| Title | : | Saint V. Scotland Yard |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0340017309 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780340017302 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 192 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1932 |
Saint V. Scotland Yard Reviews
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I do not know how many of the younger generation are familiar with
Leslie Charteris's famous character The Saint: he belongs to an older generation, a generation which revered the "Gentleman Outlaw", the Robin Hood who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. Simon Templar, under the nome de plume "The Saint", terrorises the corrupt and criminalised rich and administers his own brand of vigilante justice in turn-of-the-century England. He is forever playing hide-and-seek with his arch-nemesis Chief Inspector Teal of Scotland Yard, and needless to say, winning.
The saint is young, handsome, suave, ruthless and quintessentially English. He does not lose his savoir faire even when faced with certain death. Understandably, Roger Moore played him a lot - and one feels that the actor brought a lot of "saintliness" into the character of James Bond!
Roger Moore as the Saint
The saint stories are fast-paced and amusing - and Charteris's language is a real treat. He is a fan of P. G. Wodehouse (the first and middle names of Teal - 'Claude' and 'Eustace' - seem to be a direct reference to the troublesome twin cousins of Bertie Wooster), and the painstaking sentence construction brimming over with understated humour is directly influenced by him. Charteris's English is not that of your run-of-the-mill thriller: reading his books will definitely improve one's command over the language. Yet they are very easy to read.
The book under review comprises three novellas, loosely connected together. This is a style Charteris employs very often. In it, Simon Templar along with his lady love Patricia Holm outwits three criminals, enriching himself and greatly distressing Mr. Teal. These novellas were nothing extraordinary (I've read better ones from the author), but they were perfect vacation reads. -
Not as good as other volumes in my opinion
My review of THE SAINT VERSUS SCOTLAND YARD maybe unfairly negative. I read it between THE SAINT AND MR TEAL and THE SAINT THE BRIGHTER BUCCANEER, in my opinion two of the best in The Saint series!
The three short pieces in this volume are loosely related. I found them a little disjointed and disappointing. All three were originally published in The Thriller magazine. The Inland Revenue as The Masked Menace, The Million Pound Day as Black Face and The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal as The Kidnapped Killer. The first book to collect them was titled THE HOLY TERROR and published in 1932. Somewhat confirming my opinion of this collection, it was not translated into other languages as quickly as other Saint books. -
As usual, I'll review each tale as I come to it.
The Inland Revenue
Flair, wit, charm, intelligence and dash: all the characteristics we’d expect wrapped up in one supremely saintly package. Here we have Charteris at the very apex of his game. The Saint embarks on the expose of a blackmailer, virtually a promenade in a public park for him, but then nail-biting suspense and risk are what we visit The Saint for. He is the true epitome of the indomitable hero. Not only do we know he’ll survive every single danger, there isn’t even the pretence that he won’t. Instead we come for the one-liners, the cunning cleverness and the gay – in a thoroughly 1920’s sense – thrills. Okay, this is a tale which requires for a few distinct moments of out of character stupidity from our Simon to ensure the plot progresses. But that’s fine. When a story crams in as much Saintly fun as is, one can forgive the odd contrivance and sleight of hand.
The Million Pound Day
Oh dear.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
In ‘The Million Pound Drop’ we really do run into the unpalatable side of 1930s, adventure fiction. Early in the story, Simon Templar runs into a large and muscular black man, wearing a loin cloth no less. He is a “magnificent brute man” with a “savage ruthlessness of purpose.” Simon “sensed the primeval lust of cruelty in the parting of his thick lips” and almost “seemed to smell the sickly stench of rotting jungles seeping its fetid breath into the clean cold air of that English dawn.”
So it’s plain old racism of the kind that might have looked acceptable in the 1930s, but will make the average reader of the 21st century physically recoil. (Actually there were probably contemporaneous readers who winced uncomfortably.) The rest of the story is the average run around where The Saint just happens to find himself in the right place at the right time for the adventure to begin, but the whole is blighted by that careless and unreconstructed (yet totally nonchalant) attitude. A product of its time, yes, but there’s a reason why some works of art get left in their time.
The Melancholy Journey of Mr Teal
After Simon himself, Claude Eustace Teal is by far the best developed character in this series of tales. Patricia Holm may be there again and again, but her actual role is nothing more than resourceful girl who is in love with Simon. The doughty, reliable Teal is the other fleshed out character on display, and such is the impression he’s made that when – in this tale of diamond theft, murder and an on the run American gangster – Simon is so absolutely beastly to him, the reader genuinely does feel a tug on the old heart strings.
Clearly across the course of these Saintly chronicles, Simon Templar represents anarchy, while Teal is staid and dutiful order. The Saint always wins, of course, but what’s truly interesting is that Teal always survives to fight another day. He is never truly beaten (even when, as here, Simon has ample chance to drum him out of the police force). Anarchy may be allowed to win the short term, but order will always hold firm. And if you think about it, this very polite form of anarchy – one that is never too much of a danger – has something incredibly English about it.
Following on from the other stories in this volume, we have Simon at his indomitable best (although again with another moment of stupidity to drive the plot forward) as well as a decidedly ill-judged moment of racism when a character disguises himself in blackface. Fortunately that is over with in a page and so is nowhere near as egregious or as offensive as ‘The Million Pound Day’. So what we have in the end result is a fairly charming yarn where the intertwined affection and distrust between our two lead characters does battle and affection wins out.
Balance is restored, anarchy lives for another day but order will always endure. -
I don't know why the Saint is so popular! He is a beastly, preening, and arrogant cad, with no depth of personality whatsoever! Of course crooks have an aura of daring and charm that an ordinary detective can't possibly have, but it's cheap and, frankly, implausible to try to have the best of both worlds by alleging that the character is a sort of Robin Hood. Raffles or Lupin are vastly superior, as far as thieves go...
Overall, though, the plots were fun, and the pacing good. -
This book consists of three novellas. The three should be read in sequence, as each refers to events in the previous.
The Inland Revenue
Simon Templar, The Saint, has a big income tax bill to pay (for income from his mystery book!). He is at a local club when blackmailer "The Scorpion" shakes down club owner Montgomery Bird. Simon intervenes and walks off with a blackmail payment as well the contents of the club's safe. This, of course, puts The Scorpion after Simon. Simon cooks up a deal with Chief Insepctor Claud Eustace Teal: If Simon delivers The Scorpion to Teal, Teal won't inquire where Simon came up with the money to pay the income tax. Simon makes use of an informer, Harold Garrot (Long Harry), to catch up with The Scorpion on a dark, deserted road. Simon's girlfriend, Patricia Holm, performs some gunplay to get the better of The Scorpion.
Mini-review: Two big surprises here. First, I never knew Simon wrote a murder mystery! Second, I never knew Patricia Holm to use a gun. Simon pens some outlandish poetry, which is a hoot in itself.
The Million Pound Day
Simon is returning from a trip in the early morning hours when he encounters a man running for his life, chased by a large Black man, Ngano. The man passes out, and Simon brings him to a hotel and arranges a doctor. Lacking his name, the Saint just refers to him as Beppo. When he awakes, he tells Simon he is the Duke of Fortezza, and president of the Bank of Italy. He had come to England to pick up the shipment of new Italian Lire notes. He had been adbucted by a criminal named Kuzela and forced to order an additional one million pounds worth from the printer, which would not make it back to Italy, but remain with Kuzela - genuine Lire notes, but "off the books". Simon finds Kuzela but winds up his captive, and fights hand-to-hand with Ngano.
Mini-review: A clever plot for the criminals to get an illicit haul of genuine notes, but marred by the unfortunate stereotyping of Ngano as a savage; emphasizing his race, size, and strength. He is even clothed in a loincloth for no apparent reason. Note the use of the n-word.
The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal
Frankie Hormer is a diamond smuggler working for Isadore Elberman, yet Frankie only lasts a page or two before being double-crossed and stabbed by Elberman's tough guy, Gunner Perrigo. Now Perrigo has the diamonds, and The Saint wants them in order to reach his financial goal prior to retirement. It appears Perrigo has them on his person, so the Saint takes him along until he can figure out where they are. The amusing climax occurs on the boat train as Perrigo attempts to flee to the continent, with Perrigo stashed in a prim lady's trunk.
Mini-review: This is the best of the three, although there are lingering racist remnants from the previous novella, as well as additional use of the n-word. The episode on the boat is quite funny and this alone makes it worth the read.
Please visit
The Mystillery Blog and try
The Mystillery Reading Challenges! -
I have such a crush on the Saint, and reading this book has made me want to watch the old 60s tv show. A collection of three novellas that sort of follow the Saint's escalation of the feud with Inspector Teal. (Only the first has the Scorpion). The saint is a sort of harlequin... very strong, sexy, and doesn't abide by society's rules, more than a dash of whimsy and puck-ish humor (and he speaks in verse occasionally).
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The Saint, a character who remained popular for decades and has been portrayed by everyone from George Sanders and Vincent Price to Roger Moore and Val Kilmer got his start in literature.
This is book is from 1932 and each story features the Saint working outside or even against Scotland Yard, near the start of the character's run and collects three short stories. "The Inland Revenue" sees Simon trying to shut down a blackmailer. "The Million Pound Day" pits the Saint against a ruthless gang of kidnappers who have a plan to force the printing of a million pounds in fake Italian currency. The final story, "The Melancholy Journey of Mr Teal" finds the Saint trying to steal a jewel thief's loot before he's caught by Scotland Yard.
Overall, the stories are decent for the period. They're much more adventures than they are mysteries. The cases are well-written and fun to read.
Those who know the Saint from golden age mediums like radio or the Sanders movies may not recognize much about this early version. While the Saint's billed as the "Robin Hood" of modern crime, the Saint robs from the rich but seems more self-centered. Of course, as this was the 1930s, many people resented the rich and believed the police were corrupt or incompetent, so there was some catharsis in his antics for the common man of the day.
The brilliance of Charteris is that despite the Saint's less than sterling conduct, he makes it really hard not to like him. The Robin Hood analogy seems inapt, but the Saint in this book is really reminiscent of a romantic pirate. The Saint is a swashbuckler who laughs in the face of danger and death, and writes poetry in perilous situations. He and his girlfriend Pat are addicted to danger and peril. This plus the fact that the Saint does have his limits. The Saint doesn't hurt innocent people. Indeed, the book works because whoever the Saint crosses, we have a sense that they somehow deserve it.
The only other negative to this book are some unfortunate racial language which may make the book less accessible to some readers. Overall though, this was a decent book featuring an early incarnation of the Saint. -
The Holy Terror (aka The Saint vs. Scotland Yard) is one my favourites of the books of (usually three) Saint “novelettes”, the other being
The Misfortunes of Mr. Teal.
In The Inland Revenue, Simon has to deal with equally implacable adversaries: a blackmailer known only as the Scorpion, and His Majesty’s Inspector of Taxes (“Not that there’s a great deal of difference. The same threatening letters, the same merciless bleeding of the honest toiler...”).
The Million Pound Day — which would have been around 1931, of course — would cost (to judge by the relative price of a pint of beer) at least a hundred million now, a sum certainly enough to prompt the associated shenanigans, in which the Saint rescues a man from torture and finds himself involved in a plot to swindle the Bank of Italy.
And The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal finds the Saint for once unable to talk his way out of trouble, and on the brink of being arrested — leading gracefully into the next book, one of the best of all Saint adventures, a romp through a Germany that was not yet quite Hitler’s.
Incidentally, those who have been clubbed to the ground by O-Level French (or whatever the equivalent is nowadays) may doubt that anyone — in addition to being able to box, throw knives and play the banjo — could really speak as many languages as the Saint does. But there are such people: Sir Richard Burton (the explorer, not the actor) apparently absorbed languages like blotting paper, being able to pass the brutal Civil Service translators’ exams after six months. Charteris himself was a polyglot, later writing a textbook on Spanish (which I would love to get hold of).
Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) reportedly spoke eighteen languages; but as to whether he could play the banjo, we are not informed. -
Another set of enjoyable tales in the Saint series that, while they do show themselves as somewhat products of the time in which they were written, are still solid progressions in the Saints evolution. I think its the adventure and unashamed near superhero qualities that continue to draw me towards the stories of the Saint. The good guys, while not necessarily lawful, are just and ethical, while the bad guys are definitively bad and deserving of what they receive. While the world has likely never been that simple, part of the point of fiction like this is to be able to highlight certain qualities without adding any of the confusions that can cloud the hero/villain dynamic.
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This was a fun read and if you're a Saint fan and haven't read this one yet, I highly recommend it!
This is a series of novellas that include Simon's girlfriend Patricia Holm and although the title is versus Scotland Yard, it's really vs. Inspector Claud Eustace Teal.
During the first "The Inland Revenue", Simon is currently in good standing with Teal, apparently he has been "pardoned" for past crimes for some serve rendered. And he has "retired" and written a novel. Unfortunately, the Inland Revenue (I.R.S.) wants their "fair share" of his income from it. Simon considers this unfair and determines some ne'er-do-well will pay for him. Meanwhile, there is a blackmail scheme in play and two men have committed suicide rather than pay. Simon makes an agreement with Teal that he'll find the blackmailer and make him pay up and then turn him over to Teal, and so the adventure is on.
In the second, "The Million Pound Day" Simon takes on the role, literally, of the good Samaritan. Unfortunately, Simon is seen by a policeman when he picks up the wounded man. And Simon being Simon, he doesn't stop to explain and Teal being Teal believes the worst. And so the adventure begins.
In the final story, "The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal", Teal is determined to arrest Simon. Simon has decided he is shy of funds to "retire" again and is determined to remedy that situation. He has taken steps to prevent Teal from arresting him when he accomplishes his goal, because of course he will. There is a murderer new in town, with diamonds galore. So, as far as Simon is concerned, the perpetrator is more than fair game. -
Re-reading this after a gap of over 20 years, and loved it (almost) as much as ever. Charteris's witty prose is sheer joy and the stories are light-hearted pulp with more than enough jeopardy and action to keep you turning the pages, and the book hasn't dated as much as I'd have expected with something written in the 1930s. However, there's not much character development or genuine emotion behind the flippancy, and the second story has some unpleasant undertones that I didn't pick up on when I first read the book. Still a great example of comedie-noir, though, and worth reading for the amusing descriptions alone. "...the well-peeled eye might at intervals have observed a cadaverous and lantern-jawed individual protruding about six and a half feet upwards from the cobbled paving..." I love it!
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I watched the 60s TV series of "The Saint" which inspired me to read one of the original books.
And I'm glad I did, as I loved it :)
The Saint has just the type of character which I just love in books (and generally as well).
He's got me from page 1.
Also, it was just so fun to read.
Thrilling and hilarious together with some lovely language and writing style.
I'm definitely going to read more of Simon Templar's adventures soon :) -
First published in 1932, 'The Saint v. Scotland Yard' has also been published under the title 'The Holy Terror'. The book consists of three novellas, all fast paced and full of humour of the time although the second of the novellas is heavily laced with racism. Like most of the early Saint stories, Simon Templar has a strange knife fetish - he calls his favourite throwing knife 'Belle' - and can be surprisingly vicious from time to time. Enjoyable.
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Este livro é constituído por três estórias, que se sucedem num curto espaço de tempo.
Os protagonistas são os do costume: Simon Templar, Patricia Holm e o inspector Teal.
Escrito em 1932, é escrito de uma forma escorreita, com pitadas de ironia, como é hábito em Leslie Charteris.
Lê-se com bastante prazer e com um sorriso nos lábios.
A capa é de Lima de Freitas, e está tudo dito. -
I love the early Saint stories by Leslie Charteris and this re-read was certainly up to par. Really enjoyable stories and the descriptions of both The Saint and Claude Eustace Teal are brilliantly done.
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Originally published on my blog
here in December 1999.
By mid 1932, Charteris must have been tired; and The Saint Versus Scotland Yard (aka The Holy Terror) was only in the middle of an amazing burst of work which produced most of the early Saint stories in just a couple of years. The strain shows here, slightly, in the way that some of the originality of earlier stories is missing. While he cannot be said to be just going through the motions, there is little in the three stories in this book that is not standard and by this time well established in the Saintly canon.
The first story, The Inland Revenue, sees Simon Templar pursuing a blackmailer known as 'the Scorpion' for a contribution towards his income tax bill; The Million Pound Day concerns Simon's rescue of an Italian diplomat and subsequent foiling of a plot to destabilise the Italian economy; finally, The Melancholy Journey of Mr Teal is a race between Chief Inspector Teal and the Saint to find some stolen diamonds.
The middle story is one of my favourites of all the Saint stories. Though it contains no new elements, it is an expertly put together, typical Saint story. It could be cited as a paradigm of the early Saint. The most interesting aspect of any of these stories, however, occurs in The Melancholy Journey of Mr Teal when Simon carries his "favourite sport" of baiting Teal a little too far. He miscalculates to the extent that his expected triumph is no triumph at all, and this makes him a more human character. -
This time we get three longer stories, rather than the fifteen shorter ones of
The Brighter Buccaneer, and they're not quite as lighthearted (they actually get quite dark at times), but I enjoyed them just as much.
“The Inland Revenue” sees Templar unable to persuade the tax authorities that he should be classed as a tax-free one-man charitable endeavour, and thus needs to find a kindly soul to pay his tax bill for him (well, he's not going to pay it himself!) “The Million Pound Day” (to me the weakest of the three, and significantly more dated than the others) has him embroiled in a plot to defraud the Italian mint. The closing story, “The Melancholy Journey of Mr Teal” is ostensibly about diamond smuggling, but those details are largely irrelevant, as it's largely just a set-up for a classic cat'n'mouse chase with Inspector Teal. “The Inland Revenue” is probably the strongest as a standalone story, but “The Melancholy Journey” is an excellent contributor to the ongoing tale.
Charteris' trademark style comes out in force as usual: “A tinge of old beetroot suffused Mr Teal’s rubicund complexion. To say that his goat was completely and omnipotently got conveys nothing at all. In the last ten minutes his goat had been utterly annihilated, and the remains spirited away to the exact point in space where (so Einstein says) eternity changes its socks and starts back on the return journey. He was as comprehensively de-goated as a man can be”, but it's in small enough doses to be pleasant, rather than overpowering. -
I enjoyed this collection a lot but I definitely prefer the later Charteris Saint stories - his prose calms down in the later years and the action is a little more gritty and (realistically) witty.
The plots in these early short stories are a bit jumpy and the dialog very dated (I couldn't work out whether The Saint reminded me of Raffles, Wooster or Bond in character until I realized that he's reminiscent of all three!) Some of Simon's jokes and revelations come off as corny to the modern ear.
These tales were obviously written for a different audience and so too much criticism of voice and character is unfair but, that being said, they are still highly entertaining stories and rewarding for the Saint back story they provide. So I give them three stars for entertainment. -
I checked The Saint out because I remember the TV series. I did not finish this book as much as I tried. It just was not worth it. It is actually two stories (maybe all the Saint books are ??) and they do not seem to be chronological. In fact it seemed as the Saint had made an unsettling personality change from one to the next. The prose and setting are just too old fashioned, and the stories didn't have enough substance to carry me through.
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Three tales of daring do starring our old friend Simon Templar. This was a fun read in an afternoon. For me, the best part of this book was the building and renovating of what will turn into the Saint's home and hide out. I remembered it from books I had read years ago, and had wondered when it would come into play.
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Highly enjoyable.
Greatly enjoyed the love hate relationship of the two long-standing frienimies, Simon Templeton and Claude Eustace Teal. Also the teasingly serious romantic play between Simon and Patricia.
