The Three Hostages[2] is the fourth of five Richard Hannay novels by the Scottish author John Buchan, first published in July 1924 by Hodder & Stoughton, London.

Hannay had previously appeared in The Thirty Nine Steps (1915), his most famous adventure, and in two books about his activities during the First World War, Greenmantle (1916) and Mr Standfast (1919).

Hannay has married Mary Lamington (who featured in Mr Standfast) and the couple have settled down to live in rural tranquility in the Cotswolds with their young son Peter John.

Hannay is asked to help recover three hostages seized by associates of a criminal gang that aims to control people's disturbed and disordered minds in the aftermath of the Great War.

They are Adela Victor, daughter of a wealthy American banker and fiancée to Hannay's wartime companion the Marquis de la Tour du Pin ('Turpin'); Lord Mercot, an undergraduate; and Davie Warcliffe, a schoolboy.

Hannay and Greenslade puzzle over a cryptic poem sent by the kidnappers which refers to a blind woman spinning, a Norwegian barn, and "the Fields of Eden".

When Hannay discovers that the last expression comes from a hymn, Greenslade remembers a man named Dominick Medina who had talked of these things and who had hummed the tune.

Hannay visits a dance club with his friend Archie Roylance and sees a beautiful young dancer with dead eyes who appears to be under the control of a man he recognises as Medina's butler.

Learning that Newhover plans to visit Norway, Hannay tells Medina that he is ill and needs a week's bed rest at home.

Medina agrees, enabling Hannay to slip away and follow Newhover to a secluded Norwegian farm where Lord Mercot is being held.