Mary E. Hanshew

Mary E. Hanshew was a British-American mystery writer who continued and collaborated on stories featuring Hamilton Cleek, the detective created by her husband, Thomas W. Hanshew. The Riddle of the Frozen Flame, The Riddle of the Mysterious Light, The Riddle of the Purple Emperor, and The Riddle of the Spinning Wheel all belong to that connected body of puzzle adventures. Original editions credit Mary E. Hanshew together with Thomas W. Hanshew, so her role should be understood as coauthor rather than sole creator of the character or series. The books follow Cleek and Scotland Yard official Maverick Narkom through elaborate cases built around disguises, hidden mechanisms, contested inheritances, and apparently impossible events. Each title carries the joint byline in its early twentieth-century edition. Across these four titles, Hanshew helped extend an established detective sequence after Thomas's death, maintaining its recurring cast and riddle-based naming pattern as a joint author.