Hector Hugh Munro (Saki), one of many British writers to die during World War I, is thought to have died before his writing attained its full potential. While he wrote short stories throughout his career, he eventually turned to writing novels and plays as well, seeking a genre with a larger scope than that of the short story, which, as he conceived it, was too limited to allow either for character development or for the sustained treatment of issues, particularly the issue of Britain's national survival. The single situation that engages attention through clever plot turns and witticisms in his short stories becomes in his novels one of a series whose variety allows for more extensive development of character and theme in the novels.

Hector Hugh Munro was born in Akyab, Burma, the third child of Charles Augustus Munro, a career officer in the British army, and Mary...