The novellas of Trader to the Stars are united by the character Nicholas Van Rijn and by the theme of opening up frontiers. Otherwise, they are notably different from one another. "Hiding Place" is a mystery; "Territory" is a tale of frontier adventure, with the tomahawk-wielding t'Kelans taking the place of American Indians; and "The Master Key" is told in the first person by an acquaintance of Van Rijn, whereas the others are third-person narratives. This last novella has Van Rijn making sense out of a report by employees of a disastrous trading mission.

Although "Hiding Place" follows the pattern of a mystery story, Anderson takes full advantage of its science-fiction setting. Van Rijn is confronted with the problem of a spaceship without a crew. The craft carries several encaged alien species in its hold, none of which is familiar to him. Van Rijn concludes that the crew...