Re: RI February 2025

In article <1023shv$3qjbm$1@dont-email.me>,
Robert Carnegie  <rja.carnegie@gmail.com> wrote:

A very belated note on your review of
_Meet the Tiger_ by Lesie Charteris:
the character Patricia Holm is not
"erstwhile".
>
As confirmed here, and as readers of the
series have a fair chance to pick up -
<https://saint.fandom.com/wiki/Patricia_Holm>
it's her first appearance, aged 20, she falls
in love with Simon Templar here, and in sequels
is seen having adventures with him, scandalously
cohabiting without marriage - she dismisses
marriage - being abducted by villains, being
entirely absent but fondly thought of by
Simon Templar while he is entangled with other
women, or not thought of at all - not as a
gradual progression, but at random from one book
to the next.  When she's present and aware that
Simon is seeing another woman, it doesn't seem
to upset her.  She sounds like rather a
wish-fulfilling fantasy woman.  Particularly
where spoiling their beautiful relationship by
getting married is her line apparently and not his.

My memory is that she gradually faded out in the 40s.
BTW, Charteris's daughter was also named Patricia.

I would also note that several of The Saint's forays
into SF/Fantasy are collected in _The Fantastic Saint_

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?39594

which should probably include _The Last Hero_, except
that was a novel.
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