Other editions of book The Thirty-Nine Steps: By John Buchan - Illustrated

The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the British author (and future Governor General of Canada) John Buchan, first published in 1915. It is the first of five novels featuring Richard Hannay, an all-action hero with a stiff upper lip and a miraculous habit of getting himself out of sticky situations. In May 1914, Europe is close to war and spies are everywhere. Richard Hannay has just returned to London from Rhodesia in order to begin a new life, when a freelance spy called Franklin P. Scudder calls on him to ask for help. Scudder reveals to Hannay that he has uncovered a German plot to murder the Greek Premier and steal British plans for the outbreak of war. Scudder claims to be following a ring of German spies called the Black Stone.

Richard Hannay, Buchan's hero in this 1915 thriller, stumbles across a dark plot to attack England by the German Reich (WW1 vintage) but has to flee the protagonists when his discovery is known. Then follows hot pursuits, narrow, if theatrical escapes...and all's well that ends well. Hitchcock made a movie in 1935 based upon the novel. Reader: David Thorn Music: Hans Bisner 4 Cds About 4 1/2 Hours Playing time

Perhaps more than any other book "The Thirty-Nine Steps" has set the pattern for the story of the chase for a wanted man. And, of the many writers who have attempted this kind of thing since Buchan, only a very few, like Graham Greene, have managed to sustain the tension in the same way. The main character is Buchan's familiar hero, Richard Hannay who gets caught up quite suddenly on a dull London afternoon in a situation of extreme danger. Before he knows what is happening he is the obvious suspect for a murder committed in his own flat, and has to go on the run to his native Scotland.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

John Buchan takes us back to Edwardian Britain on the eve of the First World War in the modern thriller The Thirty-Nine Steps. An inexplicable murder drives the innocent Richard Hannay, on the run from a manhunt that never seems to end, to hide in remote Scottish moorland. Disguise and deception are his only weapons, as he struggles to decode the clues left by the murdered man to prevent the theft of naval secrets by an unfriendly foreign power. The best-known of Buchan's thrillers, The Thirty-Nine Steps has been continuously in print since its first publication and has been filmed three times, including the brilliant 1935 version directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The Thirty-Nine Steps was also a powerful influence on the development of the detective novel, the action romance, and the spy story.

Richard Hannay certainly didn't go looking for the mystery. He was hardly a reader of the newspaper, let alone a fan of dime novels -- and all the same, the mystery found him. First in the form of a young American telling fantastic tales of international intrigue and murderous conspiracy. There was a cabal at work -- on a plot cleverly crafted to set the entire world at war with itself. The American meant to put a stop to it, but needed to be hidden for a week or two. Reluctantly, Hannay agreed to hide him. The next morning he found the American dead -- scewered through the heart to the floor of Hannay's own apartment. Jacketless Library hardcover.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.