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 published 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 suppose the fact that the New York Times misspelled her name in her obituary is indicative of her lack of achievement.
Her series detective in the seven books released with the Ashbrook name is Spike Tracy, the younger brother of the New York district attorney. Spike is very much cast in the mold of Philo Vance and Ellery Queen, a well-to-do, indolent young man who outwits the professionals. His first appearance is in The Murder of Cecily Thane (Coward McCann, 1930, reprinted by Black Heath in 2019).
Cecily Thane is found shot to death in front of the safe that held her considerable jewelry collection. Diamonds, pearls, and emeralds valued at $200,000 (over $3.25 million in 2021 dollars) are missing, and not unreasonably robbery is thought to be the motive for the crime. Suspicion promptly fastened on the young gigolo that Cecily paid to escort her to various nightclubs, as her older husband did not care to go out in the evenings. However, Spike found cigarette remnants with lipstick stains that did not match any lipstick that belonged to Cecily at the murder scene, suggesting the presence of an unknown woman. Sharp-eyed Spike was also the one to notice the bullet hole in the back of the chair, meaning the body had been moved after death. One of the most expensive pieces of jewelry turned up in a pawn shop, hocked by someone other than the gigolo, and suddenly the suspect base widened by several people.
The wiseguy amateur is not my favorite character trope but Spike is less obnoxious than others of the same ilk. He largely performed the investigation that the police should have carried out. Multiple people had cause not to like Cecily and misdirection comes into play to the very end, as first one character then another appears to be guilty. The real culprit does not become apparent until the last few pages of the book. Lively writing, snappy period dialog, realistic plotting. Well worth the attention of the Golden Age enthusiast.