Alias the Saint

Three more stories from the early days of the Saint. "The Story of a Dead Man" finds him turning businessman for very unorthodox reasons. "The Impossible Crime" is, among other things, the author's offering in that favourite genre of detective fiction, the Locked Room Murder Mystery. In "The National Debt", in the identity of Professor Rameses Smith-Smyth-Smythe (!), he takes on some 20th century pirates operating from an inn in South Wales. For those interested in such trivia, this story features the first appearance of Basher Tope, later to materialise in The Holy Terror and finally in Once More the Saint. P.S. For a list of -- and discussion of -- all Charteris's Saint books, see my So You'd Like To... Guide.

This book contains two stories; "The National Debt": The adventure of Professor Rameses Smith (alias the Saint) at Beacon Inn, South Wales. "The Man Who Could Not Die": Miles Hallin was reputed as an immortal man, but the Saint smelled a rat.If it is your first Saint book, I recommend you to read the latter story first. The former story is enjoyable, but you will not see what the Saint is; you might misunderstand him as a private detective or so. The latter story is more "Saintly"; the Saint smells out the evil and tries to get rid of it - illegally. Both stories are enjoyable, but their plots are crude. As always in the Saint novels?