Harriette Ashbrook (1898-1946) was a journalist and author from the Midwest, born in Kansas. She was a newspaper reporter for the Lincoln Journal before joining Harper’s as a publicist. From there she became the publicity director for the Coward-McCann Publishing Company, who issued her first mystery novel. By all accounts Ashbrook did not receive the contemporary critical acclaim she deserved, and after seven books she began writing under the name Susannah Shane but none of those six books were markedly more successful.

I found some pithy comments by John Norris about Ashbrook/Shane on the Golden Age Detection wiki. Here is his brief essay written 10 years ago: http://gadetection.pbworks.com/w/page/7929950/Ashbrook%2C%20Harriette

The first book by Susannah Shane was Lady in Lilac (Dodd, Mead & Co., 1941; Coachwhip Publications, 2017). It won the Red Badge Mystery Novel Prize of $1000 and a contract with Dodd, Mead. It starts off simply enough: a young woman down to her last few cents agrees to change identities with another young woman who is desperate to escape her life. Helen Varney does not ask questions, something she will regret more than once when she begins to live under the name Joanna Starr. Joanna hands Helen more cash than Helen has ever seen as part of the bargain, and Helen goes on a shopping spree. She acquires the lilac dress of the title as well as several people who are searching for Joanna Starr. Along the way murder, kidnapping, and bigamy are introduced into the involved plot. The police are not sure which of the two women they believe committed the murder and cannot locate either one of them.

Isaac Anderson in the New York Times, April 20, 1941, was lukewarm about the book; he considered the story line and wrap-up too fantastic to be credible. (Also reviewed in that column were Counterpoint Murder by G.D.H. and Margaret Cole, Simon Lash: Private Detective by Frank Gruber, Curtains for the Copper by Thomas Polsky, and The Owl Sang Three Times by Vera Kelsey.)

Moira Redmond of the Clothes in Books blog was more inclined to be pleased. She agreed the book could have used some editorial work but overall found it enjoyable. See her full review here: https://clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2019/02/lady-in-lilac-by-susannah-shane.html?m=1

I also found the book readable although I cringed at the thought of exchanging identities as thoughtlessly as Helen did. After all, if Joanna was wanting to escape, a careful person might want to know just what it was she was running from. Also, in a frivolous and shallow aside, I had trouble with the lilac dress in question. The book says it is pale lilac trimmed in fuchsia and I cannot imagine anything attractive coming from that combination of colors. I can only conclude the fuchsia of 1940 is not the fuchsia of today. But these are minor quibbles in the overall scheme of things and they both served to further the carefully executed plot. For fans of mid-century suspense.