The Thirty-One Kings: Richard Hannay Returns

Heavy melodrama mars this disappointing continuation of John Buchan’s early-20th-century Richard Hannay thrillers from British author Harris (The Gravedigger’s Club). In June 1940, the former British operative is chafing in retirement, improbably having trouble offering his services, but his time on the sidelines doesn’t last long. While on a walking tour of Scotland, Hannay and his wife, Mary, try to aid a pilot whose biplane crashes near them. The pilot recognizes Hannay and imparts a cryptic message: “London trails... latest Dickens... missing page.” With his dying breath, he implores Hannay to find “the thirty-one kings.” Hannay follows the clues to a London bookstore, Traill’s, where an old American friend, John Blenkiron, reveals that some men are conspiring to topple Churchill so as to facilitate reaching an accommodation with Hitler. In order to foil the plot, Hannay must travel to France in search of a Mr. Roland, who has information on the kings that could change “the whole future of the war.” Overheated prose doesn’t help (“Your death will be slow and ignominious. You will breathe out your last in solitary darkness, knowing that your rashness carried you straight into my waiting hands”). Those unfamiliar with Buchan’s originals won’t be inspired to seek them out. (Sept.)