Get “schooled” in the land of Chan with this OLLI 5-week course at Univ. of Minnesota!
Where were you on the night of April 3rd, 2024 at 12:30PM? Well OK, that’s actually in the afternoon but I was trying to be melodramatic. However, if you were not at the University of Minnesota’s, St. Paul Campus, Magrath Library, Room 4, then you likely missed Len Freeman’s course, Charlie Chan and Friends. Yes…
We finally have one! A Charlie Chan Pastiche true to Earl Derr Biggers original novels.
Here’s some exciting news for mystery buffs, who’ve longed for someone to dare follow up with a true Charlie Chan novel. A new mystery to carry on with Author Biggers’ storyline. We have it now in: Death, I Said: A Charlie Chan Mystery by John L. Swann” Nicholas K. Burns Publishing, NY, 2023 Both I,…
A Christmas Greeting to all from Cleveland, Ohio.
Isn’t it great today we have iPhones, Androids, Ipads and GPS. No need to bring a passenger along on a road trip to unfold that map and give you the wrong directions. A simple smart phone will get you anywhere. Still, at some point you’ll need to look up and see if you’re on the…
October is National Book Month! Hmm…what to read?
Well considering you’ve landed here, I really must put in a pitch (to those who never read them) for the six original Charlie Chan novels. We’ll get to that later. However, first let me share four destinations to visit when picking out your next mystery read! Watch for the “Hint” following each destination. 1. JANET…
Book Release: The Wisdom Within Earl Derr Biggers’ Charlie Chan. Finally!
“Why, Mr. Chan here is a detective, isn’t he? A detective on a vacation. If you’ve ever read a mystery story you know that a detective never works so hard as when he’s on a vacation. He’s like the postman who goes for a long walk on his day off.” Bob Eden, The Chinese Parrot, 1926,…
Lucky you live Hawaii! That is unless you are like Mr. Smith, the beachcomber.
Beachcomber: traveler, wander, loafer, hobo, vagabond, tramp, homeless person. If you’ve read the fourth Charlie Chan novel, The Black Camel (1929), then you are familiar with “Smith, the beachcomber.” Mr. Archie Smith a hopeful artist returning from the South Seas painting the scenery, got off a passing vessel intending to leave Hawaii. However, he got…
Gol Darn it! That black camel was “unbid,” not “unbidden.”
OK, I admit it, goldarn is actually one word. But I already typed it (and I like it better separated) so we’ll leave that alone. However, what REALLY irks me is a famous misquote I hear–and see–over and over again! Here is the quote from the 1929 novel, The Black Camel. Charlie Chan has just…
Birds of a feather: Tony the Parrot & Cookie the Cockatoo.
History doth repeat itself! Once upon a time Author Earl Derr Biggers wrote a novel, The Chinese Parrot (1926). This second in the Detective Charlie Chan series featured an Australian Gray Parrot named “Tony,” who spoke–you guessed it–Chinese. And in more recent times Biggers’ biographer, Author Barbara Gregorich, wrote about another bird: the sensation of…
The Chinese Cat (1944): a nod to The Maltese Falcon (1941)?
Cats are famous (or infamous depending on your point of view) for chasing birds. With stealth-like prowess the cat remains still as a statue until the unsuspecting bird, detecting no movement, feels safe. Then…they pounce! So is the case we have here with the Charlie Chan film The Chinese Cat (1944), Monogram Pictures Corporation. Here…
“Calling all cars. Calling all cars!” Be on the lookout for book titled: Romantic Moon.
World Book Night is April 23, 2022 (Yes, that was no slip of the pen…Book Night!) We are on a mission and YOU may be our last hope! Members of the Charlie Chan Family Home have been searching for either the book or an explanation of the book jacket titled, Romantic Moon. It can be…
Who’s your pick to next portray Charlie Chan at the box office?
Impossible? Or perhaps inevitable we will see the return of Charlie Chan on film? If you think no one’s thought about it here are two attempts (though they never came about) to feature Russell Wong (1997) and Lucy Liu (2006) as additions to the Chan Family. But I’ll be candid! I’m not speaking of the…
Book review by Author Barbara Gregorich: Charlie Chan Carries On (1930)
Last month I suggested four summertime reads, but ended on this note, “should a reader prefer all his or her murders served-up on one delicious plate, just read the fifth Charlie Chan novel, Charlie Chan Carries On (1930.)” Here is a wonderful review by someone who has read that novel at least four times, and…
North, South, East, or West, summertime sleuthing can be best!
“Are you an ‘Eastsider’ or ‘Westsider’?” I often heard that question growing up in Cleveland, Ohio. As a young boy living in the “southern burbs” I never gave it much thought. It wasn’t until much later I realized it meant do you hail from the east- or west-side of the Cuyahoga River. The river divides…
No, Chien this time…not Chan!
Like most of us Detective Charlie Chan, Mrs. Chan and their 11 children have sheltered-in-place, weathering the pandemic at thier home on Punchbowl Hill. However, he did manage to send this message via wireless telegraph: World situation worsens [STOP] Humbly suggest you offer faithful followers alternative to only six detective novels of self [STOP] Deepest…
Chan & Holmes, two sides of a coin – a comparison and contrast!
“Being from different eras and cultures, any ‘rivalry’ between the two detectives would probably be something akin to soccer (football) and baseball…both are popular across the globe, but are unique in their following!” — Rush Glick, Webmaster The Charlie Chan Family Home The above statement by Mr. Glick is a good analogy and so true.…
Meet Lily Wu…Who? The female Charlie Chan.
With February the month for flowers, candy, and valentines, it’s appropriate we take a look at author Juanita Sheridan’s fictional sleuth Ms. Lily Wu, and her cohort, novelist Janice Cameron. World famous mystery-fiction critic, editor, and author Anthony Boucher (eponym for the world’s leading mystery convention, Bouchercon) adored Sheridan’s fictional Lily Wu; dubbing her The…
The true, sad events surrounding actor Otto Yamaoka; “Kashimo” from Chan film, The Black Camel.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 9066: The President Authorizes Japanese Relocation, (February 19, 1942) Actor Otto Yamaoka was an American citizen, born 1904 in Seattle, WA. Until the 1940s he had a successful career in film, staring in no less than 31 films. He would act in some film classics: The letter (1940), Thin Ice (1937), Libeled Lady…
KILLER COVERS: a blog by J. Kingston Pierce – Under the Covers with Charlie Chan
You can’t always judge a book by it’s cover. Well, maybe not; however, those “KILLER COVERS” can certainly help sell books! And that is the very name of a super-cool blog I recently discovered by J. Kingston Pierce! Titled KILLER COVERS it is a companion to another blog edited by Mr. Pierce, The Rap Sheet. (one of the…
Two World-Class Sleuths: One Small Burg – Warren, Ohio
“Mr. Chan, allow me introduce Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, who also holds title as 8th Earle of Asherton. Lord Lynley, meet our guest Inspector Charlie Chan of the Honolulu police.” “Hello Inspector Chan,” said Lynley. “Your reputation precedes you. I’ve heard many accounts of your accolades from our mutual friend, Inspector…
The Chinese Parrot…Well, perhaps not!
Author and playwright Earl Derr Biggers was an exceptional “Reconteur” (from Old French meaning to tell). And like any good storyteller he drew from his own experiences and quite often from real life. Here are some real-life associations, comparisons, and even an anagram, which the author may have borrowed from or used in writing his…
So, what-in-the-world is an Aphorism anyway?
When I first decided to write my book, The Wisdom Within Earl Derr Biggers’ Charlie Chan: The Original Aphorisms Inside The Charlie Chan Canon, I pondered that very question for quite some time. The book (in its final stages) is a collection of 175 aphorisms inside the six Charlie Chan novels by Ohio author and…
The Postman on Holiday 