Status Updates From The First Saint Omnibus: An...

The Unlicensed Victualers: The Saint hijacking booze from smugglers. Some interesting back and forth and a few solid twists for a decent story.

“The High Fence”-The Saint takes on a receiver of stolen property with an angle. There’s a great escape scene and a great surprise ending. Best story so far;

The Sleepless Knight--The Saint takes vengeance on a ruthless trucking company owner who is requiring his drivers to work ridiculous hours and causing unsafe conditions. The story definitely has poetic justice but there are a few interesting leaps in logic.

“The Unfortunate Financier” a story of how the Saint deals with a clever and unscrupulous stock speculator in a non-violent and hilarious way.

The Simon Templar Foundation-Simon blackmails grafting politicians and war profiteers. Introduces his dim-witted sidekick hoppy. Overall an amusing story. Grade: B+

The Million Pound Day: An escapade that begins with the Saint rescuing a man being beaten by the side of the road. Lost of hijinks and the Saint is a bit of a jerk to Inspector Teal. Grace: C+

The Appalling Politician-A bit of a pure detective mystery as Simon searches for a missing treaty in wartime. Nice little bit of real life politics was introduced for the story. Fun, but not great. Grade: B

Unblemished Bootlegger: a short story. Simon takes vengeance on a conman who tricked people into investing to send bootlegged liquor to the US during prohibition and then claimed the ship, which had never existed, had been caught by authorities. This is a fun tale even though the twist can be seen a mile away. Grade: B

"The Story of a Dead Man" finds the Saint having gone to work at a weird office What makes it an interesting story is for most of the story, it's told from the point of view of Inspector Teal and the Saint's befuddled Secretary Pamela Marlowe, neither of whom have any clue what he's up to. Seeing the Saint's antics through someone who has no clue what he's doing is a delight. The story has some real surprises. B+

The Wonderful War-Not a great story. It’s entire conceit is based on the supposed laziness of Latin American Countries giving the Saint too easy of l a time, although the Saint has a few nice flourishes.

In the Man Who Was Clever: The Saint takes on a mean English racketeer and sets about a campaign to bring him down through an amusing and terrifying campaign. This is a typical Saint story with swashbuckling action but with a TV pilot feel. Being the first one is the most remarkable thing about the story. Grade: B