The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. 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. Can Richard Hannay save himself by solving the mystery of the 39 Steps? The book was hugely influential, and remains Buchan's most famous work.