The Thirty-Nine Steps

John Buchan (1875-1940)

Original en 40977 words First published 1915 United Kingdom

Richard Hannay, a bored mining engineer just back from South Africa, takes in a nervous American neighbour who is murdered days later - and finds himself the chief suspect, with a notebook of cipher, a black book of aircraft secrets at stake, and forty-eight hours before war starts. What follows is the original chase thriller: Hannay across the Scottish moors with his enemies certain of his face, impersonating a road mender, a political candidate and a gold-laced RAF pilot, decoding Scudder's memorized notebook in a lodging house. Buchan's 1915 novel fixed the pattern for every man-on-the-run story since.

Text sourced from Project Gutenberg (public domain in the United States); the Project Gutenberg trademark and license text have been removed on import. Public-domain status determined by the author's death year + 50 years rule.

The Thirty-Nine Steps

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