Biographical note

John Buchan (1875–1940) was Governor General of Canada, biographer of Walter Scott and author of adventure thrillers. Featuring the daring exploits of Richard Hannay in the years during and after the First World War, his novels are still widely read today, especially his masterpiece The Thirty-Nine Steps. He was born in Scotland, educated at Oxford, assisted in the reconstruction of South Africa after the Boer War and led a life of public service, the experience of which is reflected in the detail of many of his novels.

Kate Macdonald (Introduction) is a literary historian and publisher, and has published several books, chapters and articles on the life and work of John Buchan, including John Buchan. A Companion to the Mystery Fiction (2009), Reassessing John Buchan: Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps (ed. 2009), John Buchan and the Idea of Modernity (ed. with Nathan Waddell, 2013), and Novelists Against Social Change: Conservative Popular Fiction 1920–1960 (2015). She was editor of the John Buchan Journal for eleven years. She lives in Bath.