(first posted March 12, 2021)
But that’s not the most intriguing part.
It was originally published in 1925.
By a man.
Oh, and there’s more. It’s the first Charlie Chan novel by Earl Derr Biggers titled The House Without a Key.
As far as I know I’ve seen most of the Charlie Chan movies many times. I actually like them. Now I know that those movies are a point of contention regarding the fact that a white man was cast, not once but multiple times, as an Asian. It’s a valid point. It’s also how things were done then. However the thing that’s always struck me is that, one, they’re really decent mysteries, two, there are a lot of actual Asian actors cast in the supporting roles which didn’t happen in a lot of movies, and, three, no matter what some claim, Charlie is not treated as a caricature. Nor is his family or other Asians. Is there occasional prejudice evident in the way people act? Sure. But that is not the same thing.
Be that as it may, I finally did get curious and wanted to see what the books were like.
so I got the first one to read
Wow, Just wow!
Several weeks ago, I talked about reading the first Albert Campion novel that didn’t actually feature Campion as the main character. Same thing going on here. Charlie Chan is not the main character. Was this a thing that occurred a lot in books in the 1920s or 30s? Don’t know but I’m beginning to wonder.
Okay, it would probably be more accurate to say Chan isn’t the point of view of the storytelling. Because he definitely gets more page time than Campion did in his first book. It’s just not his story. That actual honor belongs to John Quincy Winterslip, a young man arriving in Honolulu from Boston to retrieve one of his aunts from the uncivilized influence of tropical Hawaii. He arrives only to find out that the very wayward uncle she’d been staying with has been murdered. John Quincy ends up being sucked into helping the detectives investigate the death of his relative – for the sake of the family – and in the process befriends their Detective Sergeant Charlie Chan.
And it’s a true friendship that develops between them. I loved the way the author portrayed both the differences between their cultures and the similarities. One of the best scenes in that regard is when Charlie is giving John Quincy advise on romance in the tropics. John Quincy wants to believe that he’s too Boston prim and proper to be tempted by tropical passion and all that but he knows that what Charlie is telling him is wisdom no matter where he comes from. So he listens. Like I said, a true friendship.
who is Charlie Chan in the book?
Now before I move on to the surprise romance in the story, let me explain the Charlie Chan from the book more. Chan is an immigrant from China who has lived in Hawaii for 25 years. He currently has nine children. Even though he’s only a detective sergeant, he’s gained a reputation on the islands of always getting his man when there is a murder. So he’s already well on the way to acquiring the celebrity detective reputation that the movies play on so much.
He’s also a very diligent student of the English language. Always attempting to learn more, which is one of the things that draws him to spending time with John Quincy. So while Charlie’s phrasings might sometimes be strange, it is in no way pidgin English. In fact, the more time John Quincy spent with him, the less I even noticed his odd phrasing of things. Charlie is a very interesting character.
about that romance
Of course, the thing that surprised me the most about the story was the romance for John Quincy. It was a perfectly acceptable sweet romance at that. By acceptable I mean that it follows most of the basic conventions that we expect in the romance genre today. They meet early in the story before John Quincy even gets to Hawaii. They spend plenty of time together once there to get to know one another. There are complications. A big one being that her father is initially accused of being the murderer. Another one being romantic rivals. There is most definitely a happy ending. So, yeah, in between running around helping Charlie investigate the murder, John Quincy Winterslip manages a very satisfactory romance. Not what I was expecting at all.
one other thing that impressed me
Reading this book made me feel like I was there in 1920s Hawaii with them. Nothing overdone but still very impressive descriptions. The way the author portrayed the island actually gave the story a bit of a travelogue feel and then there was the high society aspect. Which the movies use, too. A lot. In some ways, this book actually reminded me quite a bit of Emilie Loring’s early books that also feature mysteries, high society and beautiful places.
Yeah, it was really good and I admit I was very surprised. So, I have got to read another one of these just to see if the magic holds.