Brian Flynn

Born in Leyton, Essex, in 1885, Brian Flynn won a scholarship to the City of London School before going into the civil service. During the First World War he served as a Special Constable on the Home Front, and he also taught subjects including accountancy, languages, maths, and elocution in the evenings.

Flynn is best remembered as a British crime writer of the classic detective era. From 1927 until his death in 1958, he wrote a remarkably large body of murder mysteries, many featuring his recurring investigator Anthony Bathurst. His books were known for their puzzle-like plots and appeared mainly in the library market, which helps explain why he was once widely read but later became harder to find.

As well as writing, Flynn was described as a lecturer in speech and elocution and an amateur actor. That mix of orderly day job and lively theatrical side fits well with the style of his fiction: clever, polished, and very much in the tradition of classic British whodunits.