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    Mystery Publishers

    • Academy Chicago Publishers
      An imprint of the Chicago Review Press. Features a number of interesting authors, most long out of print, plus some other odds and ends, including some horror stories by Conan Doyle.
    • Crippen & Landru
      Crippen & Landru publish mystery short story collections. Of particular interest is what they call "Lost Classics," a series of anthologies of mostly uncollected stories by authors who might be enjoyed by a new generation of readers.
    • Dean Street Press
      This small British publisher has a great many classic crime books in its much broader catalog. They are bringing back many Golden Age classics by authors who deserve another chance at a new audience.
    • Felony & Mayhem
      This publisher specializes in classic mysteries, broadly defined, including newer mysteries that adhere to classic standards. They have just overhauled their website to make it much more informative and user-friendly.
    • Locked Room International
      A small press, specializing in very good English-language translations of (so far) mostly-French authors of locked room and impossible crime stories. They publish in Print-On-Demand and electronic editions.
    • Merion Press
      The Merion Press is an independent publisher of out-of-print works that were originally published over 75 years ago, but are enduring even today.
    • MysteriousPress.com
      The brainchild of editor/anthologist/author/bookstore-owner Otto Penzler, the Mysterious Press has recently returned to life and now works with Open Road Media as an electronic book publisher. It is already republishing the work of a lot of classic authors, with more books on the way.
    • Oconee Spirit Press
      A small, independent publisher committed to publishing "lively fiction, and provocative non-fiction." Most of their list covers early works by established authors writing traditional mysteries, such as Carolyn Hart and Margaret Maron.
    • Oleander Press
      This small eclectic British publisher has begun publishing a series of classic British mystery novels, primarily from the Golden Age. The series is grouped into a section of their catalogue named "London Bound," as the books are set in London.
    • Ostara Publishing
      "Ostara Publishing re-issues titles that have unjustifiably become unavailable either through the ravages of time or the forces of publishing economics. We specialise in Crime and Thriller fiction titles and our range goes from the1920s through to the 21st century. We publish thematically and currently have six series available. All our titles are published in a 'trade paperback' format and printed to order."
    • Poisoned Pen Press
      Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Poisoned Pen Press publishes a fairly wide variety of mysteries. Some are reprints; many are new, by newer authors. Their website has a great deal of information about their books and authors.

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    « "The Black Camel" | Main | "The Secret of High Eldersham" »

    October 29, 2013

    Dracula Meets Charlie Chan

    In addition to being a first-rate mystery novel, and, I think, one of the best of Earl Derr Biggers' books featuring Charlie Chan, the movie version of The Black Camel is the oldest surviving movie about Charlie Chan. I haven't seen it, but I believe there are copies available on DVD (used, alas!) and it does turn up on oldies channels occasionally.

    The movie features Warner Oland as Charlie Chan. It also features actor Bela Lugosi as Tarneverro, the mysterious and sinister fortune-teller who plays a critical role in the story. The Black Camel was made and released in 1931 - the same year that Lugosi had starred in the title role of the movie of Dracula. His name was certainly known to movie audiences, and it appears he brought that air of mystery and terror to the role of Tarneverro. If you are reading the original book of The Black Camel, try to keep Lugosi's face and powerful personality in mind as you read about the character and imagine his interaction with Warner Oland's Charlie Chan. Looking back over the distance of 82 years, it would seem to have been a brilliant casting choice.

    Posted at 08:20 PM in Film, Looking Back |

    Tags: Bela Lugosi, Charlie Chan, classic mysteries, Dracula, mysteries, mystery, Warner Oland

    Comments

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    Les Blatt

    I'm told by a couple of my readers that the movie of "The Black Camel" is indeed available from Amazon and elsewhere - in Volume 3 of the video disk "The Charlie Chan Collection." Hat tips to Jim Devlin (via Facebook) and Charleen Anderson (via email) for the information!

    Posted by: Les Blatt | October 31, 2013 at 02:39 PM

    The comments to this entry are closed.

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