Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

The Chinese Parrot
The Chinese Parrot
The Chinese Parrot
Ebook316 pages4 hours

The Chinese Parrot

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

()

Read preview

About this ebook

A mysterious millionaire with a penchant for strange pets takes a flyer on a string of pearls and finds that death is the broker. Charlie Chan embarks on an incognito journey across the desert to find the answer to a question – a question posed by a dead parrot who spoke in Chinese . . .

Chan dons a disguise and goes undercover to solve a complex triple intrigue of fake identity, kidnapping and murder.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 30, 2013
ISBN9781448213122
The Chinese Parrot
Author

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.

Read more from Earl Derr Biggers

Related to The Chinese Parrot

Related ebooks

Cozy Mysteries For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for The Chinese Parrot

Rating: 3.6610168745762715 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

59 ratings3 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Personally, I prefer the Charlie Chan mysteries set in Hawaii, but this one is set during a visit to California, with Chan investigating a murder on a ranch, where one of the witnesses is a Chinese parrot (which gets killed itself if I recall rightly -I read it years ago.)
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A weak Charlie Chan. Charlie is on vacation but is asked by an old friend to deliver some expensive jewels to a new buyer. Charlie and the jeweler’s son, Bob Eden, travel into the desert to complete the transaction but mysterious things seem to be happening and Charlie is determined to get to the bottom of it before turning over the pearls. In the process, Charlie has to disguise himself as a cook and his dialogue, which is stylized to begin with ("All time big Pacific Ocean suffer sharp pain down below, and toss about to prove it. Maybe from sympathy, I am in same fix."), becomes almost incomprehensible ("Maybe you wantee catch 'um moah fiah, hey, boss?"). Charlie’s part is actually much smaller than that of Bob Eden but it is a pleasant enough story with a little romance thrown in for good measure.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The twist at the end salvaged the story for me because the goings on were not making sense although I liked the main good guys. I use that term because there was a Western flavor to the action.

Book preview

The Chinese Parrot - Earl Derr Biggers

dbook_preview_excerpt.html}|[#GrVF՘~t/iMk]iM&| Y`> ~"!m@Zv2+L1|Dxq|5NCoݛOXqՇ0 i~O?㿼jpP=-//|̇cӶM3WW޼m׸:8)~H]5 ~b~= 1LUmNx~pӐp&^oJ}aoH}4Vg6>VO]&LlmĶj<.qi84f:V!8%JCq?MMujsћ7> ^yj#Oծó ; ӄ?V]3T[j˭5)v;Tm=rqqO V:M̫mO[^ak]egǣn>awi>!!!>xO5g=6<qk=4xD 4qBGݦ46hK.[IЩ)x.4\>>=wi50\ʖ[@s[T7_7zshrڡZxG>}m8TErL=پp3nNŶ4|tG A˰K > "ppk}-' ɗ0>6i2Eqfk0cGȆ5x}n'mǼnAM{oQ%z"s 7[íC+A@C&>py?a@$TOY]+m1cl`ZxI Ct|%扩'c3w#>9VG u/8٬{Q.?)/ČA8'N@X֡k@0!Jq%<=7r CܵqqohY>)4n%X!YcG { )))1vAgqN4AV15AIn6(j(G3LTl@Y wJi??$$+u)qǼv et7ݑ q$Va +f~CB3^|re=T /jp%Wɽ9_I# ct8dFju6_ Lp # )8@"EJ񢌌K{Q0MẀ dC sqwD:enM)/'c ^KxY;!twqz'aJf/{Õ!g!$"((vnh>\ޝe@G#0Q gќ FRo`♀nW5{ӎJGqҮE׊mXo~1).Z^ ;3WdˈK-wO<=C"C8,>;AU1\*[b8^KA>0W*/+JIM6s5 mc%D0OabmW&(Ğvܾ'fOn-kXǹ>M^^l/$탆e ӆQn/kP@ji (γ0]0"j]\ :*l$J2&moG^Ȅ 1+hwpo;*iInu"S<)(4<\!~[:yy'0U|dN}rゞ Y]T^̏a谍Yi`w*\G:ЛǟÅERr9DiLDPk'Jb,yxtBz'x[A}ϣDg3:J-2]Sì'f/T.(izSߕb Y!C %5GvUL1V*(.Ȁ.RAEJ$y$8CŲ,NPyݨ)&b! \R(rĦ[C v`/Hrw*"\ړ;lۺ3 9_],wklQT,N+‡%4}V }$W["r2W-J6-hZFt1Ec}h@^1;aT:Sydď>ɺ\kPNT]o-6SF%0p#wʲ/I{!*Q2Z-[mfr+r^XRC{] =<]}p.-%Dؽ/wbOr8k,nF2-Ju sɂT3Լ`T*00J;ƶ%] oмO,U1H"Q;a>{)*HͺC,yu4qF<p OBAoiI-y"k1O}0#\tvW >V:}Kg~#F鯷'vLc~uI)mvf]fPPNJ45>sDsREq:^e;V;%⡵s&0+xL!G-u5 xm:UMifM*Okv֨k\^4"0Rεn"=V{L7 J̺< qe)3_^~uu`r-L+&%;x{N֊[K*٬~Hp z\[LXD#:0:oȚO۪Xͪ&/ _Gڌd~>ⴴbՋU:h;@f*TTP`vk~l\U%}{C 9}NܨIzuÌfNM8N=eylBˁkˮ0<>ٙثr?Wax+Y'[f5Xw/JP48eX-l*!dWw݌J PcWi)jV%ѐ@y?OG%e!BA&V$-**Agڏq-qގqxaw: e"9XL0.BS;@eTW_+ E3F4w& $Z1L6ŐWv,:^UD҄ 9+:]Tm}PW%>^n2*[ @9/!&Lv`_&/DO+$(s8:>6C=Ay<+fA`cZ^Yi<(ulJ^U}PuqDknKp+j"I0hr$s *щ.T֎Mϳ=x&5m$܂؃oVW^*.G awv\E܀וH>9n3j>j؆bLC"fԏṅztMn8BaUh$|5nŗH \8͛om9"Jܢ~D)yŅJ)P^u7k␬ME U0y'3ctA@Ρ  0֪jLVDKWz+4zHҶD,U߶,E?ۿGAPCa ocBtDj/8cTe%@iuNբ^}NJmwdR &xMfkyӏX *vdb} &^>Qڛcn\+(GzDeȀgS4AxGրuca.󸦲J1'\ tї*tśIXbpO $̀pfRʃNdVǙDX5 2ߘc8NFĖ#SPl`Ŗ9Rܰ3 FoL2\*z;]9~d$m l^]BH]De"ѪWXwl&Pf!Ѽ#?F )#YĪҝV cзУ9^i!$Fnw@<^,M\@L[tbmD W0^aW\pE׸Mkyl"6։ \Sn8КEIזyNemt o$-> %p6(]6c5sZgȒ?fP܋P)Q>h Wla6<BhQ yC,y)-~U[= fZ7{>XrIdwÈhv5? +bn;_򉺛|((9>l뚀S[Įm!IW A/xM%>84_T]\[lѾW6k\TMtC=W\lDㅭQ4%:O8HV3bkUyx2+>z[[돍#F?R_lg ֳ[ł eXCdD%\|%!М7opsO~f?t>M+@{KSH͔Qg2q?I.5 mT"1{¼q<޸et2!p}pVik8YU(gM|ncٞj?ˆL41ZyxL5_,ulƛa7+^9 Ln%Bخ44y;B=9YMsJ]5Yc@̌v5Z4|\M?ϯEo ͛2~?IӪi4ΛNMS|l]дtݜ>;1Oj'$7Qg~ Fn)υI(x5ue. z.}]r.19LJpuX)hn+wE eR72-&V ]sg ˅e!zqL]ܷ9"˨>H.5#=[(K SW,9IcSIe:gm>M4}]C)C/ >{F]p͔]Oűj>rdDWz6\'`Q9/mÇMu%/5]'qK½vNrj+n!}Od̎1W2!/)MnoTif% K:J>R[{S9ow 8z]X,?W_p1Fkf,(Y%iQ6j,=i{d~KH%V!†8ٕcrhf?GM7s:Pk7!((/x:탆GR|)ZRߛB5s~\{tey죰1 ؽ&[VOc :Od' 9q+U9S;#.Xy -mEW/ܪܕvc1)#ڭ㠙Jʩ`>"x 2IijlP!en|L' 1?2DSH^o1Iu_Xڕ!Ucy'kTmSNפ\VpT:>! K|++:5 /hV\_c2m lr&C% a\å]s&dji&|rW4pdz^ zR>r߮f[OljmDy;Q`aܞ[?ӵv%Ddߵ`8Ty&s{QxDT(:VT 2x&IꄷO7uqu`TžPY)3k{}T<=R2t7ܒ-;}1)en~63pOgZO lGw7JAPױ૞̬xӉi@ȮGX܌ ܝCJ]JE6N noWU2Y[IJ$ҋ(*7Yս!o4.aRB}%d_0h97k!|R5/nJ|VWzuuۘyhX|aǛ(0Cx =wg^Uu>nIZ'x}ÇI𚿡m1,O^ }&hZTg!֍^@VcfEv4Z!)CzM{70 wc|r+2IU8 9_KpXرJU0G~woh[?n/դoa؀O/#?,MJ Kŗ,_4<4Õ3g-Z՛&cJZfWe:5YK˜Yni. TQ`Xj6@ȫYz&FEݱ3RIV4)Lhѻfj~#Y <:\_Y7~#Sm.|@ȪRTNw_SWcޕ%g)\ҧMB+_ Ȝa=KުlPrl"3k.Х* \)> YWcoy稾/Fb %Xu S:;dΗ}띜<@GKyz<[5K ^;pt]E/dTeR`ѳMm*Pk(+NRϾyiks7xb.%ɀsvwH/ty&|&6+ȼ(`;}jǪio_=,^wi\!}D2ln]^zM_Ka%;_PZ}s ;UfCrO!Y\>*% s/ J+*1b5(˕3&<:6Zg1w OH"BߑXaa)e/":xmͮAvbj7ڶF61)㧸\>$˷m:{G:CP4 M|9 o+aʭk0]'XihhM<ֻ [Oab4rEL{dg^Q[iO= sn=̟;Umrׯ`~-HOzIú=aExypJCr޳)b'6󇈗飯qbXwӿx: D CEu`YMDcS)b4T>~9ܾ5>PF84XPR?v.N\=rfaӀ +V'}sϒ,gV; j'-kCOK(Qf``
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1