Adventure can be a deadly business. It began in the manner of all the very best adventures: in a coffee house. When one Richard Hannay--intrepid, inquisitive, and on the hunt for intrigue--encounters an old acquaintance in Constantinople, he has an inkling that something thrilling is afoot. Charged with an item of great mystery and import--a washbag, no less!--he soon finds himself in a very dangerous pursuit: from the luxurious confines of the Orient Express to the decks of the Titanic herself, all with the very fate of Europe in his care. Can he slip the net of Count Schwabing, whose long arm stretches from Berlin to the Bosphorus? And what of Madame Zara, the cabaret enchantress--does she play at affection, deception, or something far more deadly? In over his head, often a step--or thirty-nine--behind, but absolutely, resolutely determined to save the day, Hannay is about to embark on an escapade that will test his wits, his courage, and his ability to keep hold of a blasted washbag.