Earl Derr Biggers

Earl Derr Biggers was a successful writer, even before he conceived of Charlie Chan. Evidently, it was a trip to Hawaii that stimulated Charlie's creation, and his first Chan book—The House Without a Key (1925)—was clearly written by someone in love with Hawaii. Or with its memory.
 
I'm sure that it is too quick to label House as "pulp fiction," both because I don't know what his earlier fiction is like and also because I really don't know what "pulp fiction" is. I do know that House was written about the same time as The Great Gatsby, and there is a world of difference between them. By which I certainly do not intend to claim that House—the lesser in comparison—is in any way bad. As I write this, the music of the Swedish pop group ABBA is undergoing another revival, and House is like ABBA's music—catchy and light—while Gatsby is as deep and rich as any serious music you prefer.
 
House is about a young man from the American East—Boston, to be exact—who is forced by his family to go to Hawaii to "rescue" an aunt, only to find himself and the aunt while there. Oh, and the love of his life, too. And did I mention adventure? Lots of adventure.
 
The famous Detective Chan is treated with great respect in the novel, and although he is its spiritual focus (in more ways than one), his actual role in the story is slight. This is really a novel written in the popular style, and it just happens to be a mystery that includes a detective who becomes very, very famous. After he becomes a movie star.
 
Hawaii is described tenderly but with passion, and it is more than a bit interesting that our young Bostonian hero eventually departs for San Francisco rather than stay in Hawaii, but I suspect that that is because Biggers did the same thing and, besides, it leaves Hawaii to Charlie Chan and more adventures with different people.
 
As I write this, only House among the Chan novels is available "new," and that only through Amazon's Kindle ebook. The rest are available to the scholar, of course, as countless old printings exist. They are not stories for us modern people. Times have changed, and the styles of writing have, too. Nevertheless, I read House with great delight, and saw even without study of the subject that J.P. Marquand—a far more respected writer than was Biggers—based his Mr Moto stories upon the style of the Chan novels. In each, the story focusses on an American abroad, usually in China or some exotic Pacific location (Hawaii!). He gets into trouble, there is a woman, and in the nick of time, Charlie Chan or Mr Moto appears, and all will eventually be well. But not without some adventure and imagination.
 
Long live Charlie Chan!

Michael Broschat, August 2008