Mystery and Crime Biggers, Earl Derr: Charlie Chan Omnibus. v6. 15 Sep 2014

[HarryT]

An omnibus edition of the "Charlies Chan" detective stories of Earl Derr Biggers. This volume contains the following books:

1. The House Without a Key
2. The Chinese Parrot
3. Behind that Curtain
4. The Black Camel
5. Charlie Chan Carries On
6. Keeper of the Keys

If your view of Charlie Chan comes from the dozens of very bad, semi-comic movies made in the 1940s and 50s, then read these books and you're in for a pleasant surprise. The books have extremely well-crafted plots ("The Chinese Parrot" is my personal favourite) and are well worth reading.

Chan, the first Chinese detective in literature, was modeled after Chang Apana, a real-life police detective in Honolulu.

Enjoy!

Please note that:

• This book is not in the public domain in the US. Please do not download it if you are in the US.
• The book may or may not have had random editorial changes made at the whim of the uploader. If this concerns you, you'd better not download it!

EDIT: 11 Jun 07

The 5th book in the series, "Charlie Chan Carries On", has now appeared on PG Australia so, as promised, I've added it to the omnibus and uploaded v2. Although it says it's an "Abridged Edition" I think, looking at the file size, that the abridgement is minor. Obviously if an "unabridged" version appears, I'll replace it.

EDIT: 21 May 08

Recreated the omnibus with much improved layout and formatting, to fix a problem with poor layout and incorrect paragraph breaks. Uploaded v3.

EDIT: 22 May 09

MR user "Bones" has been kind enough to supply an unabridged version of "Charlie Chan Carries On" so, as promised, here's a new version of the omnibus with the unabridged version of that book. The new version is about a third longer than the previous, abridged, version of the book. Uploaded v4.

EDIT: 3 Mar 10

Cleaned up the HTML code. Minor formatting improvements. Added a new cover image. Uploaded v5.

EDIT: 15 Sep 14

Thoroughly proof-read. Straight quotes changed to curly quotes. Many errors corrected. I would now regard this as a finished product, so please let me know if you spot any remaining errors. Uploaded v6.


Previous download count: 1601

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[Xanthe]

Thanks very much! I had a book with a collection of these stories, but it's packed away in a box somewhere I haven't reread them in years.

[GA Russell]

I finished The House Without a Key last night. Very lightweight, but a real page-turner nevertheless.

It reminded me of a Mr. Moto story I read thirty years ago. Does anyone know if the Mr. Moto stories were written because of the success of the Charlie Chan stories? As I recall, the Mr. Moto stories were serialized in The Saturday Evening Post. It may be that they were written at the Post's request.

[GA Russell]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

It reminded me of a Mr. Moto story I read thirty years ago. Does anyone know if the Mr. Moto stories were written because of the success of the Charlie Chan stories? As I recall, the Mr. Moto stories were serialized in The Saturday Evening Post. It may be that they were written at the Post's request.

I found the answer at Wikipedia:

Mr. Moto is a fictional Japanese secret agent created by the American author John P. Marquand. He appeared in six novels by Marquand published between 1935 and 1957. Marquand initially created the character for the Saturday Evening Post, which was seeking stories with an Asian hero after the death of Charlie Chan's creator Earl Derr Biggers.

[mr.jjm54]

just wanted to thank Harry T for the Charlie Chan postings.

[SusieQ100]

Many thanks. I've never read any of these, only seen the films, but it fits right in with my reading choice.

[theducks]

Thanks Harry
(Yes, I remember those, not that old back then, TV movies )

[HarryT]

Thoroughly proof-read. Straight quotes changed to curly quotes. Many errors corrected. I would now regard this as a finished product, so please let me know if you spot any remaining errors. Uploaded v6.

[GA Russell]

Thanks Harry!

[HarryT]

You're very welcome, but please do note that, as stated, this book is not in the public domain in the US.

[mohill]

Thanks for the share!