The Thirty-Nine Steps: John Buchan

I snapped the switch, but there was nobody there. Then I saw something in the far corner which made me drop my cigar and fall into a Cold sweat.
When Richard Hannay is warned of an assassination plot that has the potential to take Britain into a war, and then discovers in his flat the murdered body of the American that warned him, he becomes a prime suspect. He flees to the moors of Scotland and a spirited chase begins as he is pursued by the police and the German spies involved with stealing British plans. Buchan`s tale unfolds into one of the seminal and most influential `chase` books, mimicked by many, yet unrivalled in the tension and mystery created by his writing.