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

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

Somebody is sending threatening letters containing quotes from Shakespeare to Richard Hannay's old friend Reggie Armitage. Hannay gets a lesson in female equality when his life is saved by Simone Angeketell, a member of the Suffragette Movement, who saves him from a person who has murdered a number of men who have one thing in common - all were members of the same squadron in the Boer War who gave evidence at the court-martial of Jerry Edwards - an act which leads to tragic consequences.

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. Richard Hannay, a thirty year old Mining Engineer is on his way from South Africa to England on the steamship 'Union Castle'. Whilst on board ship he encounters Lord Haslemere and his beautiful daughter, Lady Anne, and is invited to Lady Anne's coming-of-age party in London. Upon arriving in England, Hannay tells his good friend Reggie Armitage that whilst working in Rhodesia some months previously, he had been shot and left for dead by Count Von Schwabing and a curious black stone had been left in his right hand. Reggie tells him that five agents, all of them working for Military Intelligence, had been found murdered under similar circumstances. Hannay finds a mysterious package has been left in his cabin trunk on board the ship, but when he tries to deliver the package he is assaulted and left for dead in a cellar in Limehouse. During the course of the next day or so Hannay finds himself charged with two murders of which he is innocent, and with the assistance of

On his way to visit friends at Waddam Hall, Richard Hannay encounters Lady Madrigal Fitzjames, an impoverished member of the aristocracy, who is sharing the same railway compartment. By coincidence, Lady Madrigal is also on her way to Waddam Hall. Due to muddled directions, both Hannay and Lady Madrigal end up at Waddam Manor, not Waddam Hall; here they are mistaken for the newly married couple Sir Gerald and Lady Masefield. A fabulously valuable diamond necklace known as 'The Masefield Diamonds' plays a large part in the rest of the proceedings, which involves an international gang of jewel thieves, servants in the attic, abductions, mistaken identities, and swashbuckling adventure.

Von Schwabing is on the carpet at the German Embassy over the mess he made of the plot to destroy the British/Russian Peace Alliance described in 'Fellowship Of The Black Stone'. He swears that The Fellowship Of The Black Stone will be successful this time in its intention to eliminate Britain's First Sea Lord, Sir James West, whose armament of Great Britain is faster than Germany's. Von Schwabing sets out to enlist Richard Hannay as an unwilling assassin of Sir James West. Hannay is kidnapped and finds himself upon what appears to be a sea-going vessel. Using a young schoolgirl, who is in reality the Russian Grand-Duchess Madeline, Von Schwabing applies relentless pressure to Hannay who is put into a terrible moral dilemma. He must choose between the life of one of his best friends, Saunders, a member of Intelligence, and that of the Grand-duchess Madeline. Further he is railroaded by Von Schwabing into either killing Sir James West or letting Madeline die. Using all of his ingeni

The Under-Secretary Of State For War, Sir Greville Strickland is visiting Monte Carlo with his beautiful young wife, Lady Veronica. While Lady Veronica loses heavily at the gambling tables, Sir Greville is convincing the Baronne Di Castigliani, who is expected to be the new Head of Government in Italy, that it is in Italy's best interests to dump the Austro-Hungarian Alliance and Germany, and to join up with the new alliance between Great Britain, France and Russia, since war in Europe is expected to break out very soon. The Baronne Di Castigliani is thoroughly convinced when Sir Greville tells him that Italy's defences will be strengthened by the introduction of a new weapon which is being tested in England, the Vickers Machine Gun. Unknown to Sir Greville is the fact that the sinister Count Von Schwabing and his Fellowship Of The Black Stone are lurking in the background, gathering intelligence and waiting to undermine the delicate negotiations between Great Britain and Italy. Mean