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'.