author
Patrick Leyton
A shadowy figure of Golden Age mystery fiction, Patrick Leyton is credited with a brisk run of British crime novels filled with hidden identities, old secrets, and carefully plotted intrigue. His best-known title, By Foul Means, draws readers into a remote Scottish estate where smuggling rumors and a vanished man refuse to stay buried.
1 Audiobook
By foul means
by Patrick Leyton
About the author
Very little is known about Patrick Leyton’s personal life. Bibliographical records place his career in the 1920s and 1930s, beginning with The Man Who Knew in 1925 and continuing through a series of mystery novels published by firms including Herbert Jenkins, Selwyn, and Stanley Paul. His books include The Dalmayne Mystery, The Crime at Grandison Hall, Murder Will Out, Haunted Abbey, and By Foul Means.
By Foul Means was first published in 1929 and is set around Ardenmore, a remote Scottish estate troubled by smuggling rumors, strange signals, and a wartime secret. The novel reflects Leyton’s apparent interest in atmospheric settings, concealed identities, and the uneasy relationship between respectability and deception.
One bibliographical source identifies Patrick Leyton as a pseudonym of Brenda Cecilia Byng, though publicly available information about Byng and the connection remains limited. Leyton’s work is now chiefly encountered through vintage-book collections and modern public-domain editions.