This image is the cover for the book Black Camel, The Charlie Chan Mysteries

Black Camel, The Charlie Chan Mysteries

The murder of a famous actress sends Honolulu detective Charlie Chan on a deadly investigation in this classic mystery novel.

Hollywood starlet Shelah Fane just finished filming her latest movie in Tahiti, not knowing it would be her last. While staying in Hawaii with her director and entourage, she hosts a dinner party at her elegant bungalow. But while the guests await her dramatic entrance, her body is discovered on the beach.

When Charlie Chan of the Honolulu Police Department arrives on the scene, he tells the distraught guests that “death is a black camel that kneels unbidden at every gate.” But as the investigation gets underway and he attempts to make sense of loose alibis, misleading clues, and a cast of outlandish characters, he uncovers a long-cold case involving another Hollywood entertainer . . .

Earl Derr Biggers, Otto Penzler

Earl Derr Biggers (1884–1933) was an American author best known for his series of detective novels featuring the character Charlie Chan. Born in Ohio, Biggers published his first novel, Seven Keys to Baldpate, in 1913. The book inspired many popular stage and screen adaptations as well as the name of a real resort in Colorado. Biggers’s Charlie Chan was introduced in The House Without a Key (1925) and appeared in a total of six books and more than four dozen films.

Open Road Media