book, She Was a Lady. The National Debt - Templar assumes the identity of Professor Ramses Smith in order to investigate a group of modern-day pirates based in South Wales who kidnapped a beautiful young chemist after doping her with a mind-altering drug that turned her (briefly) into a mindless killer. Publication history The three stories were previously published in Thriller magazine: "The Story of a Dead Man" - 2 March 1929 (the version in Alias the Saint is a revised/rewritten draft) "The Impossible Crime" - 7 March 1931 (as "Bumped Off") "The National Debt" - 6 April 1929 (the version in Alias the Saint is a revised/rewritten draft) Television adaptation Two of the stories in this collection were adapted as episodes of the third season of The Saint. "The Impossible Crime" was retitled "The Contract" and first aired on 7 January 1965. "The National Debt" was retitled "The Crime of the Century" and first aired on 4 March 1965. References 1931 short story collections Simon Templar books Short story collections by Leslie Charteris Hodder & Stoughton books