Vendetta for the Saint

Vendetta for the Saint is the 1965 Harry Harrison Saint novel ghost-written for Leslie Charteris, and it is the kind of mid-60s continuation thriller the form was producing in volume. Simon Templar, the Saint of the long Charteris series, is investigating a Sicilian Mafia operation that has been targeting his friends, and the case takes him through Naples, Palermo, and a series of escalating set pieces in the recognizable Saint mode.

Harrison's ghost work here is mostly invisible. The Vendetta for the Saint prose carries the Charteris-Saint voice, with the wisecracking Templar interior monologue and the cosmopolitan Continental geography the long series had specialized in. Fans of the original Saint short stories will recognize the rhythm.

The Mafia material has aged unevenly. The book's view of Sicilian organized crime is the postwar pulp version, and the period assumptions show. The action sequences in the back third are well-staged.

Three stars. A reliable Saint continuation novel for completists. Readers who enjoyed Charteris's original stories will find a respectable extension of the form here. The Vendetta for the Saint Harry Harrison entry is not the right starting point for either author; the original Saint short story collections (Enter the Saint, The Saint vs. Scotland Yard) are the proper introduction to the series.