Books in Richard Hannay series

[Read by Frederick Davidson] This, Buchan's best-known thriller, inspired Alfred Hitchcock's film of the same name. With wit and flair, this old-fashioned roller coaster ride offers soaring suspense with a comic touch. 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 story's extended chase scene inspired Alfred Hitchcock's movie of the same name. The Thirty-Nine Steps, Buchan's best-known thriller, introduces his most enduring hero, Richard Hannay -- who, despite claiming to be an ''ordinary fellow,'' is caught up in a dangerous race against a plot to devastate the British war effort. It begins calmly enough with a rather boring trip to London. Returning to his flat, Richard is shocked to find his neighbor dead on the floor with a knife in his back. Near the deceased is a small black notebook containing cryptic notes about the ''thirty-nine steps'' and a black stone. As the situation escalates, Hannay is mistaken for a secret agent by the police. Now he must run for his life across the Scottish highlands, thinking his way through narrow escapes while trying to decode the thirty-nine steps. With wit and flair, this old-fashioned roller coaster ride offers soaring suspense with a comic touch.

England is at peace after the end of World War I. Spy-catcher, Richard Hannay, is enjoying the country life at Fosse Manor. However, Hannay’s peace is shattered when a dangerous criminal gang kidnap three children of important national figures. The deadline for searching for the hostages is midsummer. Hannay joins forces with Sandy Arbuthnot to face this most difficult enemy whose speciality is hypnotism.

In Greenmantle, Richard Hannay, hero of The Thirty-Nine Steps, travels across war-torn Europe in search of a German plot and an Islamic Messiah. He is joined by three more of Buchan's heroes: Peter Pienaar, the old Boer Scout; John S. Blenkiron, the American determined to fight the Kaiser; and Sandy Arbuthnot. Greenmantle himself is partly modeled on Lawrence of Arabia. The intrepid four move in disguise through Germany to Constantinople and the Russian border to face their enemies-the grotesque Stumm and the evil beauty of Hilda von Einem.