Just lately, in an effort to clear some of my back-log, I have been reading four books at once!
Yes; weird, I know (but really a chapter of one, then a chapter of another ...
etc., etc.); but I find that it keeps things interesting late at night.
The first one finished off at the latest session was (being a slender tome):- "The Saint Steps In" (1944) by (of course) Leslie Charteris. The narrative was set at that time, too; that is, WWII was still underway, and it influences events in the story.
This was the first Saint story I have read in something like fifty years. This one finds the Saint in Washington D.C. (for reasons that are never explained). But to be honest I found some of the prose a bit irritating. For example:-
"He lighted another cigarette"* - OK,
lighted is grammatically correct, but I would have used
lit myself (keeping the clumsy
lighted back as an adjective, if at all).
Actually both
lighted and
lit are the past tense and past participle of the verb
light. So I guess you can just choose one or the other, and then stick with it throughout. Back in the mid '40's Charteris (or his editor) obviously chose
lighted!
But, more to the point, I still haven't worked out what the Saint is actually supposed to be (and be doing). In the book he doesn't come across as the suave Roger Moore -type character from the once popular TV series. In the book Simon Templar is far darker; almost like good old Bulldog Drummond!
I may have to look out for another Saint story, and have another go at getting my head around the character.
*
And he certainly got through a fair few packets!
