Harry Harrison: The Stainless Steel Rat
The start of the Stainless Steel Rat's escapades

This is the story that inspired and kicked off the Stainless Steel Rat series of stories and novels by Harry Harrison. A slippery con man and thief, frustrating every police force on every planet for years, he finally meets a worthy adversary in the Special Corps. Slippery Jim deGriz, the Stainless Steel Rat himself, goes on to have many adventures but this is the first...and the last in a way. After this, his cunning and crooked mind is put to the bigger task of saving the universe from itself. Which he does with zest, self interest and sense of fun that describe the Stainless Steel Rat.