'Adolescent', of course, is not literally accurate in Simon's case. However, I can't deny writing it, its existence is a historical fact, and I suppose that anyone who is interested enough in backtracking into Simon Templar's and my own adolescent beginnings has a right to access to the awful truths. In extenuation, it was only the third book I'd written, and the best I would say for it is that the first two were even worse.
Looking at it now, with absolute objectivity, I can see so much wrong with it that I am humbly astonished that it got published at all. Personally I would have been very happy to leave it quietly in limbo: I was still under 21 when I wrote it, more than fifty years ago, and I am no more anxious to parade it than any other youthful indiscretion. It has been out of print for more years than I can guess at, and with no complaints from me. This reprint will probably bring great joy to a number of Saint fans who have been trying for some decades to get a glimpse of the very first volume of the Saga, a book which was never expected at the time to launch a series.
Leslie Charteris The Saint Meets the Tiger
