John Buchan

John Buchan (1875-1940) was a Scottish author of mystery and thrillers, biographies & memoirs and literature and fiction books. Born in Perth, Scotland Buchan was the first born child of John Buchan and Helen Buchan. He spent his childhood in Kirkcaldy, Fife and spent most of his holidays with maternal grandparents in the Scottish Borders.

The best place to start is the Richard Hannay series, the earliest of John Buchan's multi-book series: it opens with The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915) and runs to 6 books across 1915–1936, ending with The Island of Sheep (1936). John Buchan's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

John Buchan has 225 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1667 and 2026. 146 of them belong to 5 named series — the largest being the Richard Hannay series with 6 books — and 79 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. John Buchan's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Richard Hannay (1915–1936, 6 books), Leithen Stories (1916–1941, 5 books) and Dickson McCunn (1922–1935, 3 books).

This guide splits John Buchan's 225 books into 5 named series and 79 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Richard Hannay (6 books, 1915–1936); Leithen Stories (5 books, 1916–1941); Dickson McCunn (3 books, 1922–1935); Gothic Fantasy (91 books, 1667–2026); Shoreline of Infinity Science Fiction Magazine (41 books, 2015–2026).