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The Layton Court mystery

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A. B. Coxe (Anthony Berkeley) was a leading mystery writer in the 1920's and 30's and one of the founders of The Detection Club, an organization of Mystery writers who's membership also included the likes of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Ronald Knox, among others. One of the credos of the club was the use of "fair play" in their writings, which means the reader is given all the clues necessary to solve the crime, nothing is hidden. There are no surprises sprung in the last chapter such as a hidden passageway that no one knows about, or a mysterious identical twin of a suspect.

The Layton Court Mystery is a good example of this type of fair play story. The book introduces the world to Berkeley's amateur sleuth, Roger Sheringham, in the first of 10 novels in which he appeared. In this story, Sheringham is a guest at a country home temporarily occupied by Victor Stanworth, a carefree sixty-something gentleman who is found dead, a victim of an apparent suicide. "Apparent" according to Sheringham, who is the only one, including the other house guests and the police, who can't accept the fact that a man who seemingly was happy and carefree would commit suicide. He suspects murder and the bulk of the book is his attempts to convince friend and fellow house guest, Alec Grierson of the same. The path is a windy one, full of missteps, wrong conclusions and incorrect solutions until the final explanation is given.

Any serious mystery fan who has a sense of the history of the detective novel should read this. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Berkeley's books, and this one in particular, does not read like an "old-timey" novel that is outdated. It is a timeless novel that the reader will enjoy. If you liked this book, any of Berkeley's Roger Sheringham stories will equally satisfy. Berkeley also wrote under the name of Francis Iles, and I can also recommend Before The Fact and Malice Aforethought which were written under that nom de plum.

"The Layton Court Mystery" is the first detective novel by Anthony Berkeley, one of the Golden Age writers. It is delightful! And this edition is quite nice.