Several years ago, while visiting Honolulu one July, I made it a point to visit a beachfront restaurant which calls itself "The House Without a Key." In a way, I suppose, it was a journey in nostalgia, for the restaurant is named in honor of a fictional detective, Charlie Chan, the creation of author Earl Derr Biggers. Many people have enjoyed the movies based on the characters, but I am more fond of the six books which are the only ones Biggers wrote about the Chinese-American sleuth. The restaurant stands on the site of the original "House Without a Key," where the first book in that series was set. To mark the anniversary of that summer visit, I offer you this (slightly edited) transcript of my audio review of my favorite among the books - The Black Camel:
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“Death is the black camel that kneels unbid at every gate.”
That saying comes from the Chinese American detective Inspector Charlie Chan of the Honolulu police. On this particular night, as Chan notes, the black camel has knelt at a very famous gate indeed: Hollywood actress Shelah Fane, loved by devoted fans around the world, has been shot to death at her beachside villa in Honolulu. It will be up to Charlie Chan to solve the case – and he will have a most unlikely ally in the person of a rather sinister Hollywood fortune teller named Tarneverro. The story of that chase – and that unlikely partnership – may be found in The Black Camel, by Earl Derr Biggers.
Between 1925 and his death in 1933, Earl Derr Biggers wrote only six novels featuring Charlie Chan as the central character. It was a time when too much detective fiction was being written about the so-called (and racially offensive) “Yellow Peril,” oriental masterminds seeking to take over the world. In response, Biggers created Charlie Chan, a smart, hard-working detective from the Honolulu Police. The character continued to live on after Biggers death in a lot of movies about Charlie Chan – some quite good, others – let’s just say politely, less so.
The Black Camel, written in 1929, was the fourth book in the series, and I think the story is one of the better ones that I have read so far. It begins with a shipload of Hollywood types landing in Honolulu, returning from a movie shoot in Tahiti. This was 1929, remember – the only way to get from Tahiti back to the United States would be by ship. At any rate, the director is hoping to shoot some remaining scenes in Honolulu before the group gets on another ship for Hollywood.
At the center of the group is actress Shelah Fane, a glamorous and popular actress, now beginning to fray a bit at the edges. Among the others are her co-star, her director and several others involved in the movie – including a fortune-teller and supposed psychic named Tarneverro, who has been summoned from Hollywood to Honolulu by Shelah Fane, who wants to consult him to learn if she should accept a marriage proposal from another passenger on the ship.
But something happens that Tarneverro – for one –has not foreseen: Shelah Fane is murdered. And so the case is handed to Inspector Charlie Chan, widely considered to be among the best detectives on the Honolulu police force.
As Inspector Chan begins to gather evidence and clues about the case, he learns from Tarneverro that there appears to be a connection between Shelah Fane’s murder and another killing – an unsolved Hollywood murder from three years earlier. Tarneverro tells Chan that Shelah Fane had confided in him that she actually witnessed that earlier murder – and that the killer was now in Honolulu. And Tarneverro offers to help Charlie Chan gather information and to work with him to solve the murders.
What’s going on here? Who is Tarneverro, really? Was there, in fact, a connection to that earlier murder – or was Shelah Kane’s killing the result of an entirely different motive and murderer? Why do so many of the people who claim to have been Shelah Fane’s closest friends and associates appear to be dragging red herrings across Charlie Chan’s path?
Through all the confusion and carryings-on, the unflappable Chan continues moving towards his goal of finding the killer or killers. Readers familiar with the character from the books or from the movies will find him very recognizable here. We even get a glimpse of his family life, seated around his table at home with his wife and eleven children. It all progresses towards what I found a very credible and satisfying ending.
I think The Black Camel is one of the better books in the series, and I think most readers will enjoy this iconic detective and many of the other characters. It’s worth noting that The Black Camel was made into a movie in 1931 – a movie which still survives [Ed. Note - still shows up on Amazon as being available as a DVD as of August, 2020], starring Warner Oland as Charlie Chan – and Bela Lugosi, apparently fresh from his movie triumph in Dracula (1931), co-starring as the fortune teller Tarneverro. I’m going to have to dig that one up. But I do wholeheartedly recommend the original book of The Black Camel, by Earl Derr Biggers.
You may listen to the original audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast by clicking here.
If you are interested in the DVD of The Black Camel, starring Warner Oland, you can find information here.
Next: The Lodger, by Marie Belloc Lowndes.
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