What if the murderers come back for him or think he is somehow working with Scudder? He is also worried because he realizes he will be the prime suspect in the murder of a man staying in his flat. Unfortunately this does not seem to throw the Germans off the scent one evening, a man who lives in Hannay's building is murdered, and a couple of days after that, Hannay returns home to his flat to find that Hannay too has been murdered, stabbed in he heart. He tells of a group of Germans chasing him, and Hannay offers to allow him to stay at his flat for a little while. Scudder elaborates and tells Hannay that he is a freelance spy and has faked his own death in order to be able to conduct his investigations more safely. He tells Hannay that he is actually dead, which of course intrigues Hannay, because it is not often one finds oneself talking to a dead man. Scudder is an American who is convinced that the world is about to erupt into war. He is gregarious and talks to strangers in passing, but one seems to attach himself more than the average casual acquaintance. There is talk of war in Europe it is May, 1914, and Richard Hannay, a Scot, is starting afresh in London after time spent in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Written by Polly Barbour and other people who wish to remain anonymous

We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. The next Richard Hannay novel is “ Greenmantle” which I’m looking forward to reading before too long.These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. Buchan himself called the novel a “shocker” which indicates he was clearly aware of the tone of it and his intent. Buchan’s novel has certain sensationalized aspects to it but it was just right for a thriller. I quite enjoyed this thriller, being put in the mood for it from reading Agatha Christie’s The Secret Adversary, The Man in the Brown Suit and The Secret of Chimneys. His daughter, six at the time, was learning to count and counted 39 steps on a wooden staircase leading down to the beach at the private nursing home where he was residing. Thus, the title, The Thirty-Nine Steps, was born. Buchan wrote the novel while he was convalescing in bed, recovering from an ulcer. The Thirty-Nine Steps was published in 1915 in serial form from August to September, before being released in book form in October of the same year.

The Spy (1880) Alphonse-Marie-Adolpne de Neuville ~ source Wikimedia Commons

The thirty nine steps by john buchan