author
Patrick Leyton
A shadowy name from the golden age of British crime fiction, this author is best remembered for twisty mystery novels published in the 1920s and 1930s. Even the identity behind the pseudonym is a small literary puzzle, which only adds to the intrigue.
1 Audiobook
By foul means
by Patrick Leyton
About the author
Patrick Leyton was a crime writer associated with interwar mystery fiction. Surviving records are sparse, but bibliographic sources and library listings show novels including The Man Who Knew, By Foul Means, The Crime with Ten Solutions, and Haunted Abbey, placing the work firmly in the classic puzzle-and-suspense tradition.
Some specialist crime-fiction sources identify Patrick Leyton as a pseudonym of Brenda Cecilia Byng, though the available information appears limited and not fully documented in major reference sources. Because so little biographical detail is firmly confirmed, the books themselves remain the clearest window onto the author: clever titles, strong mystery hooks, and a place in the long tail of early twentieth-century popular detective fiction.
That air of uncertainty has become part of the appeal. For readers who enjoy rediscovering overlooked writers from the period, Patrick Leyton offers both a genuine whodunit and a real-world literary mystery.