The Black Camel by Earl Derr Biggers
Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)
This mystery from 1929 is the fourth novel starring homicide detective Charlie Chan. Shelah Fane, star of the flickering silver screen, is found stabbed to death on the beach at Waikiki.
Chan must deal with a complicated weave of alibis, puzzling clues, and Hollywood personalities. Sure, Biggers sometimes over-writes in an old-fashioned flowery way. And the plot is excessively complex. But the descriptions of the beauty of Hawaii still resonate. Plus, his satire of boosters and Hollywood show people still amuse us post-modern readers. His characters are plausible, from brash young go-getters to crusty cops.
Charlie Chan is interesting. Intelligent, logical, droll, sympathetic to both victim and perp. Like many first-generation papas do, he bemoans the too-casual respect his Americanized kids pay him. Like many who have had to struggle with learning a second language as an adult, he envies the unearned English proficiency of his kids and bemoans their slangy English.
Believable and humanizing details like this add to the appeal of the Chan novels and their staying power. At the same time, we modern readers sometimes have to make allowances for attitudes that nobody nowadays can hear without wincing.
