John Buchan

The Thirty-Nine Steps By John Buchan Illustrated edition

Hanney, an expatriated Scot, returns from a long stay in South Africa to his flat in London. One night he is buttonholed by an Americon who appears to know of an anarchist plot to destabilize Europe, and claims to be in fear for his life. Hanna lets the American hide in his flat, and returns later to find that another man has been found shot dead in the same building, apparently a suicide. Four days later Hanna finds the American stabbed to death.