The Riddle of the Purple Emperor

The Riddle of the Purple Emperor is a Hamilton Cleek detective novel by Mary E. Hanshew, part of the popular detective series that she and her husband Thomas W. Hanshew (1857-1914) created and that she continued after his death. The Purple Emperor refers to a famous jewel whose theft and the various dramatic events surrounding it provide the central plot.

The Cleek series followed the typical Edwardian and Georgian English detective fiction conventions with broad use of disguise and impersonation that distinguished it from more orthodox Sherlock Holmes imitations. Hamilton Cleek’s background as a reformed master criminal gave him insights into criminal psychology and methods that conventional detectives lacked, and the series exploited this combination for serious dramatic effect.

The Purple Emperor jewel mystery follows the standard pattern with a famous valuable object at the center of the plot, multiple suspects and competing interests circling it, dramatic complications across the investigation, and Cleek’s eventual resolution of the puzzle. The Hanshew series remained in print for several decades after Mary Hanshew’s death in 1927.