"Amos!" cried Miss Minerva, "That man--why he--""Charlie Chan," Amos explained. "I'm glad they brought him. He's the best detective on the force."
John Quincy Winterslip has left Boston to come to Honolulu to see what his Aunt Minerva is still doing there. Proper Bostonians don't go gallivanting off to the tropics and even though she's there to see her cousins Dan and Amos Winterslip, it's time she come home.
But when John Quincy gets off the ship he learns Dan was murdered the night before. He also discovers that while Dan has been living an upright life for a while, he was a black sheep back in the 1880s, and there's still more than one person who would be happy to see him dead.
John Quincy's initial instinct is to pack up his Aunt Minerva and head back to Boston at once, but the Winterslip honour is at stake.
And anyway there's a girl, actually two girls, his distant cousin and Dan's daughter Barbara Winterslip, but more importantly Carlota Maria Egan, beautiful and also the daughter of a suspect.
It's a fun one in the Golden Age mystery tradition, more American than British, not an amateur detective, a few more chase scenes and a bit more violence. (A fist fight! An abduction with an escape!) John Quincy hangs out with Charlie Chan and comes to the correct solution, just a bit later than Chan and Chan has to rescue him. The romance is completely satisfactory.
In fact, really the only downside is that, though I last read it twenty-five years ago, I remembered the murderer and the solution. But I'm quite sure I didn't guess it the first time.
Biggers, already a professional writer, created Charlie Chan because he was impressed by an actual detective of Chinese ancestry on the Honolulu police force Chang Apana and disliked the whole idea of the Yellow Peril.
Isn't it nice to have read the same book almost at the same time, and for the same event (and our first read for it too)! I have just finished a book that discusses a lot about coincidences (Chasing Vermeer - loved it), and I'm so thrilled that we have our nice little coincidence... ;)
ReplyDeleteIt was fun to read yours about it and it was a fun read!
DeleteI've read one of this author's book, but never any of the Charlie Chan stories - they do sound entertaining!
ReplyDeleteAnd I've never read anything but his Charlie Chan books! But I see that some of his others are on Gutenberg so I may have to change that.
DeleteI've never read a Charlie Chan mystery. Though I think I need to. I do love those Golden Age kind of mysteries. :D
ReplyDeleteThere's six of them & I thought they were all pretty fun--I'm tempted to go on now & reread them all.
DeleteI skimmed through the review as I, too, am reading this. Shall come back after finishing the book. Have linked it up.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your review!
DeleteLovely!
ReplyDeleteI liked it too, but more as historical novel: https://wordsandpeace.com/2025/10/22/three-reviews-for-the-1925-club/
It is interesting as a historical piece, too. Off to look at yours.
DeletePlus, Biggers puts his finger on why us thirteen hold-outs still detest CSI: Anywhere: "Chan shrugged his shoulders. 'Does not matter. Fingerprints and other mechanics good in books, in real life not so much so. My experience tells me to think deep about human people. Human passions. Back of murder what, always? Hate, revenge, need to make silent the slain one. Greed for money, maybe. Study human people at all times.''"
ReplyDeleteYes, that was great, already in 1925. (I, too, have never warmed up to CSI.)
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