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tallbox's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
tba_95's review against another edition
4.0
1920's American detective novel. Charlie Chan is a "positive" Chinese stereotype yet all his dialogue is filled with errors and strange metaphors.
The mystery was quite good, readable, guessable, enjoyable. Not enough parrot.
The mystery was quite good, readable, guessable, enjoyable. Not enough parrot.
lgpiper's review against another edition
4.0
I liked the first Charlie Chan book so much, I figured I should have a go at the second one. I rather liked it as well. I'm still a bit abashed at the racism in the book, but in a way, it's a product of its time, and in its defense, Charlie Chan is always portrayed as a good a competent person.
This story involves the sale of a very expensive string of pearls from a rich old lady, whose son has pretty much squandered her wealth, to a Wall Street tycoon. The tycoon wants the pearls delivered to his office in New York. Then a day or so later, he insists they be delivered to his ranch out in the Southern California desert. Charlie Chan, who used to be the house boy for the rich old lady, brings the pearls from Hawaii and agrees to deliver them to S. California in concert with the jeweler's son, Bob Eden. Well, one thing leads to another and they get suspicious about the whole deal. Charlie and Eden, travel to the ranch by separate ways. When Eden arrives, Charlie has gone undercover in the guise of a Chinese house boy, complete with all the shuffling around in pajamas and the "no tickee, no shirtee; chop chop" kind of talk common to Chinese in our racist caricatures of them.
Although Charlie and Eden's suspicious were arroused before their getting down to the desert, once there other strange things happen. Tony, the parrot on the ranch, who speaks both English and Chinese, squawks out, "Help, help! Murder! Put down that gun!" Well, except for Polynesia in Dr. Doolittle, parrots only can recite what they've heard. So it would seem that the parrot heard someone being murdered. As a vague confirmation of that, they find a gun missing from the rich man's prize gun collection, and a bullet hole in one of the walls, hidden behind a picture that had obviously recently been moved from its original location. So they think they have a murder, but they have no body (they also never found any signs of blood. They didn't even look for blood. WTF?).
Charlie, tries to learn what other things the parrot might have learned to say, in Chinese or English, but the people in the house chased him away from the parrot. Next thing you know, the parrot is dead and they figure out it's been poisoned. Strange, slightly shifty people begin showing up at the ranch. The rich guy's daughter is due to show up, but then disappears. The rich guy is suddenly withdrawing huge sums of money from the local banks. And so forth. All the while, Charlie and Eden keep having to find ways to stall the handing over of the pearls until they figure out what's going on.
Then, of course, there has to be some romance, right? There's a lovely young woman in the area who spends her time hunting up filming locations for the movie studios. Eden, of course, is smitten by her. She thinks marriage is for the weak minded. She much prefers her freedom to being chained to a stove in the corner of a kitchenette. Does a touch of feminism make up a tiny bit for the racism?
So anyway, if you can shrug off the occasional racism, it's really an intriguing tale with lots of twists and turns and lots of interesting side issues to explore. I'm definitely going to hunt up more Charley Chan.
This story involves the sale of a very expensive string of pearls from a rich old lady, whose son has pretty much squandered her wealth, to a Wall Street tycoon. The tycoon wants the pearls delivered to his office in New York. Then a day or so later, he insists they be delivered to his ranch out in the Southern California desert. Charlie Chan, who used to be the house boy for the rich old lady, brings the pearls from Hawaii and agrees to deliver them to S. California in concert with the jeweler's son, Bob Eden. Well, one thing leads to another and they get suspicious about the whole deal. Charlie and Eden, travel to the ranch by separate ways. When Eden arrives, Charlie has gone undercover in the guise of a Chinese house boy, complete with all the shuffling around in pajamas and the "no tickee, no shirtee; chop chop" kind of talk common to Chinese in our racist caricatures of them.
Although Charlie and Eden's suspicious were arroused before their getting down to the desert, once there other strange things happen. Tony, the parrot on the ranch, who speaks both English and Chinese, squawks out, "Help, help! Murder! Put down that gun!" Well, except for Polynesia in Dr. Doolittle, parrots only can recite what they've heard. So it would seem that the parrot heard someone being murdered. As a vague confirmation of that, they find a gun missing from the rich man's prize gun collection, and a bullet hole in one of the walls, hidden behind a picture that had obviously recently been moved from its original location. So they think they have a murder, but they have no body (they also never found any signs of blood. They didn't even look for blood. WTF?).
Charlie, tries to learn what other things the parrot might have learned to say, in Chinese or English, but the people in the house chased him away from the parrot. Next thing you know, the parrot is dead and they figure out it's been poisoned. Strange, slightly shifty people begin showing up at the ranch. The rich guy's daughter is due to show up, but then disappears. The rich guy is suddenly withdrawing huge sums of money from the local banks. And so forth. All the while, Charlie and Eden keep having to find ways to stall the handing over of the pearls until they figure out what's going on.
Then, of course, there has to be some romance, right? There's a lovely young woman in the area who spends her time hunting up filming locations for the movie studios. Eden, of course, is smitten by her. She thinks marriage is for the weak minded. She much prefers her freedom to being chained to a stove in the corner of a kitchenette. Does a touch of feminism make up a tiny bit for the racism?
So anyway, if you can shrug off the occasional racism, it's really an intriguing tale with lots of twists and turns and lots of interesting side issues to explore. I'm definitely going to hunt up more Charley Chan.
paul_cornelius's review against another edition
3.0
Quite a clever book, this second in the series of Charlie Chan mysteries. Earl Derr Biggers moves from the lush tropical islands of Hawaii, surrounded by their sea of clear waters, in the first novel, to the deserts of Southern California, surrounded by their sea of sand and arid air. A bigger contrast of settings would be impossible to make.
And Biggers has improved on some aspects of the Chan story. The mystery itself is better in this novel. And Charlie himself a stronger character, although he is still secondary, as in the first Chan novel, to the main protagonist. In this case, the protagonist is Bob Eden. And that is where The Chinese Parrot fails to live up to the first book, The House Without a Key. Bob Eden is annoying. Not only does he bumble around, become easily distracted, and constantly fall into childish mood swings, but he also doubts himself--and Charlie. Only through dumb luck, really, does he solve the case. This is markedly different from The House Without a Key, where the protagonist, John Quincy Winterslip, combines with and supports Chan.
The Chinese Parrot is still a wonderful mystery and fun book to read. Its frequent puns alone make for an effective break of the tension. Too bad about Louis Wong and Tony.
And Biggers has improved on some aspects of the Chan story. The mystery itself is better in this novel. And Charlie himself a stronger character, although he is still secondary, as in the first Chan novel, to the main protagonist. In this case, the protagonist is Bob Eden. And that is where The Chinese Parrot fails to live up to the first book, The House Without a Key. Bob Eden is annoying. Not only does he bumble around, become easily distracted, and constantly fall into childish mood swings, but he also doubts himself--and Charlie. Only through dumb luck, really, does he solve the case. This is markedly different from The House Without a Key, where the protagonist, John Quincy Winterslip, combines with and supports Chan.
The Chinese Parrot is still a wonderful mystery and fun book to read. Its frequent puns alone make for an effective break of the tension. Too bad about Louis Wong and Tony.
kathyscottage's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
5.0
frahorus's review against another edition
4.0
Primo giallo di Biggers che leggo e devo dire che mi è piaciuto molto. Innanzitutto la figura dell'investigatore cinese Charlie Chan mi ha subito fatto tanta simpatia, i suoi modi di fare gentili e molto zen, il suo modo paziente di investigare e di riflettere senza prendere subito per buono quello che i vari indizi ti portano a credere. Poi l'ambientazione western nel deserto in cui conosceremo il milionario che vuole questa collana di perle il più presto possibile è stata ben curata e ammetto che fino alla fine, dove poi ci saranno i colpi di scena, l'autore è riuscito a farmi appassionare ai vari misteri da risolvere. Il povero pappagallino farà una brutta fine ma sarà importante per far partire le indagini dei due protagonisti, l'investigatore e il suo amico Eden che si innamora della bella bionda.
Se vi aspettate delitti con sangue e violenza, non è questo il genere di giallo che leggerete, tutto il contrario. E devo dire che questa eccezione ci sta nel genere. Ho letto con rammarico che l'autore americano ha scritto soltanto sei romanzi del ciclo di Charlie Chan, e ovviamente li voglio recuperare tutti!
Se vi aspettate delitti con sangue e violenza, non è questo il genere di giallo che leggerete, tutto il contrario. E devo dire che questa eccezione ci sta nel genere. Ho letto con rammarico che l'autore americano ha scritto soltanto sei romanzi del ciclo di Charlie Chan, e ovviamente li voglio recuperare tutti!
samykookis97's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
shallowgal00's review against another edition
4.0
excellent ~ Charlie Chan in the California desert.
slferg's review against another edition
4.0
Charlie Chan ventures out of Hawaii. I woman he worked for as a child has requested her bring her valuable pearl necklace to San Francisco. She is selling it to raise money for her shiftless son. The buyer of the necklace is an autocratic man who knew Mrs Jordan when her family was extremely wealthy and he was a busboy at a hotel. He sees this as a chance for evening the score. He directs them to deliver the necklace only to him in New York, but then the jeweler receives a call ordering the necklace to be delivered to his ranch retreat in Arizona. Chan and the jeweler's son plan to go to the ranch to see what is going on and make sure the buyer is indeed who he claims since he changed the delivery place. What they run into is complicated goings on, made even more complicated by a film crew and a stranger who had followed the jeweler's son at the boat when he was supposed to be meeting Charlie Chan. But he got suspicious and led the guy astray. Then the man turns up at the ranch...and rips him off in a poker game.
nhayner's review against another edition
5.0
Y’all… go read this book omg. Easily as good as any Hercule Poirot story