What better way to celebrate Earl Derr Biggers’ 142nd birthday this month, August 24, 1884, than with a new Charlie Chan mystery, Wheels Within Wheels (April 2026!) A train ride from New York Central, a murder on the tracks, a remote Adirondack lodge, and several guest assembled for veiled reasons by a millionaire! This one has a many of the wonderful tropes one finds within a Golden Age mystery–and it doesn’t disappoint.
First, a bit of background about the title: Wheels Within Wheels:
- Biblical Roots: The phrase originates from the Book of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:16) in the Bible. He describes a divine vision of mysterious intersecting wheels, moving in all directions to represent the complex and infinite nature of God’s workings.
- Everyday Usage: Today, it’s used to explain scenarios where a problem appears simple on the surface, but unraveling it reveals layers of bureaucracy, secret conspiracies, or interwoven causes.
In John L. Swann’s fourth of his Charlie Chan Returns series, Detective Chan is directed to journey from Honolulu to New York under pressure from his higher-ups (no less the Governor’s office.) New York business tycoon Fredrick Scanlon, from his forty-fourth floor, oak-paneled office, with fire place, floor to ceiling windows and a drop dead view of Manhattan, has called in a favor to have the Honolulu policeman sent to his remote lodge in the Adirondack mountains. Chan is to observe guests the millionaire has gathered as he believes one or some of them want him murdered. He’s counting on the famous detective’s keen observation skills (Chinese are psychic people) to figure out who that may be!
Charlie departs armed with only the guest list and a brief paragraph description of each guest: the millionaire’s ex-wife and daughter, his rogue ex-brother-in-law, his prior business partner, his estranged doctor once a close friend, a reverend-monsignor once his spiritual advisor, his company’s questionable accountant, a couple he once gave damaging investment advice, and of course Detective Charlie Chan.
So here, as in the book’s title, is a mystery within a mystery for Detective Chan. And indeed there’s more than one murder! Are they connected? Is one of the invited guests a murderer? Or is it the lodge caretaker, his affable assistant, the housekeeper, the cook or even the postman who’s committing these gruesome murders? (no way it’s the postman.) It’s getting cold in the Adirondacks and fall is giving way to the winter and snow. But Charlie Chan has no time to enjoy the beautiful surrounding as death ensues at the onset of the journey; the final train ride to the lodge!
They get better-and-better, and this one is no exception! With each book in his Charlie Chan Returns series, John Swann has brought us serious mysteries worthy to be dubbed Charlie Chan pastiches. The first three of John Swann’s Chan books build upon each other and further develop Biggers characters and their relationships, while keeping true to his novels. However, this one is definitely a stand alone. And for me it read even more characteristic to the originals, as a seventh Biggers Chan novel might!.
You’ll find the detective’s flowery, eloquent speech:
“Death is the wake of death” Chan said to the sheriff. “Like one wave follows another in a rising tide.”
“Blossoms of spring wither as seasons pass,” he said softly. “Who can turn back time?”
Reference to past characters you’ll recognize:
“Chan retrieved from the upper luggage rack his topcoat–a gift from his daughter Rose during his last visit to San Francisco–and joined those gathering outside the train.”
Charlie’s Chan’s wisdom:
Charlie Chan and Sheriff Fairden exchanged glances. “No doubt many questions will be answered in time,” Chan said blandly. “Sometimes a detective’s strength is his patience. “To prepare tea properly, one must wait till the water boils.”
“Progress in a murder investigation appears uncertain at times, like the spinning needle of a searching compass,” Chan nodded. “Eventually it points toward the truth.”
The xenophobia and racism of the times:
“This ramshackle excuse for a hotel,” she went on hotly. “And after all this folderol, you have the temerity to make these ridiculous assertions. You! A–a foreigner! Why, I–”
“Surely you didn’t come here to ask me about my late night habits?” Yantzen taunted, “Cops usually have more important things on their mind. But maybe you’re new to police work–after your career in laundry–“.
And, of course…those lovable aphorisms:
“Fate settles all things, great events and small.”
“When the lamp has no oil the wick is wasted in vain.”
“Appearance sometimes are big liars”
I thoroughly enjoyed John’s first three Charlie Chan mysteries; and it isn’t hyperbole when I say this one’s even more true to form with Biggers detective series, “slowly we proceed we advance.” I highly recommend Wheels Within Wheels as an introduction to his returns series for anyone not too familiar with the original Chan novels. To find out more about Author John L. Swann and his Charlie Chan Returns series, visit him at: https://www.johnlswann.com/.
“But the man with a tongue in his head can always find the way”
(Keeper of The Keys, 1932, Chapter 4)
The Postman on Holiday 