The House Without a Key

2021 Reprint of the 1925 Edition. In this first Charlie Chan mystery a violent killing occurs in a beach house in Wikiki. The mosquito netting has been slashed. One of the richest men in Hawaii is discovered lying on his side a knife through his heart a lizard running up his chest leaving a crimson trail on his pajamas.Set in 1920s Hawaii the novel acquaints the reader with the look and feel of the islands from the standpoint of both white and non-white inhabitants describing social class structures and customs of the era.Young John Quincy Winterslip a proper Bostonian helps Charlie Chan the noted Chinese detective find out who murdered genial old Dan Winterslip after entering his Waikiki Beach home without a key.--Novelist.I would put Charlie Chan among the ten best fictional detectives. Rex Stout