Richard Hannay meets Sybil Verney, a beautiful woman who is also of South African origin. Unlike Hannay, who feels 'surrounded' in London and prefers the wide-open spaces of Africa, Sybil is very fond of England and of its society.

Very quickly, Richard Hannay falls under her spell; he falls desperately in love for the first time in his life, but Sybil Verney has a secret. She is being blackmailed by Sir Marcus Leonard, a ruthless gambler and racehorse owner, who has a hold over Sybil. The secret is to be found in some letters which Sir Marcus has securely locked away in his safe.

Richard Hannay offers to get the letters for Sybil, but in order to do so must take some lessons in safe-breaking from Sal Alford. He is an apt pupil, managing to break into Sir Marcus's safe, while Sal acts as guard outside. Unfortunately, he is caught by Sir Marcus, but Sal escapes with the incriminating letters.

Sir Marcus convinces Hannay that Sybil is a liar and a cheat. Who is telling the truth?

Richard Hannay is introduced to Dr. Nils Larssen and his daughter Kirsten by Lord Hurst, the owner of a Chemicals business which operates out of Hurst Grange, a manor house in the English countryside.

Dr. Larssen is working on a serum which will produce a vaccine against 'the terrors of the earth' - typhus, tuberculosis and cholera, which may be needed in the event of germ warfare in any conflict with Germany. The idea is to produce vast amounts of the vaccine which Lord Hurst is prepared to back and then to market.

Also working in the laboratory at Hurst Grange is Edgar Voce, a German agent. Voce approaches Otto Von Schwabing, the murderous teutonic villain who is responsible for most, if not all of the treacherous activity of The Black Stone, the German Terrorist Organisation. Voce tells Von Schwabing that he is producing vaccine for German use in the event of warfare, and Von Schwabing keeps his ear to the ground.

Dr. Larssen becomes suspicious of Voce, and is poisoned by him, d

The place is Venice, Italy. Richard Hannay assists seductive artist Dore Nicholson to board the Trans-European train to London, on which he is also a passenger. Other passengers include Boy Morland, Hannay's old friend, now a Diplomatic Courier, and Auguste Karrs, a Turkish Oil Tycoon.

Hannay and Dore Nicholson spend a romantic evening together. However, Dore is being watched by Conrad Smith, Karrs' personal secretary. Smith asks Boy Morland to use Hannay to get the information he wants from Dore.

Boy Morland warns Hannay, but Hannay does not take him seriously.

Why is Auguste Karrs so interested in Dore Nicholson's paintings, most particularly the ones that she painted in Mesopotamia? Dore refuses to show the paintings, but before going to bed, she secretly gives a notebook of her sketches to Hannay. The next morning she has disappeared.

What was the mysterious Frau Steve doing in Dore's compartment on that morning? Hannay decides to investigate, and is aided by Colonel Wormesl

Richard Hannay is the new Honorary Secretary of the rugger group, 'The Centurions'.

Sal Alford, landlady of Alford's Music Hall is being threatened by standover merchant, Joe Morris, who is demanding protection money. Joe Morris is a rogue member of Charlie Peterson's east-end gang of thugs.

Sal, frightened for her life, approaches Richard Hannay who tells her not to pay any money to Joe Morris.

When Joe Morris arrives at Alford's Music Hall with Charlie Peterson's gang he is confronted by Richard Hannay's gang, 'The Centurions', who throw them out, but not before Richard Hannay is threatened by Joe Morris personally.

Alford's Music Hall is subsequently vandalised, and Hannay is abducted by Joe Morris; however, he manages to bluff himself out of the situation by telling Morris that he - Hannay - is the leader of a larger, more elite rival gang operating from the West End of London, which is comprised of politicians and members of the aristocracy. Hannay organises a 'sting' involving

Perry Swimborn, an old friend of Richard Hannay's, has beeen found drowned on the moors in England. Hannay is surprised to find that he is a beneficiary in Swimborn's will - he has been left a lighthouse in the region where Swimborn died, a walking stick, and a pair of binoculars with instructions ""to use them to help my dearest to accomplish her ambitions"". Swimborn's fortune and manor-house have been bequeathed to his natural daughter, Vivian Laputa, born in Africa and the product of a forbidden love between Swimborn and a black African Queen.

Hannay talks to Delahunty, Swimborn's lawyer, about the Laputa golden amulet which symbolizes Vivian's right to her tribe's throne. No-one knows where it is, and Delahunty believes that Swimborn was murdered whilst protecting it from somebody who wanted it for its immense monetary value.

Delahunty asks Hannay to protect Vivian while she is in England, as Cromwell and Vermilion, Swimborn's nephews, feel betrayed by their uncle's will, and may

The year is 1912 and the 'unsinkable' ship 'Titanic' has sunk. Richard Hannay's god-daughter Susan is being married to Lord Berenger's son, Michael Harrington, and Hannay is visiting her family. The night before the wedding Michael goes missing after his batchelor's party.

Why did Lord Berenger send a large and immensely valuable consignment of gold to Canada via 'The Titanic' which was in fact heading for the United States? Did the missing gold in fact go down with the ill-fated ship - the uninsurable on board the unsinkable? What is the mystery behind the ship's bells at the foundary used by the firm Campbell/Mallory, of which Lord Berenger is Managing Director.

Hannay finds himself involved in a bizarre mystery involving a kidnapping, two murders and a plot involving the Czar of Russia.