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Cover of The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan

The Thirty-Nine Steps

  • 116 pages ยท about 2 hours
  • First published 1915
  • 881 editions
  • Free to read

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1 About this book

Richard Hannay has just returned to England after years in South Africa and is thoroughly bored with his life in London. But then a murder is committed in his flat, just days after a chance encounter with an American who had told him about an assassination plot which could have dire international consequences.

An obvious suspect for the police and an easy target for the killers, Hannay goes on the run in his native Scotland where he will need all his courage and ingenuity to stay one step ahead of his pursuers.

Good for readers who want: spy fiction, adventure, and a short read.

  • Espionage
  • Thrillers
  • Spy stories
  • Thrillers, espionage
  • Adventure
  • Mystery
  • Mystery & detective, traditional
  • Great britain

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3 About John Buchan

1875โ€“1940

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 โ€“ 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, British Army officer, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. As a youth, Buchan began writing poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, publishing his first novel in 1895 and ultimately writing over a hundred books of which the best known is The Thirty-Nine Steps.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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