Greenmantle (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

Before James Bond, there was Richard Hannay, hero of The Thirty-Nine Steps. This thrilling 1916 sequel was praised by none other than Graham Greene. During the first World War, Hannay braves a labyrinth of intrigue in exotic Constantinople, to foil the Kaiser’s sinister conspiracy in the Muslim world.

John Buchan (1875-1940), first Baron Tweedsmuir, was a Scottish novelist and member of Parliament, who served as the Governor General of Canada. He wrote many novels as well as books on politics, history, biography, and criticism. But he is best known for his suspense novel The Thirty-Nine Steps, made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock.