Sun 22 May 2011
Archived Review: LESLIE CHARTERIS – The Saint and the Templar Treasure.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[4] Comments
LESLIE CHARTERIS – The Saint and the Templar Treasure. Doubleday Crime Club, hardcover, 1979. UK edition: Hodder & Stoughton, hardcover, 1979. Developed by Graham Weaver from comic strips by Donne Avenelle.
It isn’t any secret, but let’s give credit where credit is due. Few if any of the adventures of Simon Templar that have appeared in recent years have actually been written by Leslie Charteris. The title page says this one was the collaborative effort of Donne Avenell and Graham Weaver [see above] but (as I understand it) under Charteris’s close, keen-eyed supervision.
The countryside in Treasure is authentically French, and the year is 1945, without a doubt a vintage one for Saintly activities. And just one sip will tell you that the flavor is unmistakably the heady one of Simon Templar’s younger days, filled to the brim with the sheer intoxicating joy of partaking in carefree adventure.
A vineyard is in trouble. It could hardly be coincidence that the chateau is also possessed of a curse handed down since the days of our hero’s Templar forebears, and take a hand in it he must.
Make no mistake about it, this is no whodunit in the traditional sense. Even if there were no word as “insouciant” to describe the Saint’s approach to detective work, the overwhelming need for its invention requires no further evidence than this.
May 27th, 2011 at 8:59 am
I’ve probably read a couple dozen SAINT novels. I started with the paperback series with Roger Moore on the covers when I was a kid. Then, over the years, various publishers would bring out some SAINT titles and I’d pick them up at library book sales. As you point out, the variety of authors makes the series uneven.
May 27th, 2011 at 10:18 am
You’re right that the series is uneven, George, in that you can never quite tell which way a particular Saint story is going to go, or perhaps even whether you’re going to like it or not.
But since Charteris kept such a strong hand in charge of the books, I think that helped maintain a considerable amount of uniformity between them, in terms of style. It also made sure that the Saint never did anything that was out of character for him.
On the other hand, in the same way that Ellery Queen the character changed rather noticeably over the years, so did the Saint, from his young dashing adventurer self to the older but still debonair nemesis of con men and other more sedate villains.
And as Art Scott has just pointed out in his review of THE BRIGHTER BUCCANEER, a similar difference can be seen in the novels the Saint was in, and his short story adventures.
There’s also a lack of continuity in the supporting players. Patricia Holm, at first an inseparable partner in love and in fighting crime together, gradually fades in and out of the picture before she essentially disappears altogether.
This bothered me a lot when like you I picked the books up as I came across them and read them all jumbled up and out of order.
May 27th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
If you contrast Charteris (and friends) in the SAINT series with any of John Creasey’s series, you’ll see a dramatic difference. Creasey maintained a consistency that few writers achieve. Like you, I prefer to read series books in order, but you can read any of Creasey’s Toff novels or the Baron novels randomly.
May 27th, 2011 at 7:07 pm
I certainly don’t disagree about the consistency of Creasey’s books, but all in all, I’m not sure that that’s an advantage they have over Charteris’s. Creasey’s thrillers are not all the same, of course, but after a while they start to feel that way. In my opinion!
But I don’t think I’m alone. Comparing the Toff to the Saint, which character do you think most people remember? Who’s had more TV series about him, more movies made, and in fact who’s having yet another movie made about him this year? The Saint, that’s who. His stories have more life to them, more thrills, more zest, more sense of adventure.
Spoken by someone (me) who’s also a longtime Creasey fan!