The Thirty-Nine Steps

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.