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: 951

This work is assumed to be in the Life+70 public domain OR the copyright holder has given specific permission for distribution. Copyright laws differ throughout the world, and it may still be under copyright in some countries. Before downloading, please check your country's copyright laws. If the book is under copyright in your country, do not download or redistribute this work.

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[tsgreer]

Thanks for the heads-up on the early Chan movies Harry. I have to confess that those movies were the reason I wasn't planning on reading Chan. But after your info, now I'll give them a chance. Thanks!

[Bob Russell]

I am looking forward to these (among all the other books that I can't wait to read, but can't find the time for yet!)

I used to watch the Charlie Chan movies as a kid with the family and for some reason have fond memories of them. My distant memory tells me they were some of the best movies ever made. Funny how things can look different from the perspective of a little kid! I guess it might be a little disappointing if I were to see them again now. So it's a good thing for me that the books are better! ;-)

[RWood]

There was also a radio series that was as bad as the films. Stick to the books and ignore the rest.

[Malerne133]

In clear (non-jargoned English) how do I add this Charlie Chan Omnibus to o my ,SD card or somehow ro my eReader. Step by step procedures please. PLEASE
Malerne133

[HarryT]

1. Download it.
2. Unzip it to get the LRF file.
3. Open "Connect".
4. Open a Windows "Explorer" window and navigate to the folder into which you've unzipped the LRF file.
5. Drag the LRF file from the "Explorer" window onto either the "Sony Reader" icon or the "SD Card" icon at the left side of the "Connect" window.

That's it!

[Malerne133]

Thanks Harry.

[UncleDuke]

i liked the films, i also liked the three stooges and the marx brothers

good read though

[HarryT]

The missing 5th book in the series, "Charlie Chan Carries On", has now appeared on PG Australia and been added to the omnibus. Please refer to the initial post for more details, and the downloadable file.

[UncleDuke]

now i have to reload it again

[HarryT]

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

[HarryT]

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.

[Stitchawl]

Thanks, Harry! I tried loading some CC from pdf's last month but couldn't get them to format correctly. I enjoy everything about Charlie, even the movies, and was disappointed not to be able to read them in the Sony. Thanks to your efforts, that problem has been resolved! Thanks again! Is the download link the same as was originally posted?

Stitchawl

[mtravellerh]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Thanks, Harry! I tried loading some CC from pdf's last month but couldn't get them to format correctly. I enjoy everything about Charlie, even the movies, and was disappointed not to be able to read them in the Sony. Thanks to your efforts, that problem has been resolved! Thanks again! Is the download link the same as was originally posted?

Stitchawl

Yes. As a general rule, we book makers change the old bookfile to a new version in the first post (under the same link), change the version in the subject and do a separate post announcing the new version at the end of the thread.

[HarryT]

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