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Charlie Chan #1-5 omnibus
Celebrated Cases of Charlie Chan
an omnibus edition containing The House Without a Key ---with The Chinese Parrot ---with Behind That Curtain ---with The Black Camel ---with Charlie Chan Carries On
1336 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1985
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About the author
Earl Derr Biggers
246 books87 followersEarl Derr Biggers was born in Warren, Ohio on August 24, 1884. Years later, while attending Harvard University, Biggers showed little passion for the classics, preferring instead writers such as Rudyard Kipling and Richard Harding Davis. Following his graduation from Harvard in 1907, he worked briefly for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and at Bobbs-Merrill publishers. By 1908, Biggers was hired at the Boston Traveler to write a daily humor column. Soon, however, he became that paper's drama critic. It was at this time that he met Elanor Ladd, who would later become his wife and who would have a marked influence in his writing.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 11, 2021
Ahh… to sit back, relax and re-read these classic Charlie Chan stories once more, 45 yrs later, what a delight I expected!
I enjoyed all of these stories as a set of paperback books in 7th grade. I also recall fondly of accidentally cutting one of the paperback covers with an Exacto knife during my graphic arts class during lab :-)
And indeed, the one-of-a-kind murder detective archetype, Det Sergeant Charles "Charlie" Chan does delight!! This reader really enjoyed all aspects of this wonderfully created character.
As Chan progresses through these mysteries, the author's methods allows the reader to identify with Det. Chan's ups and downs and highs and lows while finding out who murdered so-and-so.
Chan is always charming and mentally strong and wise and it was great to read more of Chan's home life as well.
In many important aspects, Chan is portrayed in the movies quite well. Even though none of the actors were of Asian heritage, the book describes Chan as short, quite plump and ivory skinned.
That is all the good news I can must for this review. Which is a good amount, so that was nice. But this review continues for another two thirds. Read on, if you dare!
Unfortunately, I chose to only completely read the origin story of Chan (House w/o a Key).
I started reading the 2nd story The Chinese Parrot (first 1/2 of the chapters) and then skipped to the last 2 short closing chapters to find out who did it. And didn't feel like I missed a thing (other than the time muscling my way through).
The 3rd story, I refined my method and only read the first 1/3 chapters and then skipped to the final two, entirely.
Sadly, the author is way too formulaic and it's very tiresome almost immediately.
Common to all are the up-front stories of the love interests between the rich white man and the beautiful woman or women. Then there is the nonstop introductions of characters and possible suspects. Eventually Chan gets involved for some reason (because a crime occurs in his city, or because of some of some loyalty to former rich white employees or because of a visiting Scotland Yard detective).
These stories (and soon quickly films) started in the roaring 1920s and the über wealth and luxury and bigotry is par for the course.
Virtually all other characters who are friends or police types also follow their very stereotypical 1920s roles.
In contrast, the movie versions, beyond the murder(s), chose to focus on Chan and the humorous antics of his wannabe detective sons and chauffeurs.
I also did some Wiki reading about the author (and his background) while I was going through these stories and this is how I picked up my idea to read the Chan intro chapter and skip to the end of the Chan stories.
Earl Derr Biggers apparently came from a wealthy family and attended Harvard and worked on the Lampoon. He also wrote a successful play that was turned into a Broadway hit by George M Cohan - The Seven Keys to Baldpate. If you read about that play's synopsis and story line, you'll see why I adopted a speedier method to read these books.
In that Broadway play, an author tries to write a 10,000 word book in 24 hours to win a bet. The play details the author and all his efforts to write while being interrupted by a cast of time delaying characters while writing in a presumably locked cabin in Winter. The entire play revolves around all these characters and actions.
HOWEVER, the play writer (Earl Derr Biggers) pulls a literary trick - all those characters trying to interrupt the author are a hoax and the 10,000 word story is the telling of this hoax. Ha ha ha.. NOT!
It seems that Earl Derr Biggers used this same writing style to recycle the Chan stories with lots of noise, lots of superfluous characters that the reader tries to keep track off.
Then there are the out-of-the-dark twists in the plots that finally allow Chan to solve the case.
The love interests in the books are left happily ever after and Chan makes it back to his home in Punchbowl Hill.
Quite tiresome after the 1st go-round.
One other personal irritating element about Earl Derr Biggers is that the inspiration for the character relates to a real Chinese policeman in Honolulu - a skinny rather joyless looking fellow who became famous (sort of).
Presumably based on the stories of this original person, NOTHING about him has ANYTHING to do with the character that was subsequently created - other than they share the same race and profession.
I enjoyed all of these stories as a set of paperback books in 7th grade. I also recall fondly of accidentally cutting one of the paperback covers with an Exacto knife during my graphic arts class during lab :-)
And indeed, the one-of-a-kind murder detective archetype, Det Sergeant Charles "Charlie" Chan does delight!! This reader really enjoyed all aspects of this wonderfully created character.
As Chan progresses through these mysteries, the author's methods allows the reader to identify with Det. Chan's ups and downs and highs and lows while finding out who murdered so-and-so.
Chan is always charming and mentally strong and wise and it was great to read more of Chan's home life as well.
In many important aspects, Chan is portrayed in the movies quite well. Even though none of the actors were of Asian heritage, the book describes Chan as short, quite plump and ivory skinned.
That is all the good news I can must for this review. Which is a good amount, so that was nice. But this review continues for another two thirds. Read on, if you dare!
Unfortunately, I chose to only completely read the origin story of Chan (House w/o a Key).
I started reading the 2nd story The Chinese Parrot (first 1/2 of the chapters) and then skipped to the last 2 short closing chapters to find out who did it. And didn't feel like I missed a thing (other than the time muscling my way through).
The 3rd story, I refined my method and only read the first 1/3 chapters and then skipped to the final two, entirely.
Sadly, the author is way too formulaic and it's very tiresome almost immediately.
Common to all are the up-front stories of the love interests between the rich white man and the beautiful woman or women. Then there is the nonstop introductions of characters and possible suspects. Eventually Chan gets involved for some reason (because a crime occurs in his city, or because of some of some loyalty to former rich white employees or because of a visiting Scotland Yard detective).
These stories (and soon quickly films) started in the roaring 1920s and the über wealth and luxury and bigotry is par for the course.
Virtually all other characters who are friends or police types also follow their very stereotypical 1920s roles.
In contrast, the movie versions, beyond the murder(s), chose to focus on Chan and the humorous antics of his wannabe detective sons and chauffeurs.
I also did some Wiki reading about the author (and his background) while I was going through these stories and this is how I picked up my idea to read the Chan intro chapter and skip to the end of the Chan stories.
Earl Derr Biggers apparently came from a wealthy family and attended Harvard and worked on the Lampoon. He also wrote a successful play that was turned into a Broadway hit by George M Cohan - The Seven Keys to Baldpate. If you read about that play's synopsis and story line, you'll see why I adopted a speedier method to read these books.
In that Broadway play, an author tries to write a 10,000 word book in 24 hours to win a bet. The play details the author and all his efforts to write while being interrupted by a cast of time delaying characters while writing in a presumably locked cabin in Winter. The entire play revolves around all these characters and actions.
HOWEVER, the play writer (Earl Derr Biggers) pulls a literary trick - all those characters trying to interrupt the author are a hoax and the 10,000 word story is the telling of this hoax. Ha ha ha.. NOT!
It seems that Earl Derr Biggers used this same writing style to recycle the Chan stories with lots of noise, lots of superfluous characters that the reader tries to keep track off.
Then there are the out-of-the-dark twists in the plots that finally allow Chan to solve the case.
The love interests in the books are left happily ever after and Chan makes it back to his home in Punchbowl Hill.
Quite tiresome after the 1st go-round.
One other personal irritating element about Earl Derr Biggers is that the inspiration for the character relates to a real Chinese policeman in Honolulu - a skinny rather joyless looking fellow who became famous (sort of).
Presumably based on the stories of this original person, NOTHING about him has ANYTHING to do with the character that was subsequently created - other than they share the same race and profession.
October 11, 2022
For the time it may have been perfect but in today society it's very politically incorrect! Still one hell of a read of decent scenarios
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews