author
Mary E. Hanshew
A prolific early 20th-century mystery writer, she is best remembered for helping bring the gentleman detective Hamilton Cleek to life in a string of fast-moving, puzzle-filled adventures. Her work blends sensation, suspense, and classic storybook intrigue in a way that still feels lively today.
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, also known as Mary Eliza Hanshew, was an American-born author who later lived in Britain. Reference sources identify her as born in Tennessee on February 29, 1852, and dying in Hove, West Sussex, on December 22, 1927.
She is chiefly known for detective fiction written with her husband, Thomas W. Hanshew. Together they worked on novels in the Hamilton Cleek series, featuring the reformed thief and sleuth known as "the Man of the Forty Faces," and those books helped secure her lasting place in popular mystery fiction.
Her name also survives through widely available public-domain editions, which have kept titles such as The Riddle of the Frozen Flame and The Riddle of the Spinning Wheel in circulation for modern readers and listeners. If you enjoy brisk mysteries with hidden identities, odd clues, and a strong taste of Edwardian melodrama, her books are an easy one to sink into.