John Buchan

Canadian Richard Hannay is at a London music hall theatre, watching a demonstration of the superlative powers of recall of "Mr. Memory" when shots are fired. In the ensuing panic, he finds himself holding a frightened Annabella Smith, who talks him into taking her back to his flat. There, she tells him that she is a spy, being chased by assassins. She claims to have uncovered a plot to steal vital British military secrets, implemented by a man with the top joint missing from one of his fingers. She mentions the "thirty-nine steps", but does not explain its meaning.

Greenmantle is the second of five novels by John Buchan featuring the character of Richard Hannay, first published in 1916 by Hodder & Stoughton, London. It is one of two Hannay novels set during the First World War, the other being Mr Standfast (1919); Hannay's first and best-known adventure, The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915), is set in the period immediately preceding the war.

Sick Heart River (1941) is a novel by Scottish author John Buchan set in Canada. It was published posthumously. The book was published in the United States under the title Mountain Meadow.