Behind That Curtain

"The moment has charm." -- Charlie Chan

Earl Derr Biggers wrote in a style which lent itself to romance as well as mystery. Perhaps only M.M. Kaye blended the two as perfectly as Biggers. His greatest creation, Charlie Chan, is in romantic San Francisco in Behind That Curtain, but he can feel the trade winds of Hawaii calling him back to Honolulu for the birth of his eleventh child. Yet the romance of a misty San Francisco filled with the Orient beckon him to remain long enough to solve a crime.

Bill Rankin is the reporter bringing the visiting sleuth from Honolulu, together with Scotland Yard's, Sir Frederic Bruce, to write a feature based on their exploits. But it is Frederic's regrets in connection with an unsolved murder, and the show more seemingly unrelated disappearance of Eve Durand from India nearly 15 years prior, that haunt their conversation. Barry Kirk and the pretty young D.A. he's immediately smitten with, June Morrow, plead for Charlie to stay when Sir Frederic is murdered. There are as many suspects to ponder over as there are mysterious clues. But which is that elusive "essential clue" so beloved by Scotland Yard?

Charlie initially wants no part in the investigation. Only once onboard the S.S. Maui does Charlie overhear a conversation which has him rushing down the gangplank to join Barry and June. Captain Flannery's methods, however, are as heavy-handed as Charlie's are subtle. Charlie discovers evidence of two other missing young women, and suspects a possible connection to yet another unsolved murder. How does a world famous adventurer fit into the picture? Are the slippers the essential clue, or something else? In the end, of course, our favorite detective from the Islands realizes the clue has been there all along.

Behind That Curtain has so much atmosphere it washes over the reader like a sudden rain shower. San Francisco during the '20s is alive with cable cars, and quaint bungalows for shelter from the rain, beneath the delicate pen of Earl Derr Biggers. Dark passages and murder do exist in Biggers's mysteries, but he always allows the elegant Chan to guide us away from danger, and towards romance.

There is an innocence to the romance between Barry and June indicative of another time, as is the writing style of Biggers. Both Biggers and his creation, Charlie Chan, are at the top of their game here, funny and wise. The final scenes hold humor and a dash of romance. Behind That Curtain offers one of the most charming endings of any entry in the Charlie Chan canon. A must read for those who like their mysteries very old-fashioned, and a bit on the romantic side. show less

By far the best mystery yet of the three Charlie Chan novels I have read. And not only the mystery. Even the perspective of the book is thrown in doubt and then tossed into the air repeatedly. As with the first two books, I expected the main protagonist to be yet another White man, with Charlie working behind the scenes. But Behind That Curtain changes things up quite a bit. At first, it seems as if this is the story of Bill Rankin, the reporter. But Rankin quickly disappears into the background. Then, we're introduced to Barry Kirk. Aha! The typical hero of the first two novels—a wealthy socialite in pursuit of a reluctant young woman. But, no, that doesn't work out either. Then, just for a second, it seems as if we're centering in show more on the young woman, Asst. D.A. June Morrow. But not really. Yes, it seems, finally, that it's Charlie Chan who is driving the action. And that is mostly true, although Kirk and Morrow continue to have their moments. It's all just another part of the puzzle, really, that Earl Derr Biggers has given us. And it also marks another point in the evolution of the Charlie Chan character. Here, he is standing all alone, solving his case despite the interference, doubts, and outright deception on the part of almost everyone else—including Charlie's relatives and fellow Chinese in San Francisco's Chinatown.

The setting? It almost fits to a tee the model for the classical detective story. Somehow, Biggers has put his reader in the teeming metropolis of San Francisco but also managed to isolate his characters in a bungalow atop a modern skyscraper. A few trips occur—to the D.A.'s office, a club, some restaurants, Chinatown, and some residences. But things always come back to the bungalow, which is almost as lonely and remote as any country house, where whodunits so often take place. There is even a butler in this story. Hard-boiled versus Classic detective. Elements of both exist--although Charlie is certainly no anti-hero. And the hard-boiled, as a genre, was just getting started. Clever man, Biggers.

By this point in the series, Chan is not only endearing, he is someone comforting. With Charlie on the case, things cannot help but work out to the reader's satisfaction. And, yes, it doesn't spoil the plot to say that Kirk gets the girl at the end. A Charlie Chan novel is nothing, if not cathartic. show less

I'm developing rather a fondness for Charlie Chan. This was the third of the six books Biggers wrote that featured the detective. Poor Charlie is still stranded in San Francisco, hoping to go home to greet the birth of his eleventh child, eighth son. But, a day or so before he is to leave, he gets invited to a dinner party, one of whose guests is a famous Scotland Yard detective. The dinner party is to feature films taken by a famous English explorer who has been everywhere, Tibet, the Gobi Desert, the Amazon. You name it, he's been there. Well, the movies drag on. There appears to be a bit of shuffling here and there, but people appear mostly to sit through it. But then, a woman guest sees someone fleeing down the fire escape. So they show more investigate the room below and discover that the Scotland Yard guy has been shot through the head. So, Charlie gets sucked into helping figure out what happened.

It's interesting that the Charlie Chan books, not only feature a Chinese detective, i.e. someone who isn't your standard white-man hero common to virtually all books from that era (except a few featuring white women or white children), but also all of them, so far, have included a prominent character who is an intelligent, independent, working woman. Drop-dead gorgeous, of course, but still, not just arm candy, a secretary, or a house wife. In this book, the young woman in question is the assistant DA, i.e. a lawyer no less. I'm imagining she is like my new daughter-in-law, a intelligent and lovely young woman with a law degree and licensed to practice in New York and New Jersey. All of which, of course, makes the book even more fun. show less

Fairly entertaining old school mystery if you can put aside the racism and misogyny ... honestly, it's not as bad as many from that period particularly considering the main character. The plot was a bit convoluted and parts of the story seem formulaic in line with the first two of the series that I've read. But it is good for mostly mindless entertainment and a look in to another time and place.

“Missing Women and a Pair of Chinese Slippers”

Behind that Curtain, a newly reprinted edition of Earl Derr Biggers third Charlie Chan mystery brings the bygone era of San Francisco in the 1920s vividly back to life. I love these Charlie Chan stories that are so full of humor and portrayal of a time when life, and murder mysteries, were of a simple yet highly enjoyable style.

Our Hawaiian sleuth is on vacation for a week on the mainland, and is presented with a telegram that his wife has just delivered his 11th child and that he must make haste in his return as soon as possible. On his last evening in the big city, he is invited to a social dinner at the request of Barry Kirk, a business man who Charlie had met during his stay. At show more this elegant event are also a Hollywood movie actress, a famous adventure explorer, and Sir Frederic Bruce, a retired head of Scotland Yard who was visiting following up on some research of an old case he was never able to solve in his career. In addition to the dinner, this group was also entertained with movies taken from the explorer’s recent jaunt to Tibet. The conversation over dinner led to Sir Frederic informing the guests that many years ago, the most daunting case of his career occurred. The only unsolved crime that he was never able to let go in his mind, was that of a British woman on vacation with her husband in India that suddenly went missing, never to be found. In addition, two other women over the years had also gone missing in the same curious manner, one minute there, the next poof, just gone.

While the guests enjoy the films of Tibet, they hear a gunshot below, and the mystery begins with Sir Frederic Bruce being murdered in cold blood within Barry Kirk’s living quarters beneath them. He is oddly found wearing a pair of Chinese Slippers, slippers that had also gone missing in India with the woman that had disappeared 15 years prior. Barry pleads with Charlie to stay and assist with the case instead of returning to Hawaii, trusting that if anyone can figure out the puzzle it would be his friend Charlie Chan. Our sly Chinese philosopher detective agrees to remain for a period of one week until all clues are gathered and a criminal is apprehended.

In a crazy Columbo-like style of crime solving, this fun mystery delivers many interesting characters, an ingenious plot with a few red herrings to keep you on your toes, and provides a few hours of light and easy detective entertainment. Charlie’s method of “watchful waiting” and responses akin to that of Buddha will have you on the sofa turning pages with a smile on your face, and unable to stop until the phrase THE END arrives on the last page. The only word I can come up with for the Charlie Chan mysteries is “delightful”. As Mikey used to say in the old Life cereal television commercials “Try it, you’ll like it”. show less

This one was a little harder to get into than the first two, but it eventually gets moving.
The language and dialog and mannerisms are obviously very dated but the reveal of the killer and the mystery itself are quite good.

Third in the Charlie Chan series. He is considered such a stereotype that a modern collection of Asian-American fiction is called Charlie Chan is Dead, but I think that may owe more to the movies (which the little I have seen were pretty silly) rather than the books in which he is a serious and respected figure --in this one, he meets a retired Scotland Yard leading detective with mutual respect, and takes over the Yard man's case when he is killed.