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Adventurer Richard Hannay has just returned from South Africa and is thoroughly bored with his London life - until a murder is committed in his flat, just days after the victim had warned him of an assassination plot that could bring Britain to the brink of war. An obvious suspect for the police and an easy target for the killers, Hannay goes on the run in his native Scotland, where he must use all his wits to stay one step ahead of the game - and warn the government before it is too late. One of the most popular adventure stories ever written, "The Thirty-Nine Steps" established John Buchan as the original thriller writer and inspired many other novelists and filmmakers including Alfred Hitchcock.

He told me some queer things that explained a lot that had puzzled me - things that happened in the Balkan War, how one state suddenly came out on top, why alliances were made and broken, why certain men disappeared, and where the sinews of war came from.

With an Introduction by Stella Rimington.
May 1914. Britain is on the eve of war with Germany. Richard Hannay is living a quiet life in London, but after a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger he stumbles into a hair-raising adventure -- a desperate hunt across the country and against the clock, pursued by the police and a cunning, ruthless enemy. Hannay's life and the security of Britain are in grave peril, and everything rests on the solution to a baffling enigma: what are the thirty-nine steps?

Book Description
The Wordsworth Classics covers a huge list of beloved works of literature in English and translations. This growing series is rigorously updated, with scholarly introductions and notes added to new titles.
John Buchan's most famous and dramatic novel presents spy-catcher Richard Hannay. Hannay is in London when he suddenly finds himself caught up in a dangerous situation and the main suspect for a murder committed in his own flat. He is forced to go on the run to his native Scotland. AUTHBIO: John Buchan, Baron Tweedsmuir, was a Scottish diplomat, barrister, journalist, historian, poet and novelist. He wrote adventure novels, short-story collections and biographies. His passion for the Scottish countryside is reflected in much of his writing. Buchan's adventure stories are high in romance and are peopled by a large cast of characters. Richard Hannay, Dickson McCunn and Sir Edward Leithen are three that reappear several times. Alfred Hitchcock adapted his most famous book The Thirty-Nine Steps for screen.
When Richard Hannay returns from a long stay in Africa, he becomes caught up in a sensational plot to precipitate a pan-European war. After a corpse is found in his flat, Hannay flees the attentions of both the conspirators and the law, and a manhunt ensues.
Book Dimension :
length: (cm)19.8 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)12.6

This spy story of 1915 by John Buchan (1875-1940) is an archetype of the genre, but may be better known today through its film and television versions (especially that of Alfred Hitchcock in 1935). Curiously, although all keep the theme of German espionage which will trigger a world war, none of them sticks at all closely to Buchan's original plot. This is the first of five novels in which Richard Hannay, formerly a mining engineer in colonial Africa, now a patriotic gentleman of leisure, finds himself pitted against the enemies of the British Empire. Although the book is an exciting, if occasionally implausible, adventure story, it may be marred for a modern readership by the racism and anti-Semitism it expresses, though this was not exceptional for the period. The writing is also noticeable, however, for lyrical descriptions of the Scottish border country in which Buchan himself grew up.

<p>Published in 1915, <i>The Thirty-Nine Steps</i> is a thriller set in Britain on the eve of the First World War.</p>
<p>The novel’s protagonist, Richard Hannay, is an expatriate Scot who has just returned to London after many years in South Africa working in the mining industry. He finds England extremely dull and is just considering returning to South Africa when he is accosted by another inhabitant of the block of flats where he is living.</p>
<p>This man, Scudder, tells Hannay he knows of a fantastical plot by England’s enemies to create a diplomatic scandal. Hannay, at first skeptical, eventually accepts that there is something in it and harbours Scudder in his own flat. Returning to his flat some days later, Hannay is horrified to find Scudder stabbed to death. Realising that he will be suspected by the police, and that he may also be in danger from the plotters, Hannay flees London.</p>
<p>What follows is an exciting chase across Scotland, with Hannay frequently coming close to capture.</p>
<p><i>The Thirty-Nine Steps</i> was immediately popular, particularly with troops in the trenches of the First World War. It has remained popular and has been used as the basis for several movies including one directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1935. It could also be seen as the prototype of several similarly-themed movies and television shows such as <i>The Fugitive</i>.</p>
<p><a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/john-buchan">John Buchan</a> continued the adventures of Richard Hannay in a series of sequels. He also had a highly distinguished government and diplomatic career, ultimately becoming Governor General of Canada.</p>

<p><i>Greenmantle</i> is the second of <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/john-buchan">John Buchan’s</a> novels to feature Richard Hannay, a Scottish intelligence office in the British army, and as such is the sequel to <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/john-buchan/the-thirty-nine-steps"><i>The Thirty-Nine Steps</i></a>.</p>
<p>The book gives the account of Hannay and his associate’s separate journeys through war-torn Europe to Constantinople to thwart an uprising that is poised to throw the Middle East, India, and North Africa into disarray, changing the course of the war.</p>
<p>The book was popular when first published and although it has never been made into a film, the director Alfred Hitchcock was said to prefer <i>Greenmantle</i> to <i>The Thirty-Nine Steps</i>, and considered filming it on several occasions.</p>

<p>Published in 1919, <i><abbr>Mr.</abbr> Standfast</i> is a thriller set in the latter half of the First World War, and the third of <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/john-buchan">John Buchan’s</a> books to feature Richard Hannay.</p>
<p>Richard Hannay is called back from serving in France to take part in a secret mission: searching for a German agent. Hannay disguises himself as a pacifist and travels through England and Scotland to track down the spy at the center of a web of German agents who are leaking information about the war plans. He hopes to infiltrate and feed misinformation back to Germany. His journey takes him from Glasgow to Skye, onwards into the Swiss Alps, and on to the Western Front.</p>
<p>During the course of his work he’s again reunited with Peter Pienaar and John Blenkiron, who both appear in <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/john-buchan/greenmantle"><i>Greenmantle</i></a>, as well as Sir Walter Bullivant, his Foreign Office contact from <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/john-buchan/the-thirty-nine-steps"><i>The Thirty Nine Steps</i></a>.</p>
<p>The title of the novel comes from a character in <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/john-bunyan">John Bunyan’s</a> <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/john-bunyan/the-pilgrims-progress"><i>Pilgrim’s Progress</i></a> to which there are many references in the book, not least of all as a codebook which Hannay uses to decipher messages from his allies.</p>
<p>The book finishes with a captivating description of some of the final battles of the First World War between Britain and Germany in Eastern France.</p>