- Adaptation Displacement: Most people have likely heard of The Thirty-Nine Steps because of the movie versions (particularly the Alfred Hitchcock one) rather than the novel. The film's the reason why this is the best-known of Buchan's novels.
- Fair for Its Day: While Buchan's writing seems distinctly jingoistic to modern readers, it's not as bad as some other authors writing at the time. When compared to works such as Bulldog Drummond, Buchan can seem almost progressive. Greenmantle in particular has sympathetic German characters (despite being written during the First World War) and shows some knowledge of and respect for Islam.
- Magnificent Bastard: Some of the villains can be described thus note .
- Hilda von Einem in Greenmantle is this, in addition to being The Baroness. She's a seductive and ruthlessly intelligent German noblewoman in charge of the Kaiser's grand plan to destabilise the British Empire by triggering a jihad in Central Asia.
- Dominick Medina in The Three Hostages is a well-known and respected public figure who also happens to be the Diabolical Mastermind at the head of an international crime syndicate. Even Richard Hannay doesn't believe Medina's a bad guy until he personally tries to put him out of the way. Even in the end, after the hostages have been rescued and the crime syndicate broken, Medina would have probably got away if he hadn't gone after Hannay.
- Overshadowed by Controversy: The BBC had to cancel a radio adaptation of Greenmantle in 2005 following the 7/7 bombings
. - Values Dissonance: To modern readers, some of Buchan's language is very much of its time, for example his use of the N-word to describe Africans and "white man" in the Kiplingesque sense (meaning, a man of honour and good moral character).
- Most notorious is the anti-Semitism and belief in a worldwide Jewish conspiracy theory as expressed by Scudder in the first chapter of The Thirty-Nine Steps which has been used by some critics to portray Buchan himself as an anti-Semite. It's worth noting, though, that these are the views of one character and that others — most notably Hannay once he starts decoding Scudder's notebook — regard this particular obsession of his as utter nonsense. Bullivant, the spymaster, even remarks that Scudder's obsession with Jewish conspiracies undermined his effectiveness as an agent:"If only I had more confidence in Scudder's judgement ... He had a lot of odd biases too. Jews, for example, made him see red."
- Most notorious is the anti-Semitism and belief in a worldwide Jewish conspiracy theory as expressed by Scudder in the first chapter of The Thirty-Nine Steps which has been used by some critics to portray Buchan himself as an anti-Semite. It's worth noting, though, that these are the views of one character and that others — most notably Hannay once he starts decoding Scudder's notebook — regard this particular obsession of his as utter nonsense. Bullivant, the spymaster, even remarks that Scudder's obsession with Jewish conspiracies undermined his effectiveness as an agent:
- Values Resonance: Buchan's advocacy of a multicultural Canadian identity during his tenure as Governor General resonates in the twenty-first century:"It is the glory of our empire to embrace within its confines many races and traditions. It is in its variety that its strength lies."Installation speech, Quebec City, 1935"You will all be better Canadians for being also good Ukrainians ... The strongest nations are those that are made up of different racial elements."Speech to a (mostly) Ukrainian-Canadian audience, Fraserwood, Manitoba, 1936
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