John Buchan: the 39 Steps--A Classic Detective Novel

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CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Apr 25, 2010 - 90 pages
"The 39 Steps," the best known of author John Buchan's thrillers, was made into a popular movie by Alfred Hitchcock. An effortless adventure classic, "The 39 Steps" tells the story of Richard Hannay, who, despite claiming to be an "ordinary fellow," is caught up in the dramatic and dangerous race against a plot to devastate the British war effort. Richard Hannay, who had returned to England after making his fortune in South Africa, is unwillingly ensnared in a plot to assassinate Karolides (the Greek premier). If successful, this act would plunge Europe into war. Scudder, an American journalist turned spy, has coded information relating to the plot but is murdered in Hannay's luxurious flat before he can pass on the code. Hannay, with all fingers pointing to him as the murderer, escapes by Scottish express (with Scudder's coded notebook). Decamping from the train in the Sottish lowlands, (the Forth Bridge escape from the train was created with the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film adaptation), Hannay is pursued across hill and dale by police and enemy agents intent on seizing the notebook. In his flight he holes up in a remote wayside inn with a literary inn keeper who can quote Kipling. It is here that Richard Hannay masters the code and learns Scudder's secrets. From then on "The 39 Steps" is a race to get to London and notify the authorities. Richard Hannay eventually switches from pursued to pursuer, tracking the agents to their escape channel. Ultimately, the title of "The 39 Steps" is explained. Every reading of this splendid and timeless novel reveals further delights that may have been missed before. "The 39 Steps" 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.

About the author (2010)

John Buchan (1875-1940) was a Scottish novelist and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since that country's confederation. After a brief career in law, Buchan simultaneously began writing and his political and diplomatic career, serving as a private secretary to the colonial administrator of various colonies in Southern Africa, and eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort in First World War. Once back in civilian life, Buchan was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities, but spent most of his time on his writing career. He wrote The 39 Steps and other adventure fiction. He was in 1935 appointed as governor general by George V, king of Canada, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of Canada Richard Bennett, to replace the Earl of Bessborough as viceroy, and occupied that post until his death in 1940. Buchan proved to be enthusiastic about literacy, as well as the evolution of Canadian culture, and he received a state funeral in Canada before his ashes were returned to the UK and interred at Elsfield, Oxfordshire.

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