Set in 1914, during World War I, "The Thirty-Nine Steps" is a novel by Scottish novelist, historian, biographer John Buchan (1875 – 1940): Richard Hannay, the protagonist and narrator and an expatriate Scot, returns to his new home, a flat in London, after a long stay in Rhodesia to begin a new life. One night he is buttonholed by a stranger, a well-travelled American, who claims to be in fear for his life.

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, GCMG, GCVO, CH, PC (26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation ...