Recently returned from South Africa, adventurer Richard Hannay is bored with life, but after a chance encounter with an American who informs him of an assassination plot and is then promptly murdered in Hannay's London flat, he becomes the obvious suspect and is forced to go on the run. He heads north to his native Scotland, fleeing the police and his enemies. Hannay must keep his wits about him if he is to warn the government before all is too late.

With an introduction by Christopher Hitchens. Richard Hannay is tasked to investigate rumours of an uprising in the Muslim world and takes off on a hair-raising journey through German-occupied Europe to meet up with his old friend Sandy Arbuthnot in Constantinople, where they must thwart the Germans' plans to use religion to help them win the war. Set during World War I, Greenmantle is a controversial meditation on the power of political Islam.

Young Englishwoman Kore Arabin has inherited a remote Greek island from her father. The superstitious islanders blame Kore for every mishap and natural disaster. Sir Edward Leithen and Vernon Milburne must save her before the islanders sacrifice her as a witch in the sacred ground called The Dancing Floor.

The Jacobite army marches into England and Alistair Maclean, close confident of Charles Edward Stewart embarks on a secret mission to raise support for the cause in the west. He soon begins to suspect someone close to the Prince is passing information to the Government, but just as he closes in on the traitor his own life is put in danger. Who is the turncoat and can Maclean save his own life and his Prince?

Introduced by Hew Strachan, "Mr Standfast" is the third of five Richard Hannay thrillers. Recalled from active service on the Western Front, Richard Hannay is sent undercover on a crucial secret mission to find a dangerous German agent at large in Britain. Disguised as a pacifist, Hannay travels from London to Glasgow to the Scottish Highlands and Islands in his search, which eventually ends in a spectacular climax above the battlefields of Europe. John Buchan's inside knowledge of trench warfare and government intelligence lend a formidable realism to this superlative spy story. This is a nail-biting classic from a master storyteller.

The turbulent 'Killing Times' of the Covenanters is the backdrop to a desperate struggle between lifelong rivals. John Burnet of Barns, the last of an ancient line of Border Reivers, returns home from abroad to find himself denounced as an agent of the Covenanters. Outlawed and deprived of his inheritance by his ruthless cousin, Captain Gilbert Burnet, John must now fight just to survive. John Buchan's first full-length work of fiction is a tale of adventure in the tradition of Robert Louis Stevenson.

What begins as a straightforward holiday weekend for Sir Edward Leithen in a splendid stately home in the Cotswolds soon turns into something altogether different when one of Lady Flambard's other guests, the enigmatic Professor Moe, enlists the help of Leithen and his companions in a bizarre experiment to glimpse the future. For those who take part, the consequences are dramatic and Leithen's formidable powers of reasoning are brought to the fore.

In 1925, John Buchan published his second most famous novel, John Macnab; three high-flying men – a barrister, a cabinet minister and a banker – are suffering from boredom. They concoct a plan to cure it. They inform three Scottish estates that they will poach from each two stags and a salmon in a given time. They sign collectively as ‘John Macnab’ and await the responses. This novel is a light interlude within the Leithen Stories series – an evocative look at the hunting, shooting and fishing lifestyle in Highland Scotland. With an introduction by Andrew Greig. This edition is authorised by the John Buchan Society.

An anonymous young man's life is about to be changed, as could the course of history. It is 1536 and powerful men reveal to Peter Pentecost that it is he, and not the tyrannical Henry VIII, who should beon the throne of England. Can they persuade him to risk everything in a treasonable rebellion against the throne? In the hands of the master thriller writer, John Buchan, the dark, dangerous days of Tudor England come alive like never before.

John Buchan's thrilling tale of an innocent man caught up in a web of spies, lies and murder. Can Richard Hannay save himself by solving the mystery of the 39 Steps? Classics Illustrated tells this wonderful tale in colourful comic strip form, offering an excellent introduction for younger readers. This edition also includes a biography of John Buchan, theme discussions and study questions, which can be used both in the classroom or at home to further engage the reader in the work at hand.

Introduced by Christopher Hitchens, this is the fourth of the five Richard Hannay novels. After the war and newly knighted, Hannay is living peacefully in the Cotswolds with his wife Mary and son Peter John. Unfortunately, a day arrives when three separate visitors tell him of three children being held hostage by a secret kidnapper. All three seem to lead back to a man named Dominick Medina, a popular Member of Parliament. Hannay uncovers a dastardly plot involving hypnotism and the black arts, as well as the more earthly crimes of blackmail and profiteering.

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.

Sick Heart River is John Buchan's most powerful novel and his last, completed days before his death. It was published posthumously in 1941. Buchan's rich descriptions of the rugged Canadian Northwest Territories are influenced by his real-life voyage down the Mackenzie River in 1937. At that time, Buchan was Governor-General of Canada. The main character, the lawyer and politician Sir Edward Leithen - perhaps the most autobiographical of Buchan's characters - has been diagnosed with advanced tuberculosis and has been given a year to live. A former colleague, American John S. Blenkiron, requests help to find his niece's husband, who appears to have flown from his very successful financial career to the Canadian north. Leithen agrees to help.

The first adventure of Scots lawyer and MP Sir Edward Leithen whose daily routine of flat, chambers, flat, club is enlivened by the sudden disappearance of an Oxford contemporary. As the investigation into the disappearance develops Leithen finds himself pitted against a terrifying international anarchist network called The Power-House.

HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics. 'I snapped the switch, but there was nobody there. Then I saw something in the far corner which made me drop my cigar and fall into a cold sweat.' When Richard Hannay is warned of an assassination plot that has the potential to take Britain into a war, and then a few days later discovers the murdered body of the American that warned him in his flat, he becomes a prime suspect. He flees to the moors of Scotland and a spirited chase begins as he is pursued by the police and the German spies involved with stealing British plans. Buchan's tale unfolds into one of the seminal and most influential 'chase' books, mimicked by many, yet unrivalled in the tension and mystery created by his writing. Buchan reveres Hannay as an ordinary man who puts his country's good before his own and the classic themes of the novel influenced many films and subsequent 'man-on-the-run' novels.

In this retelling for younger readers, Richard Hannay is a Canadian visitor to 1930's London. After a disturbance at a music hall, he meets Annabella Smith, who is on the run from foreign agents. He takes her back to his apartment, but they are followed, and later that night Annabella is murdered. Hannay then goes on the run to break the spy ring and to prove his innocence.

Buchan's favourite of all his novels, Witch Wood deals with the hypocrisy that can lie beneath god-fearing respectability. The book is set in the terrifying times of the first half of the seventeenth century when the Church of Scotland unleashed a wave of cruelty and intolerance. Minister Sempill witnesses devil worship in the 'Witch Wood' and is persecuted. It comes with an introduction by Allan Massie.

From the Movie by Alfred Hitchcock, Licensed by ITV Global Entertainment Limited and an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon Characters: 3m, 1f Comedy WINNER 2 Tony(r) and Drama Desk Awards, 2008 WINNER BEST NEW COMEDY Laurence Olivier Award, 2007 The 39 Steps, is Broadway's longest running comedy, playing its 500th performance on Broadway, May 19th, 2009 Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have The 39 Steps, a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre This 2-time Tony(r) and Drama Desk Award-winning treat is packed with nonstop laughs, over 150 zany characters (played by a ridiculously talented cast of 4), an on-stage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers and some good old-fashioned romance In The 39 Steps, a man with a boring life meets a woman with a thick accent who says she's a spy. When he takes her home, she is murdered. Soon, a mysterious organization called "The 39 Steps" is hot on the man's trail in a nationwide manhunt that climaxes in a death-defying finale A riotous blend of virtuoso performances and wildly inventive stagecraft, The 39 Steps amounts to an unforgettable evening of pure pleasure "A wonderful triumph of theatre " -BBC Radio 4 "It's really not so much about a spoof of Hitchcock, which it is, of course; it's really an homage to the theater. Not the contemporary theater, where mermaids traverse the stage on wheels and gargantuan mechanical sets get bigger applause than the actors, but the nostalgic version that survives on greasepaint and hammy actors. It's a valentine to that kind of creativity and imagination, of doing so much with so little..." -The New York Times "THEATER AT ITS FINEST... Absurdly enjoyable This gleefully theatrical riff on Hitchcock's film is fast and frothy, performed by a cast of four that seems like a cast of thousands." -Ben Brantley, The New York Times "The most entertaining show on Broadway " -Liz Smith, The New York Post "INGENIOUS A DIZZY DELIGHT " -Joe Dziemianowicz, Daily News "RIOTOUS & MARVELOUS " -Clive Barnes, The New York Post "Whirlwind funny business " -Michael Sommers, The Star-Ledger "a giddy display of theatrical invention " -David Rooney, Variety "comedy of the highest order " -Roma Torre, NY1 "About the cleverest show on Broadway in a long time " -David Richardson, WOR Radio "Rollicking Fun Hugely Entertaining " -Sunday Times "Clever, very funny, imaginative and brilliantly acted " -The Guardian "Dizzyingly entertaining show " -Daily Teleg

John Buchan (1875-1940), author of over 100 books including The Thirty-Nine Steps, was a stealth writer of supernatural and Weird fiction. From the beginning of his career to his last works, he brought supernatural elements into his narratives to test his characters and thrill his readers. His 1932 novel The Gap in the Curtain was his last full-length work devoted to exploring a supernatural theme: if you were able to see one year into the future, what would you do with that foreknowledge? And what would it do to you? The novel tells the story of five country-house guests who are trained by the ailing Professor Moe, an Einsteinian mathematician who has devised a way of seeing into the future. These five guests gain one piece of knowledge from the experiment, and have to decide how to act on it. The episodes vary from high drama to social comedy, and use Buchan's skill in writing political intrigue and adventure abroad. This is a novel that showcases Buchan's talents as a storyteller, and is a thoroughly satisfying read. The Introduction is by Kate Macdonald, author of John Buchan. The Mystery Companion and many other works on Buchan's writing.

South Africa, 1900. After his father dies, nineteen-year-old David Crawfurd is sent off to South Africa to earn his living as a storekeeper in the back of beyond. A strange encounter on the journey suggests that dark deeds and treacherous intrigues are afoot - all bound up with the mysterious primeval kingdom of Prester John. Written as a boys' adventure story and set mostly in South Africa (where Buchan had worked), "Prester John" was published in 1910 when Buchan was 35. It's a fast-moving thriller in the style of Robert Louis Stevenson and Rider Haggard.

Originally published in 1929, this book presents the content of the Rede Lecture for that year, which was delivered by John Buchan at Cambridge University. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in historical scholarship and historiography.

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.

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.