Enter the Saint is the first short story collection featuring Simon Templar after he appeared in the novel Meet the Tiger.
The book collects three stories:
“The Man Who Was Clever” sees the Saint trying to take down a drug smuggler and blackmailer. It’s a good crime-busting yarn that allows the Saint to show his pure unadulterated nerve and ability to bait a trap.
“The Policeman with Wings” has the Saint investigating the curious case of a wealthy man who disappeared from his house after being escorted away by a mysterious policeman. This leads an elaborate and somewhat high-handed set up to uncover the true motives of the kidnappers and prevent them from harming the kidnapped man’s niece and heir.
Finally, there’s “The Lawless Lady” which finds the Saint in the background as one of his men. Dicky Tremaine goes undercover with a gang planning a big jewel heist at sea, and finds himself falling for female leader of the gang. Meanwhile, another member appears to be playing to eliminate him. The Saint does make his presence known at the end, but this is an unusual story to say the least.
The stories this book are enjoyable crime tales for the most part. It’s clear that Leslie Charteris is still developing the nature of the Saint. However, this book features most of what makes the Saint work. You have dashing escapes, the Saint’s absolute audacity and laughing in the face of danger, and you have three good rogues who are worthy adversaries. The third story is a little strange, but it’s still entertaining.
Probably, the book’s biggest shortcoming is giving the Saint an entire organization of agents in support of him. I can see why this was done. Other popular literary figures of the era such as Doc Savage, the Shadow, and Nick Carter had their men to support him. Besides that it supported Charteris’s attempt to brand the Saint the Robin Hood of Modern Crime. After all, what’s Robin Hood without his merry men?
Yet, the Saint is really best when working with one assistant or two at most. In effect, in most of these stories, that’s what he’s doing. We really don’t get to focus on the Saint’s band, and eventually, they’d be discarded as surplus.
If you enjoy some good crime stories from the Golden Age of fiction, you could do far worse than this book. Despite its flaws, the book showcases the talent and style that would make Leslie Charteris a literary fixture for decades to come.
Rating: 3.75 out of 5
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Chester Morris (1901-70): Chester Morris began his career on Broadway playing alongside the great Lionel Barrymore at age 15, and made his film debut in 1929 in Alibi and was nominated for an Oscar. His career faltered in the late 1930s, but he enjoyed renewed popularity as the Boston Blackie film series. After the Boston Blackie film series ended 1948, the remaining two decades of Morris’ life and career were spent on Television and stage productions.
Richard Kollmar (1910-71): A Broadway actor and producer, Kollmar was the long-time husband of newspaper columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, with whom he hosted a daily talk show for eighteen years, “Breakfast with Dorothy and Dick.” Kollmar was also the host of the game show, “Guest What.” Kollmar also operated a supper club in New York called, “The Left Bank,” until 1965.