Anecdotally the pseudonym 'Andrew MacAllan' was conceived by Leasor and his literary agent, Gillon Aitken, during a long lunch. Leasor was now in his sixties and finding it harder to interest publishers in new book projects. They were happy to publish some of his proven successes, such the Jason Love thrillers – but even then they would limit their print runs to 20,000 in hardback, which would virtually all be snapped up by libraries. They would then say that few had been sold to retailers and that therefore there was no popular demand for a larger run.
