The third volume of Somerset Maugham's Collected Short Stories, introduced by
the author, contains the celebrated series about Ashenden, a secret service
agent in World War I. Based on Maugham's own experiences with the British
Intelligence service in Switzerland, the stories are vignettes in which he
dramatises both the romance and absurdity of espionage as well as its
ruthlessness and brutality. Accountable only to 'R', Ashenden travels all over
the Continent on assignments which entangle him with such characters as the
traitor Grantley Caypor, the passionate Guilia Lazzari, and the sinister
'hairless Mexican'.