The Misplaced Battleship

About the book

Slippery Jim diGriz is learning the routines of the Special Corps when a discrepancy in the records suggests that someone is secretly building a battleship of an obsolete but devastating class. The assignment calls for the skills that once made him a successful criminal: reading dishonest intentions, exploiting appearances, and entering places where he is not expected. Following the ship's construction and disappearance draws him toward adversaries whose ingenuity challenges his own. Harrison tells the story through Jim's confident, irreverent voice, turning interstellar policing into a contest of tricks rather than simple force. This is the shorter magazine story, not the later full Stainless Steel Rat novel that incorporates a version of its material.

• Criminal ingenuity
• Deception
• Power and restraint

Why read it

Read it for a brisk contest between inventive criminals and an investigator who understands their methods unusually well.

English magazine story