Showing results by author "John Buchan" in All Categories

Among the first espionage thrillers and an acknowledged classic, The Thirty-Nine Steps well deserves its accolades as one of the best adventure stories of all time. Leaving aside the improbable denouement, the fast paced, brilliantly conceived narrative still excites and carries one along with the sheer suspense of the manhunt - a recurring theme in literature - and Hannay’s struggle against the evil that is the ‘Black Stone'.

This is the third of Buchan's Richard Hannay novels, following The Thirty-nine Steps and Greenmantle. Set, like Greenmantle, during World War I, it deals Brigadier-General Hannay's recall from the Western Front, to engage in espionage, and forced (much to his chagrin) to pose as a pacifist. He becomes a South African conscientious objector, using the name Cornelius Brand. Under the orders of his spymaster, Sir Walter Bullivant, he travels in the book through England to Scotland, back to the Western Front, and ultimately, for the book's denouement, into the Alps. Those who know Greenmantle will...

In The Power-House, Leithen’s quiet life is disrupted when he is pitted against the murderous forces of an international network of anarchists, and its chilling leader. Then, adopting the nom de guerre of “John Macnab,” Leithen and two friends risk their reputations when they take to poaching in the Highlands of Scotland in an effort to recover their zest for life. Finally, in The Dancing Floor, Sir Edward befriends a young man haunted by an annually recurring dream, and a young woman stubbornly determined to atone for the sins of her disreputable family, even at the risk of her own life.

In Greenmantle, Richard Hannay, hero of The 39 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. The intrepid four move in disguise through Germany to Constantinople and the Russian border to face their enemies.

Shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, Sir Edward Leithen is told that he has but one year left to live. He relinquishes his law practice and resigns from public office in order to make peace with himself and to reconcile himself with his maker. However, he also wants to die standing, not to creep into the 'bleak bag's end of life'. This will involve one last physical challenge.

John MacNab is a clever and thrilling novel about three bored gentlemen who challenge Scottish landowners to catch them in the act of poaching on their estates. A mix of adventure, humor, and sporting spirit, this novel showcases Buchan’s wit and love of the Highlands.

Richard Hannay finds a corpse in his flat, and becomes involved in a plot by spies to precipitate war and subvert British naval power. The resourceful victim of a manhunt, he is pursued by both the police and the ruthless conspirators. The Thirty-Nine Steps is a seminal chase thriller, rapid and vivid. It has been widely influential and frequently dramatised: the film directed by Alfred Hitchcock became a screen classic.

A gripping collection of over 50 of the greatest short stories written by great British writers. 1."The Missing Years" by Barry Pain, 2. "His Brother's Keeper" by W. W. Jacobs, 3. "A Madman's Manuscript" by Charles Dickens, 4. "The House of Cobwebs" by Barry Pain, 5. "Old Fags" by Stacy Aumonier, 6. "A Long-Ago Affair" by John Galsworthy, 7. "August Heat" by W. F. Harvey, 8. "The Dabblers" by W. F. Harvey, 9. "Rose Rose" by Barry Pain

The Three Hostages is a thrilling blend of espionage and mystery, featuring the resourceful Richard Hannay. When three children from prominent families are kidnapped, Hannay is called upon to unravel a complex web of deception, crime, and danger. Racing against time and facing formidable enemies, he must uncover the truth before it’s too late. Packed with intrigue and action, this novel is a gripping installment in John Buchan’s iconic spy series.

This fine collection of intelligent, unabridged short stories about intriguing, interesting and sometimes inspirational men is an audio treat for young and old, male or female. A carefully compiled anthology featuring timeless tales from classic authors including Charles Dickens, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Anton Chekhov, read by a cast of acclaimed and respected actors, including Stephen Fry, Martin Jarvis and Kerry Shale; this compilation will be enjoyed by the whole family.

John Buchan's hero Edward Leithen chances upon a worldwide plan for domination. With his own life (and the lives of his friends) depending on the outcome of his struggle, he engages in combat with the anarchic brain behind The Power-House. The author, despite being very busy in public service, wrote over 50 books during his life, but his particular talent was for writing fast-moving adventure stories. The Power-House, a good example of this genre, was first published in 1916.

Richard Hanney is an ordinary man, drawn into mysteries he does not understand, and no one is willing to help him. In these 2 suspense novels written by the father of the modern spy thriller, Hanney must outwit villains in unnerving situations that lay bare the thin veneer separating civilized man from the barbarian.

Listed in the BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World, Mr. Standfast is the third of Buchan's thrilling, fast-paced World War I adventure novels, following The Thirty-Nine Steps, and Greenmantle, in which Brigadier-General Richard Hannay is reluctantly plucked from the trenches of the Western Front, to undertake a vital secret mission against a German spy ring operating among pacifist elements in England.

A third adventure for Sir Edward Leithen, in which Leithen befriends young Vernon Milburne, a man haunted by an annually recurring dream in which some dark and mysterious challenge moves year by year closer. After the war, as the culmination of Vernon’s dream approaches, both men meet – and take an instant dislike to – Miss Koré Arabin, a young Englishwoman who has inherited a remote Greek island from her disreputable father.

In seventeenth-century Scotland, religious struggles run rampant. Here, Young David Sempill, a moderate Presbyterian minister, pleas with his sect to have compassion for the remnants of King Montrose’s defeated army, who are being harried and slaughtered by religious extremists. But as pre-Christian nature worship and its accompanying black magicks seep forth from Melanudrigill Wood, Sempill himself disappears.

Salute to Adventurers takes place in the 1680s. It begins as the hero, Andrew Garvald, on his way to Glasgow, takes a cut across the moors. There he meets Elspeth Blair and a religious fanatic known as Muckle John Gib. Later Andrew encounters Ninian Campbell, coming to Campbell's aid when he is attacked by ruffians in a Glasgow back street. Andrew is sent by his uncle - as his merchant representative - to Virginia, where he initially experiences hostility because of his attempts to reform trading practices.

Published in 1927, Scottish writer John Buchan's Witch Wood is set in a rural parish located in the Scottish Borders during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The story centers around newly ordained minister David Sempill's arrival in Woodilee in the wake of the Church of Scotland's acceptance of the Solemn League and Covenant and explores themes and issues surrounding religious tolerance and seventeenth-century Calvinism. With pagan rituals, an outbreak of the plague, and rumors about fairies and the devil, Witch Wood also delves into the supernatural and occult.

A fabulous anthology of some of the finest stories ever written.

Three young truants from a church meeting on Sunday make their way to a seashore hideaway, where they observe a huge black man muttering incantations and performing weird rites. When the man discovers the children, he chases them with a knife. In defense, Davy Crawfurd flings a rock at him, and they narrowly escape. Years later, young David Crawfurd goes to South Africa to make his fortune and is caught in the very heart of a great native uprising. Under strange circumstances, he comes face-to-face with its leader, only to recognize the strange blazing eyes of the black man he had encountered as a child on the beach.

Diplomacy by other means may, at times, sound heroic. A fight for principles and ideals carried out by young men armed to the teeth and directed by older men in pursuit of their own version of glory for themselves and their Nations. Right will triumph over wrong. But war can be an illusion, stirred up by schemers and opportunists to take something from other nations that may or may not be right. As blood and limb are sacrificed the true cost is seen but often set to one side as the dispute becomes embedded in emotions and reason falls away.