It’s impossible not to admire the sheer confidence and brio of this entry. Chateris takes the natural charm and exuberance of Simon Templar’s character and shines it outwards, so that the entire book is a sure footed exercise in unfettered and intrepid gusto. This is the indomitable hero to end all indomitable heroes. Right from the start we’re told that he can bounce big men down staircases and that he’s tougher than anyone else; but what’s more he’s cleverer than anyone else, wittier than anyone else, better mannered than anyone else and in the end obviously going to be more successful than everyone else. You’re right, that does sound like he’s completely insufferable, but because the third person narration is so wrapped up in the personality of The Saint, we find ourselves bowled along with the charm just as everyone in the narrative is overwhelmed by Templar’s charm. This is The Saint’s world and we just have to cling on as it whooshes by in a mix of thrills and snappy dialogue.The main flaw of this approach though is that in a book called ‘The Saint meets his Match’, he barely seems to meet his match at all. Okay, that’s a bit unfair as this novel has been released under many different titles; but it’s certainly true to say that Jill Trelawney goes from running a frightening criminal enterprise to being hapless peril monkey in next to no time. She’s frequently captured and tied up and seemingly in danger of being raped by every criminal she meets, and it’s only Templar’s skill and ingenuity that saves her from certain death. (Even the one time she tries to save him, she’s captured on the way). The problem is that because The Saint so dominates the narrative, there’s no room for any other character to develop, there’s no room for any heroics but his. And because the two of them are set up as equals – one The Saint; one the head of notorious criminal enterprise The Angels of Doom – it’s jarring that the narrative treats her as so subservient to him, but it has to be The Saint number one and every other character way back out of the medals. As such we’re told how dangerous Jill is, how ruthless she is, how clever and resourceful she is, yet we never actually see it. She is an ill drawn character in the spot where a rounded character should be. This narrative can’t let anyone else take the spotlight.If you squint hard enough you can see that this is three short stories jammed together and without a doubt it’s a flawed novel. But it starts out with such confident charm and charges on that way until the end, so that it’s impossible not to find yourself swept along with it.
Originally published on my blog here in November 1999.Returning to the full length novel, The Saint Meets His Match boasts, in addition to the usual qualities of a Saint story, one of the best final pages in any thriller. Its story is quite simple. Jill Trelawney is the (beautiful) daughter of an Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard who died a broken man after being disgraced for bribery. Believing him to have been framed, she sets out to embarrass the police by helping captured criminals to escape while trying to find out who was the real corrupt officer. Naturally, her activities soon interest the Saint.Generally speaking, I prefer the original titles to the new ones given to these early books after the Saint stories became successful in the USA. Nowadays, it would perhaps be described as "dumbing down", changing (almost) all the titles so that they contain the word "Saint". It's clearly done to remind people who are used to pulp fiction series with multiple authors or who cannot remember the author's name that each new book has the hero they enjoy at its centre. In this case, I don't like the original title (She Was a Lady) much, either; neither of them are really closely related to the content of the novel.
What do You think about Saint Meets His Match (1973)?
Not good by any standards and not comparable to the saint meets the tiger which was a great mystery-adventure novel with glowing romance and the prefect introduction of Patricia Holm whom I consider the best female lead in any novel .Simon Templar was the late britich response to Arsene Lupin and kinda ripoff if you know what I mean but I can't deny that I love his novels and episodes '' specially the ones portrayed by roger moore and ian ogilvy '' . some of charteris work '' such as meet the tiger '' is perfection and some '' like meet his match '' is just below average .still if you gonna compare Simon Templar to Asrene Lupin there is no comparison ,, Lupin wins !
—خالد أمين
The Saint Meets his Match (originally published in 1931 as She Was a Lady) is fairly typical of Leslie Charteris’s early Saint novels. In other words it’s a great deal of fun.Simon Templar gets mixed up with the Angels of Doom, a criminal gang whose activities are mostly concentrated on making the police look foolish. The gang is led by a beautiful, glamorous, ruthless and deadly young woman named Jill Trelawny. She has a major grudge against the police - her father as an Assistant Commissioner who was dismissed for corruption but she has always believed in his innocence.This time Simon Templar, one-time notorious criminal, is not just working with the police, He’s actually joined the police force. At least on a temporary basis. His old nemesis Chief Inspector Teal is not entirely convinced that The Saint is not still playing some underhand game of his own. And in fact Templar is soon involved far more closely with the leader of the Angels of Doom than is perhaps quite proper for a member of the Metropolitan Police. Chief Inspector Teal is both right and wrong about his old enemy’s motives, but he is right in his assumption that The Saint is not going to fit comfortably into his new job.Of course many things turn out not to have been what they seemed, and there are plenty of entertaining plot twists.The Saint of Charteris’s books is more morally ambiguous and more interesting than the various TV and movie versions of the character. The charm and the endless succession of witticisms are still there though. Templar is so heroic and so clever that he’s in danger of becoming annoying but that never happen. There’s enough self-mockery in the character to avoid that anger, and Charteris’s touch is light enough that we don’t really mind. And there’s an edge of ruthlessness and opportunism to the character that is missing from the TV and movie incarnations that nicely counter-balances his virtues.The tone of this novel is extremely playful, with Templar constantly drawing attention to his role as a story-book hero, and pointing out the ways in which his behaviour differs from what you’d expect from a hero of fiction.A polished and sophisticated crime thriller with a nicely tongue-in-cheek approach, not to be taken seriously but perfect escapist entertainment.
—Dfordoom
