Scottish-born author and playwright Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM (9 May 1860 – 19 June 1937) first established himself in the public eye as a writer of children’s books and humorous plays. He is best remembered for creating Peter Pan, the boy who refused to grow up, whom he based on his friends, the Llewelyn Davies boys. According to historians of Barrie’s life and work, „Better Dead” is one of his earliest pieces, it is a novel about the challenges of finding ones place in the world. It combines sly humor with a compelling plot with elements of mystery and romance. The main character Andrew is a young Scotsman who heads to London after university because the job prospects are so poor back home. He finds himself as a probationary member of a secret society which engages in the murder of those in society it deems would be, as the title suggests, „Better Dead”.