Featuring the Saint

The Saint, Book 5

By: Leslie Charteris

Narrated by: John Telfer

The Saint is back –- 50 audiobooks are now available starring the debonair classic crime hero. Simon Templar is the Saint - daring, dazzling, and just a little disreputable. On the side of the law, but standing outside it, he dispenses his own brand of justice one criminal at a time.

These three stories find the Saint flushing out swindlers in inimitable style. In "The Logical Adventure" Templar is on the tail of a famous aviator who has a sideline in drug smuggling and human trafficking. In "The Wonderful War" the Saint travels to the Central American republic of Pasala to avenge the murder of an oil inspector, which involves instigating revolution. Finally, in "The Man Who Could Not Die", the Saint encounters adrenaline junkie Miles Hallin. Hallin claims to be able to cheat death but when one of Templar's friends is killed, the Saint decides to put that to the test.

Leslie Charteris was born in Singapore and moved to England in 1919. He left Cambridge University early when his first novel was accepted for publication. He wrote novels about the Saint throughout his life, becoming one of the 20th century's most prolific and popular authors.

©1931 Leslie Charteris (P)2014 Audible Studios

Three Stories, Two Winners

I continue to want to like the Saint series. Partly because I love vintage thrillers, mostly because I’ve run out of Richard Hannay and Bulldog Drummond yarns. Unfortunately, I also prefer – for the sake of character development and to better understand the evolution of an author’s style – to go through a series in chronological order.

Consequently, four installments into the Saint series, I’m still listening to books written when, as Leslie Charteris freely admitted later, his style was jejune and the Saint somewhat insufferable. Still, with those admittedly serious handicaps, I think things are getting better.

Without any spoiler alerts, I’ll just say the first story has a denouement that is not, unless I’m missing something, prepared for adequately. But the second and third tales are really, really, fun. Yes, it does look like things are getting better. What remains constant here is John Telfer’s superb performance.