Count on the Saint

The Saint, Book 49

By: Leslie Charteris

Narrated by: John Telfer

Two more adventures for the Saint: in The Pastor's Problem, Simon tries to help his penniless friend, Father Bernardo, by stealing an invaluable silver chalice, only to discover some real crooks. And in The Unsaintly Santa, even Cambridge University professors have to call on the Saint when a series of cold-blooded murders reveal a vicious campus plot.

©1980 Leslie Charteris (P)2016 Audible, Ltd

The Saint saves the day

I have been enjoying the Saint books for light but interesting entertainment. Simon Templar is on the side of right but often gets there by means that may not endear him to the police. Count on the Saint comes up to par with the usual intriguing suspense as Simon solves the mystery and ensures that the evil doer is punished. I do wish that these stories would include the love of his life — Patricia Holme. She is bright enough to be a real asset in his quest and offers a slight twist to the story. Thank goodness there are so many Saint books. They should keep me busy for a while.

Two Saintly Adventures

I have loved the character Simon Templar, aka The Saint, for a long time. The first novel was written around 1921, and continued into the 1960's with a few new publications sprinkles in through the 1970-1980.

The character evolves through the times he dwelled in and yet remained true to himself.

In this book are two shorter adventures.

The Pastor's Problem:

A friend of Simon's, Father Bernardo, tells Simon of the troubles his church has been having. St. Jude's survives on donations, to do its work in reaching out to the impoverished local community. Donations have stopped coming in.
Simon decides to help his friend in his own way. By stealing a valuable, uninsured, church artifact. He plans to sell it to a fence and bring the proceeds back to the church.....except as Saint makes his getaway from his burglary, someone attacks him and snatches the time for themselves. Now Saint has to solve the robbery he put in motion himself. Lamenting that it would have been so much simpler if he had just written a check.

The Unsaintly Santa:

The Master of St. Enoch's college has been murdered. Simon was taking an evening walk when he noticed a strange person dressed on red and behaving oddly. What Simon witnessed was the killer making his escape. Soon other men end up being killed and each time there is a person dressed as a Santa seen leaving the area. Simon looks into it because he was nearby for the first and second murders...and really, Saint doesn't need more of an invitation than that to begin one of his adventures.