Alexander "Chimp" Twist, unsuccessful crook, alias private investigator J. Sheringham Adair (Tilbury Detective Agency) with an office opposite Lord Tilbury's in Sam the Sudden. In Money For Nothing he is Dr. Alexander Twist, proprietor of Healthward Ho, Worcestershire, dedicated to the reconditioning of overfed gentry. Again posing as J. Sheringham Adair and head-quartered at the Halsey Buildings, Mayfair, in Money in the Bank, Ice in the Bedroom, and in Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin, where Grayce Llewellyn hires him to look after her pearls and Pop Llewellyn's diet. A small, weedy man with a waxed moustache and the face of an untrustworthy monkey. Formerly a Chicagoan, now frequently associated with Soapy and Dolly Molloy in schemes which involve burglary and end unprofitably for all three.

• Sam the Sudden
• Money For Nothing
• Money in the Bank
• Ice in the Bedroom
• Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin