The fourth of the five Richard Hannay novels by John Buchan. Here we find our hero Richard Hannay living a quiet life in the countryside with a wife and young child but his past comes back to haunt him and he once more must face up to an arch-enemy.

John Buchan is the father of the modern spy thriller. This is so even though the Hannay books are not, strictly speaking, about spies at all in the professional sense of the word. They are about penetration of the enemy, about lonely escape and wild journeys, about the thin veneer that stands between civilsation and barbarism.

Contains: Island of Sheep, Three Hostages, Mr Hostages, Mr Standfast, The 39 Steps.

I returned from the City about three o'clock on that May afternoon pretty well disgusted with life. I had been three months in the Old Country, and was fed up with it. If anyone had told me a year ago that I would have been feeling like that I should have laughed at him; but there was the fact. The weather made me liverish, the talk of the ordinary Englishman made me sick, I couldn't get enough exercise, and the amusements of London seemed as flat as soda-water that has been standing in the sun. 'Richard Hannay, ' I kept telling myself, 'you have got into the wrong ditch, my friend, and you had better climb out.' It made me bite my lips to think of the plans I had been building up those last years in Bulawayo. I had got my pile-not one of the big ones, but good enough for me; and I had figured out all kinds of ways of enjoying myself. My father had brought me out from Scotland at the age of six, and I had never been home since; so England was a sort of Arabian Nights to me, and I counted on stopping there for the rest of my days.

Major-General Sir Richard Hannay is the fictional secret agent created by Scottish novelist John Buchan and further made popular by the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film The 39 Steps. Hannay is pre-eminent among early spy-thriller heroes. Caught up in the first of these five gripping adventures just before the outbreak of war in 1914, he manages to thwart the enemy's evil plan and solve the mystery of the “thirty-nine steps”. In his autobiography, Memory Hold-the-Door, Buchan suggests that the character is based, in part, on Edmund Ironside, from Edinburgh, a spy during the Second Boer War. Contains: The Thirty-Nine Steps, Greenmantle, Mr Standfast, The Three Hostages, The Courts of the Morning and The Island of Sheep.

Hannay is called in to investigate rumours of an uprising in the Muslim world, and undertakes a perilous journey through enemy territory to meet his friend Sandy in Constantinople. Once there, he and his friends must thwart the Germans' plans to use religion to help them win the war, climaxing at the battle of Erzurum.

John Buchan's 'MYSTERY & ESPIONAGE Ultimate Collection' is a comprehensive compilation of his iconic works, including the complete Richard Hannay, Dickson McCunn, and Sir Edward Leithen series. This collection showcases Buchan's unique blend of mystery, espionage, and adventure, set against the backdrop of early 20th-century Europe. Readers will be captivated by the thrilling plots, intricate narratives, and dynamic characters that populate these classic tales, making it a must-read for fans of spy fiction and literary thrillers alike. Buchan's mastery of suspense and his ability to craft compelling narratives ensure that this collection remains a timeless contribution to the genre. With each page turn, readers will be drawn deeper into the intricate webs of intrigue that Buchan expertly weaves, keeping them on the edge of their seats until the very end. This collection serves as a testament to Buchan's enduring legacy as a master storyteller and a pioneer of the espionage genre.