Alfred Baum is an agent with the French DST.
The Direction de la Securite du Territoire (DST), being France's equivilent of the FBI and MI-5, is tasked with stopping foreign acts of espionage, terror, and other activities harmful to the security of the nation. One of their best agents is Alfred Baum but his methods are so low-keyed at times that he is often overlooked by his superiors. When this near-sightedness extends to the people Baum is after, however, that myopia tends to be fatal.
Baum is most decidedly French but all four of his recorded cases has him working closely with agents from either Britain or Israel. In the case of the second adventure, Flittermouse, the main character is a British agent and Baum is just along for the ride for most of the story though his role is crutial in the end. Working as he does quite often with the British, Baum regrets on occasion that his command of English is not what he would like it to be but in the four recorded adventures that has not ever been a real problem.
For someone with such an organized, logical mind as Baum, the self he shows the world is that of an often crumpled suit with ash invariably dropping onto it from a cigarette he usually has dangling from his lips. Well into his middle age, Baum is very happily married and would be content in general if the troubles at work did not pull him from his peaceful home. He has no desire for action or adventure and while he finds the mental challenges of his assignments interesting, the emotional toll they take usually sends him to the antacid container. His wife is a very forgiving person when it comes to the sudden departures he often has to make, content to stay at home with her knitting and her small circle of friends. He, too, would prefer to remain at home where he is an important part of the Versaille Cat Club but the duties of being one of the senior DST agents do not give him that luxury.