Win BIG! Play the ponies at Australia’s Melbourne Cup with Charlie Chan.
I believe it started around 20 years ago, when Charlie Chan Family Home Webmaster (and apparent Tycoon) Mr. Rush Glick started giving away a cash-prize each November during Australia’s Melbourne Cup Horse Race: the price of a bet…IT’S FREE! Each year, the first Tuesday of November (November 7th this year) Australians gather for the Melbourne…
Mission Improbable: Slovakia & The Czech Repubic to find the four lost Chan Films
Good morning Mr./Ms. (your name here.) Your mission is to take a team to Slovakia and The Czech Republic to locate and retrieve the remaining lost Charlie Chan films. The following was intercepted surrounding the film Charlie Chan in Paris on Rush Glick’s Charlie Chan Family Home site and explains why: “…Charlie Chan in Paris was…
May Day is Lei Day in Hawai’i.
May Day (May 1st to celebrate spring) holds a special significance in the Land of Aloha. Because May Day is Lei Day in Hawai’i! A holiday to honor the tradition of sharing or giving a lei was the brainchild of poet Don Blanding, known as the “Poet Laureate of Hawai‘i.” In 1927 he came up with…
This December a Grand Lady turns 80: The USS Arizona, Pearl Harbor, HI
In Charlie Chan in Panama (1940) the USS Arizona can be seen sailing through The Panama Canal. On film, Detective Charlie Chan was there to thwart efforts by suspect foreign agents to sabotage the U.S. Fleet. However, even he couldn’t protect this Lady from the deadly surprise attack to actually take place the following year…in…
Need a place to write that mystery? Seven Keys Lodge in Colorado has a history of mystery!
This month we’re celebrating Ohio Author Earl Derr Biggers 137th birthday (August 26, 1884) with a look at Seven Keys Lodge in Estes Park, Colorado. The lodge bears tribute to Biggers, but one surprisingly not related to his fictional Detective Charlie Chan! Rather, built in 1917 it pays homage to Biggers’ first successful mystery novel,…
A 70-year old Hawaiian tradition; one I sorely miss!
Heading to Hawaii anytime soon? Skip the Luau and try The Friends of the Library of Hawaii bookstore sale in Kakaako on the Island of Oahu! While living 14 years on the islands, I looked forward to this annual event like Christmas or a birthday. One of the oldest continuously running book sales in the…
Everyone remembers their first time! Mine–October 2012.
This year the 51st Anniversary Bouchercon is being held Virtually, October 16 – 17, 2020 from Sacramento California. So I’m breaking my once-monthly blog rule to share my first time with you… The fall of 2012, I attended my first Bouchercon (famed world mystery convention.) I was ecstatic it was being held in my hometown…
Charlie Chan's trip to China – March 22, 1936!
Buried deep within the annals of mystery fiction, it is written Detective Charlie Chan was once as recognized a fictional character as Superman, Tarzan, or Mickey Mouse. Within literature he emerged as one of America’s first, new breed of detectives–on par with S. S. Van Dine’s Detective Philo Vance, Dashiell Hammett’s The Continental Op, Sam…
PUNAHAO, home to the night-blooming Cereus Flower!
Having grown up in the Midwest (Ohio) I vividly recall the harsh winters of my youth, standing outside in the ice and snow shivering as I waited for the school bus to arrive. Following that, 19 more years of snow, boots, jackets and gloves in Upstate New York and Central Germany. So it was exhilarating…
Will the REAL Charlie Chan please step forward.
What’s that you ask, “a REAL Detective Chan?” Yes, there was actually a living, breathing person, who inspired Author Earl Derr Biggers and served as the “spark” for his fictional Detective Charlie Chan. Now I realize “most of you” reading this already knew that! However, take a glimpse at two special sites and see if…
Those Charlie Chan Eateries!
Ah November-December, the year’s end approaches and dining-out at festive gatherings abounds! Why not step away from the customary turkey or ham that will no doubt be proffered you this holiday, and get a little adventurous! There still exists a few Charlie Chan establishments in operation! Here are those I could find open and some…
Charlie Chan at the Museum! Not the movie; Cleveland and Honolulu Police Museums.
I have a confession…I’m a philatelist. There I said it! Yes, I collect stamps. More specific, for a while I was hell bent on making my own cachet envelopes (that’s an envelope with a picture that’s stamped, printed, or embossed below the return address). I made them to have first day postmarks cancelled on them…
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…
Warren, Ohio’s month-long celebration of Author Earl Derr Biggers, March 2018
Most of us familiar with the fictional sleuth Charlie Chan are aware he was created by Author Earl Derr Biggers, born Warren, Ohio, August 26, 1884. To my great surprise, while glancing through the Warren-Trumbull County Library’s website I saw under their “One Book/One Community” program, their title book for March 2018 was none other than…
The Postman on Holiday 