The House Without a Key
3.5/5
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About this ebook
The House Without A Key is the first of the Charlie Chan mysteries. Atmospheric and entertaining, Biggers shows you a side of Hawaii that few will ever see.
John Quincy Winterslip travels from Boston to convince his aunt Minerva to end her extended vacation and come home. Nothing in his upper-class background could have prepared him for what he finds in Hawaii. Despite being engaged, Winterslip falls under the spell of the islands and meets an attractive young woman with whom he quickly falls in love. Almost immediately, he finds himself embroiled in a murder mystery. Nothing about his life will ever be the same.
Earl Derr Biggers
Earl Derr Biggers (1884-1933) was an American novelist and playwright. Born in Ohio, Biggers went on to graduate from Harvard University, where he was a member of The Harvard Lampoon, a humor publication for undergraduates. Following a brief career as a journalist, most significantly for Cleveland-based newspaper The Plain Dealer, Biggers turned to fiction, writing novels and plays for a popular audience. Many of his works have been adapted into film and theater productions, including the novel Seven Keys to Baldpate (1913), which was made into a Broadway stage play the same year it was published. Towards the end of his career, he produced a highly popular series of novels centered on Honolulu police detective Charlie Chan. Beginning with The House Without a Key (1925), Biggers intended his character as an alternative to Yellow Peril stereotypes prominent in the early twentieth century. His series of Charlie Chan novels inspired dozens of films in the United States and China, and has been recognized as an imperfect attempt to use popular media to depict Chinese Americans in a positive light.
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Reviews for The House Without a Key
112 ratings9 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There's been a lot of articles about the Charlie Chan movies recently, so I went to my library and found the first novel featuring Charlie Chan. Except for the strange dialects of English Biggers puts in the mouths of Chan and other Asian-American and Hawaiian characters, this mystery is very good, well-plotted and well-written. Biggers plausibly includes multiple suspects and clues, and quite a bit of backstory.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bigger beautifully creates the post monachy/ prestate hawaii and gives us a first glimpse of Chalie Chan. Good mysterie to boot.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The story takes place in the early 1920's Hawaii in Honolulu surrounding the murder of a wealthy man. A side story is that of a young man who has come from the chilly Boston area to the lovely tropical islands that are either buffeted by Kona winds or soothed by trade winds and he finds a a new world. I had a great time reading this book easily finding myself transported back to the era described in the book even as they bemoaned the fact that Hawaii had changed beyond recognition !! That damned mechanical civilization! Good bye to the day of Hawaiian stevedores on the docks who wore leis on their hats and had ukelelis in their hands. No need for finger prints etc. , understand the people.
I can't wait to read the next. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5this is a charming introduction to the classic detective Charlie Chan. He springs from Derr Biggers' pen fully formed and ready to solve the mystery presented to him in this novel. Chan was the author's answer to the preponderance of "Yellow Peril" Asian villains on the time and is loosely based on an actual detective that Derr Biggers met. The series is a must for fans of golden Age detective stories. The mystery involves the murder of a rich socialite who has made a home in Hawaii and leads back to family secrets best left uncovered. Well written and entertaining.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The first in a series of re-prints--Enjoyed the plot, interesting characters and flawless descriptions of Hawaii--but, not enough Chan in this story...perhaps he will play a bigger role in the upcoming novels...I hope so...but, this is good enough to keep any mystery fan happy.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The first Charlie Chan novel. A very enjoyable read and a great example of a Golden Age mystery set in Hawaii. The romantic angle can telegraph the ending, but all in all, a book worth a reread.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a fun mystery. There is a wide range of characters whose paths have crossed in 1925 Hawaii. Thanks to the older characters we even get a taste of 1880s Hawaii. The victim's history is interesting . There is a little romance. I always loved Charlie Chan movies. I now understand his quirky but eloquent speech. He just loves words. And English has given him an almost unlimited amount to string together. I love words too and I can see how you could want to use new words but not care about new grammar.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The first Charlie Chan novel, more a love letter to Hawaii (and San Francisco) than a mystery. POV characters are proper Bostonians (ant and nephew) being seduced by the Hawaiian climate and lifestyle. Victim is their cousin, a successful Pacific trader with a mysterious and somewhat sinister past. AS I've said several times, I like best the Chan novels like this set in Hawaii in the 1920s when the monarchy was still remembered.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the very first Charlie Chan mystery, published originally in 1925. I thought it might be fun, but I was very pleasantly surprised at how interesting and well written it was. This book is an intelligent murder mystery, with some nice physical descriptions of Hawaii, and some believable, interesting characters, as well. Don't get me wrong, it's not great literature. But it is high-quality detective fiction with a protagonist (not Chan) going through some interesting, if predictable, changes.