What do you think?
Rate this book
The Saint #34
The Saint To The Rescue
In which the Saint finds that capital punishment is a fine cure for blackmail - and what leads to that discovery is just enough to whet his appetite for adventure on his devilish tour of the U.S.A. From Florida's gold coast to San Francisco's wharf, the home of the brave and the free finds some of its residents a bit more brave and some quite a lot less free by the time Mr. Simon Templar's sated.
An anthology collecting six of Charteris' Saint stories:
The Ever-loving Spouse
The Fruitful Land
The Percentage Player
The Water Merchant
The Gentle Ladies
The Element of Doubt
An anthology collecting six of Charteris' Saint stories:
The Ever-loving Spouse
The Fruitful Land
The Percentage Player
The Water Merchant
The Gentle Ladies
The Element of Doubt
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1956
43 people are currently reading
124 people want to read
About the author
Leslie Charteris
585 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."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 18, 2020
Prime Sanctity
Charteris is at his peak as a writer in this delightful anthology. The Saint's unkind wit, completely personal morality, and infinite resource are at their peak. A few wincing bits of late-1950s sexism are jarring today, but that's one of the reasons we can be glad it's no longer the late '50s. Justice over law is the core of Templar's code, and making a nice profit off the Ungodly is a guiding second principle. All in all, I've always thought we need a few thousand Saints in the world today!
Charteris is at his peak as a writer in this delightful anthology. The Saint's unkind wit, completely personal morality, and infinite resource are at their peak. A few wincing bits of late-1950s sexism are jarring today, but that's one of the reasons we can be glad it's no longer the late '50s. Justice over law is the core of Templar's code, and making a nice profit off the Ungodly is a guiding second principle. All in all, I've always thought we need a few thousand Saints in the world today!
December 19, 2016
A collection of Saint stories which are only so-so. However, I love the character and Charteris's exquisite language.
June 29, 2025
Six short stories in this collection demonstrate that Leslie Charteris had achieved peak synthesis of form toward the end of his writing career. (Although the series would remain in production, Charteris himself would only write a couple of books after this one.) By that I mean, there is a return to the attitude of the Simon Templar of the 1930s in this volume. Two stories allow the Saint to uncover murderers, but he lets them go because they were being blackmailed and the Saint believes blackmailers deserve to die. At the same time, there is more of florid turn to his descriptions, again in the mold of the early Saint, as well as tapping into the Saint's ever ready wit. A bit of a novelty are the more risque sexual puns and inferences, which have never been as obvious before as in these stories.
All the stories have American settings, and it's worth noting that Simon Templar himself is almost fully Americanized at this point. He has adopted American slang in his dialog as well as in his narrative thinking. Funny this, because it has been occurring over most of Charteris's books in the 1950s. But when they were adapted for television in the Roger Moore series, the locations and the Saint became steadfastly British again. Why? In the postwar era Charteris had acquired American citizenship and set himself up in the US. His writing was also pitched to the larger American market. But when the TV series came along, first in the early 1960s but especially as it lasted to the end of the decade, things British were becoming fashionable for Americans. They wanted the ever more British Roger Moore and "exotic" locations in Britain and Europe rather than where these stories take place, Florida, Biloxi, San Francisco, and La Jolla.
All the stories have American settings, and it's worth noting that Simon Templar himself is almost fully Americanized at this point. He has adopted American slang in his dialog as well as in his narrative thinking. Funny this, because it has been occurring over most of Charteris's books in the 1950s. But when they were adapted for television in the Roger Moore series, the locations and the Saint became steadfastly British again. Why? In the postwar era Charteris had acquired American citizenship and set himself up in the US. His writing was also pitched to the larger American market. But when the TV series came along, first in the early 1960s but especially as it lasted to the end of the decade, things British were becoming fashionable for Americans. They wanted the ever more British Roger Moore and "exotic" locations in Britain and Europe rather than where these stories take place, Florida, Biloxi, San Francisco, and La Jolla.
September 13, 2018
The infallible Simon Templar takes on blackmailers and conmen in six paper-thin stories from the 1950s that don't have any danger, obstacles or conflict - he wins every time without a second of tension, everything always going effortlessly his way (sometimes ridiculously - one story has him driving down the coast on a fishing trip, and in the next scene he's flying a helicopter without even a cursory explanation). Charteris had been writing about the Saint for thirty years at this point and it shows, not just in lazy writing but in his use of the Saint as a mouthpiece for his own middle-aged concerns. 1950s' Simon Templar complains constantly about income tax (surprising from a guy who makes his living fleecing crooks), the ingratitude of colonized people (in an ugly diatribe about the "unsanitary savages" who were "brought down out of trees" and "taught to wash" (92)), and women who don't know their place ("I suppose it's too late to go back to the healthy custom of belting her in the mouth when she opens it out of turn" (105)). It's a sour little book.
January 26, 2020
Gem of a read
I remember the Roger Moore tv series fondly. I recall it as a James Bond lite and it did not prepare me for this collection. From the first story I was delightfully stunned by the writing. The character of The Saint is great but so is everything else. It’s not all plausible but as modern day (ish) swashbucklers go I’ve not read better.
The one caveat is “the water merchant” which contains stunning racism and sexism* in its text. I actually just skipped to the solution of the story because I was curious but didn’t want to encounter more vitriol.
*to be clear The Saint is a product of his time so sexism abounds in a mostly mild forms but the violence against women here was something else.
I remember the Roger Moore tv series fondly. I recall it as a James Bond lite and it did not prepare me for this collection. From the first story I was delightfully stunned by the writing. The character of The Saint is great but so is everything else. It’s not all plausible but as modern day (ish) swashbucklers go I’ve not read better.
The one caveat is “the water merchant” which contains stunning racism and sexism* in its text. I actually just skipped to the solution of the story because I was curious but didn’t want to encounter more vitriol.
*to be clear The Saint is a product of his time so sexism abounds in a mostly mild forms but the violence against women here was something else.
February 29, 2020
Rating 3
An average collection of short stories from the 1950's. none of the stories are particularly interesting or memorable and will probably fade from memory quite quickly.
the stories themselves seem to be leaning towards the old style saint stories where he targeted the ungodly and executed justice as decided by him, but stop short when moving in that direction and instead become a pale imitation of it.
An okay read but nothing special, so possibly one for the fan only.
An average collection of short stories from the 1950's. none of the stories are particularly interesting or memorable and will probably fade from memory quite quickly.
the stories themselves seem to be leaning towards the old style saint stories where he targeted the ungodly and executed justice as decided by him, but stop short when moving in that direction and instead become a pale imitation of it.
An okay read but nothing special, so possibly one for the fan only.
September 1, 2018
Six tales; set in San Francisco, Florida (twice), California (twice) and Mississippi.
As previously, although the plots have by now become rather formulaic, the details remain inventive.
3½ stars.
As previously, although the plots have by now become rather formulaic, the details remain inventive.
3½ stars.
January 19, 2021
Longest running series ever!
I grew up with The Saint TV series and remember when Mr. Charteris died. But I had no idea that his career lasted so long. It may not be quite OK these days to applaud his antics but these are great stories to challenge your imagination.
I grew up with The Saint TV series and remember when Mr. Charteris died. But I had no idea that his career lasted so long. It may not be quite OK these days to applaud his antics but these are great stories to challenge your imagination.
June 18, 2017
Not the best collection of stories featuring Simon Templar. Most are not particularly engaging and some are so reactionary, they make Ayn Rand look like a good auntie.
April 2, 2020
The chicken nugget of crime fiction.
April 26, 2020
Old favourites, I think I've got two dozen of them on the shelves for when I want some rollicking silliness
August 7, 2022
So disappointed. I think maybe if I had read one of the earlier ones maybe it would’ve been better.
December 29, 2007
read 11.07.85
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews