Sun 4 Jan 2009
Archived Review: SUSANNAH SHANE – Diamonds in the Dumplings.
Posted by Steve under Authors , Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Reviews[3] Comments
SUSANNAH SHANE – Diamonds in the Dumplings.
Doubleday Crime Club, hardcover, 1946.
According to Hubin’s Bibliography of Crime Fiction, Harriette Cora Ashbrook wrote seven “Spike” Tracy mysteries between 1931 and 1941, all as H. Ashbrook. Then from 1941 to her death in 1946 she wrote six more detective novels, all of these as by Susannah Shane. In at least four of these the sleuthing was done by amateur man-about-town named Christopher Saxe.
Neither Ashbrook nor Shane seems to be mentioned in the Penzler-Steinbrunner Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection, and the one reference to Susannah Shane in Catalogue of Crime (Barzun and Taylor) leads the reader only to an entry for R. C. Ashby, who, although feminine, is another writer altogether.
Diamonds in the Dumplings was, as it happened, Saxe’s last case. It begins in a wealthy Connecticut home with the accidental discovery that a valuable jewel, the famous Burma Star, has been stolen and an almost identical replica substituted. Saxe is brought into the case by means of a badly hung-over crime reporter friend, and by an ever-curious eye for the unusual.
As a writer, Ashbrook-Shane takes full advantage of the fact that an amateur detective is not required to follow hard-and-fast police procedure, but after a slow start she allows complications to enter in at a breakneck pace. Chance is permitted to play dirtier tricks than usual on the frailties of human nature, but as it is eventually learned, the three separate plot threads had been neatly intertwined all along.
Some quite plausible detective work (seen and appreciated more in looking back upon it) undoes an entanglement that at one time seemed to be confused beyond all redemption. At least in the guise of Susannah Shane, the mystery authoress who wrote this particular work seems unfairly forgotten — if in fact she was ever well known.
[UPDATE] 01-04-09. I’ll leave for another day a listing of the H. Ashbrook-Spike Tracy titles. For now, perhaps it will suffice to supply a list of the books she did as Susannah Shane.
I don’t think I’ve read any of them since my review of Diamond in the Dumplings. Re-reading what I had to say then, that could be a serious omission on my part, as this seems to be the kind of book I’m inordinately fond of.
Taken from the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin:
SHANE, SUSANNAH. Pseudonym of H. Ashbrook, 1898-1946.
Lady in Lilac (n.) Dodd 1941 [New York City, NY]
Lady in Danger (n.) Dodd 1942 [Christopher Saxe; Long Island, NY]
Lady in a Million (n.) Dodd 1943 [Christopher Saxe; New York City, NY]
Lady in a Wedding Dress (n.) Dodd 1943
The Baby in the Ash Can (n.) Dodd 1944 [Christopher Saxe; New Jersey]
Diamonds in the Dumplings (n.) Doubleday 1946 [Christopher Saxe; Connecticut]
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Hello, I just wanted say that 20 years ago at the age of 13 my grandfather gave me his copy of Lady In Lilac, this was my first “grown up book”. This book sparked my crazy love affair with murder/mystery novels and my passion for reading. Although I can not say it is the best book I have ever read, I can say with out a doubt that it is a great read that keeps you intreasted to the last page. This also marked the start of our family tradition of giving books to each other for all occacions. He also left me all of his books when he passed, along with 5 other books by Shane. They will all be loved and read often by my daughter.
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Christine
It sounds as though your grandfather left you quite a library — and plenty of good memories of him!
— Steve
February 21st, 2009 at 8:33 pm
My name is also Susannah Shane, it is so odd to come across another writer with the same name! Even stranger that it was a pen-name which she chose to have!