SEND FOR THE SAINT

Two more pseudo-Saint novellas adapted (not by Charteris) from TV scripts (not by Charteris). Ah well, Charteris was never exactly Henry James anyway, and Peter Bloxsom does a smooth enough job of paragraphing out ""The Midas Double""--wherein Simon Templar is hired by an Onassis-like tycoon to find out who's impersonating him (and then hired by the impersonator to do the very same thing vice versa)--and ""The Pawn Gambit,"" which finds Simon atypically working for British Intelligence, infiltrating an arms-dealing mob called ""The Squad."" The Saint's witty impassiveness under pressure is the only saving grace of the former; the latter is surprisingly somber, heavy on the action and The-Saint-as-Rebel. Undistinguished--better swallowed via the Tube--but never unpalatable.