it than for the form of justice that the law can't met out. All of these stories are separate and to be honest all are collected from when Charteris was writing a weekly story for a newspaper in between books. So these are stories of The Saint up to his tricks as a criminal, from pulling swindles on con artists from America to help some old guy who lost his savings, to setting up gangsters to be caught by the Yard and Teal with a bag of hot loot and a dumb look on the faces of the crooks and on over to challenging a political type who may or may not have swiped a treaty in an attempt to corner the market on something. These are tightly written stories that do well on their own and short of the recycling of a couple of crooks can give you a good idea of the sort of adventures that Charteris wrote for the Saint before the war and what had made him a popular character in England and Europe for a few decades. We have our Sam Spades and Nick Charles and Phil Marlowe in the USA and the English have Simon Templar.
October 7, 2021
Rating 4
Re-Read Rating between 4 & 4.5
a very good short story collection (very short in some cases but not surprising considering where they were first published).
Overall I do find I like the 1930's era stories the most when reading the Saint - the majority of them are quick, light, full of life, entertaining stories that in a few well drawn pages take the reader out of the real world and drops them into a world where the Saint punishes the greedy, bad and evil who gain advantage over their weaker compatriots. Escapism books at their best I think.
This collection does exactly what it is supposed to do it entertains the reader for a few hours before they have to return to the real world and deal with their real world problems.
Rereading it again now it is difficult to accept that these stories were first published 88 years ago (or so at time of reading) - they are as fun to read and entertaining as they must have been then.
Solid recommendation I think for anyone wanting to see where the Saint character came from - assuming they can get over the prejudice regarding short stories which seems to exist these days.
Re-Read Rating between 4 & 4.5
a very good short story collection (very short in some cases but not surprising considering where they were first published).
Overall I do find I like the 1930's era stories the most when reading the Saint - the majority of them are quick, light, full of life, entertaining stories that in a few well drawn pages take the reader out of the real world and drops them into a world where the Saint punishes the greedy, bad and evil who gain advantage over their weaker compatriots. Escapism books at their best I think.
This collection does exactly what it is supposed to do it entertains the reader for a few hours before they have to return to the real world and deal with their real world problems.
Rereading it again now it is difficult to accept that these stories were first published 88 years ago (or so at time of reading) - they are as fun to read and entertaining as they must have been then.
Solid recommendation I think for anyone wanting to see where the Saint character came from - assuming they can get over the prejudice regarding short stories which seems to exist these days.
February 27, 2017
Originally published on my blog here in April 2000.
The Brighter Buccaneer is a collection of fifteen typical Saint short stories. These tales concentrate on Simon Templar as an avenger of those taken in by conmen, with a couple of other subjects for variety. All are entertaining, but some show signs of haste in their construction. (This is hardly surprising, considering the vast amount of material written by Charteris in the early thirties.) Most of the short stories about the Saint are trifles compared to the longer works, begin written mainly to fill up space in The Saint magazine. Still, these are very successful within their limited aims.
The Brighter Buccaneer is a collection of fifteen typical Saint short stories. These tales concentrate on Simon Templar as an avenger of those taken in by conmen, with a couple of other subjects for variety. All are entertaining, but some show signs of haste in their construction. (This is hardly surprising, considering the vast amount of material written by Charteris in the early thirties.) Most of the short stories about the Saint are trifles compared to the longer works, begin written mainly to fill up space in The Saint magazine. Still, these are very successful within their limited aims.
August 28, 2016
I still love my Saint books and enjoyed this one immensely. Made up of fifteen short stories it was perfect for just picking up every time I had a spare twenty minutes or so, and as such probably took me over a month to read cover to cover in-between over books, but that was it’s beauty. The stories didn’t need any effort invested in them they could be just read in one sitting whenever the mood took and they each told the standard sort of tale of The Saint’s adventures; getting the better of a collection of undesirable characters using his wit charm and intelligence. If honest, the endings of most of them can be guessed halfway through the tale if not sooner, but that didn’t make them, or the book as a whole, any less enjoyable.
August 6, 2021
This book of short stories is an enjoyable read and really show the author's skill in short story writing. The reason for only 3 stars is that I think reading them all in one go rather dilutes the impact as thinking back on the book there are only a few really memorable stories, whereas if I had read a few at a time I believe I would have remembered them better.
March 15, 2012
O facto de ser composto por um conjunto de contos fá-lo uma leitura fácil, embora, se calhar, não o melhor cenário para sermos apresentados a Simon Templar, o Santo, um dos maiores "con artists" da ficção.
September 25, 2015
The Brighter Buccaneer
I really liked this book. I first read it 35 years ago and it is as good now as it was then. Granted, some of the material is dated but it is still a good read. I recommend it.
I really liked this book. I first read it 35 years ago and it is as good now as it was then. Granted, some of the material is dated but it is still a good read. I recommend it.
July 4, 2016
A collection of short stories. Simon Templar making the world right, one crook at a time.
August 20, 2016
Like M&M's: probably terribly bad for me from a nutritional standpoint, but so delightful and satisfying.
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