The trouble with aliens

"Who's the best human envoy to deal with aliens who can read minds and learn anything their opponents know - the man who knows little or nothing, of course, including why he was sent there." "A private investigator quickly and brilliantly solves a baffling case - then wakes up and finds it was only a dream and the case is still unsolved. And the same thing happens again every night. These and other stories of human/alien conflict fill this large volume by the master of wryly sardonic science fiction adventure."--BOOK JACKET.