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Details
BIGGERS, Earl Derr. The House Without a Key. Indianapolis: The Bobbs Merrill Company, 1925.
8o. Original orange cloth; pictorial dust jacket (a bit rubbed, a few losses at extremities).
FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST CHARLIE CHAN MYSTERY: "a corking murder story, filled with flights of suspense and absorbing avenues of mystery" (dust jacket). After the success of Seven Keys to Baldpate, Biggers wanted to create an enduring (and endearing) detective and settled on the idea of "an amiable Chinese on the side of the law and order" as opposed to the typical depiction of the "sinister and wicked Chinese." While on vacation in Honolulu in 1919, Biggers read a newspaper account of the Chinese detective Chang Apana. A character based on Apana began to form in his mind, and Charlie Chan was born. His "personal popularity played a part in the Renaissance of the American detective story that can not be ignored" (Howard Haycraft). A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone. Penzler, p.10.
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FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST CHARLIE CHAN MYSTERY: "a corking murder story, filled with flights of suspense and absorbing avenues of mystery" (dust jacket). After the success of Seven Keys to Baldpate, Biggers wanted to create an enduring (and endearing) detective and settled on the idea of "an amiable Chinese on the side of the law and order" as opposed to the typical depiction of the "sinister and wicked Chinese." While on vacation in Honolulu in 1919, Biggers read a newspaper account of the Chinese detective Chang Apana. A character based on Apana began to form in his mind, and Charlie Chan was born. His "personal popularity played a part in the Renaissance of the American detective story that can not be ignored" (Howard Haycraft). A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone. Penzler, p.10.