author
Mary E. Hanshew
Best known for helping carry the Hamilton Cleek mysteries forward, this early 20th-century writer worked in close partnership with Thomas W. Hanshew. Her name appears on several atmospheric detective novels filled with secret identities, strange clues, and a strong taste for melodrama.
4 Audiobooks
The Riddle of the Spinning Wheel
by Mary E. Hanshew, Thomas W. Hanshew
The Riddle of the Frozen Flame
by Mary E. Hanshew, Thomas W. Hanshew
The Riddle of the Mysterious Light
by Mary E. Hanshew, Thomas W. Hanshew
The Riddle of the Purple Emperor
by Mary E. Hanshew, Thomas W. Hanshew
About the author
Mary E. Hanshew is a somewhat elusive figure in popular fiction, but reliable public sources do show her as the co-author of several mystery novels with Thomas W. Hanshew. Project Gutenberg lists four books under her name, including The Riddle of the Purple Emperor, The Riddle of the Frozen Flame, The Riddle of the Mysterious Light, and The Riddle of the Spinning Wheel.
She is most closely linked to the long-running Hamilton Cleek detective stories. Thomas W. Hanshew's Wikipedia entry notes that some of his novels were co-authored with his wife, Mary E. Hanshew, and reference works on the Cleek series say that after his death in 1914, his wife and daughter continued developing the series from his notes.
Because so little biographical information about her is easy to confirm, the picture that survives is mostly a literary one: a collaborator in a hugely productive popular-fiction partnership, writing twisty mysteries for readers who loved clever detectives and theatrical suspense.