He was a Scottish politician and statesmen by day, but by night Buchan was a thriller writer and creator of secret agent Richard Hannay. Macdonald (English, U. of Ghent) closely examines Buchan's attention to the nature of good and evil, and his artful work at depicting the shifting boundaries between civilizations in her alphabetical entries. She does not concentrate on Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps alone but gives each of his 40 novels proper attention in examining characters and themes. She also considers the author's 60 works of nonfiction and films made from Buchan's originals. The entries are augmented by well-chosen period photographs, a chronology, a brief biography, a bibliography and a thorough index. The result is a boon to Buchan readers and to those who want to learn how to structure and write compelling thrillers. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)