Category: Literature

The bus was just about to leave, amid rumbles and sudden hiccups and rattles. The square was silent in the grey of dawn; wisps of cloud swirled round the belfry of the church. The only sound, apart from the rumbling of the bus, was a voice, wheedling, ironic, of a fritter-seller; fritters, hot fritters. The… Continue reading Chapter One

“I suppose I’ll have to write a report on this,” the PRO said half-heartedly over bacon and eggs next morning.

”British officers’ messes in Korea were generous to a fault with afterdinner brandy.

“Preface to the Second Edition. Much to the author’s surprise, and (if he may say so without additional offence) considerably to his amusement, he finds that his sketch of official life, introductory to The Scarlet Letter, has created an unprecedented excitement in the respectable community immediately around him. It could hardly have been more violent,… Continue reading The Scarlet Letter

Meet the Tiger (1928) is the first book Leslie Charteris wrote about Simon Templar, aka The Saint. I have the lot on a top shelf and sometimes read one.