Behind That Curtain: A Charlie Chan Mystery [Mass Market Paperback]

Earl Derr Biggers (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 267 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books; First Printing edition (1942)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000IXU0L8
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,453,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What Happened to Eve Durand?, December 20, 1999

By 

B. E. Keown "Macardle42390" (Massachusetts, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Behind That Curtain (Charlie Chan) (Paperback)

Don't let yourself be fooled into believing this is just a simple dinner party murder. There is infinitely more at stake. The victim? Sir Frederic Bruce, famous Scotland Yard Detective and on the trail of the most elusive woman you will ever meet. Is it possible to find the truth behind these lies, buried in the dust of fifteen year old crime that also must be solved? Count on Charlie Chan to find the answer!

The book's plot is not the one thing that drws you in, but Biggers writing as well, told with a mix of humor, drama and always with a familiarity that makes this an easy, quick and completely enjoyable read and leaves you craving more!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Infinite Patience and Dogged Attention to Detail, November 14, 2000

By 

Rosemary Brunschwyler (Homewood, Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Behind That Curtain (Hardcover)

Set in San Francisco , this is the third of six books in the Charlie Chan series. The most interesting characters are a thoroughly liberated female lawyer and a famous British explorer. Chan's strong suit is his infinite patience and dogged attention to detail. He brings order out of chaos while operating in a simpler world. As a bonus we get not only a neat solution to the crimes but also two promising romances at the end. This is a story designed to leave the reader feeling good about the human condition.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exotic & romantic, July 26, 2009

By 

Patto (Vermont) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

The third Charlie Chan mystery (1928) lives up to the reputation of both Chan and his creator. This time Charlie pulls aside the curtain that conceals a mystery far in the past.

Charlie Chan is still trying to leave San Francisco after a vacation that turned into a job of detection. Once again he's kept from leaving by a case: the murder of Sir Frederick Bruce, ex-head of the Criminal Investigation Unit at Scotland Yard. Despite his retirement, Sir Frederick can't resist pursuing certain unsolved cases to their end. His end comes before his success, and it's Charlie Chan's fate to carry on.

How Charlie gets involved is a part of the deliciously complex plot that the reader can look forward to. Earl Derr Biggers has a genius for intricate plotting that doesn't lose the reader - and characters so witty, sinister, silly or charming, you observe them all with amused fascination.

The characters include a gorgeous woman lawyer obsessed with her career, a blustering police inspector who gets everything wrong, an unstoppable explorer who leaves behind a trail of dead camels and men in every remote patch of Earth he visits - and three women who have disappeared into the night over the last 15 years, starting with a young beauty in Peshawar. The search for these women has been the death of Sir Frederick.

As always, Charlie Chan is patient, modest, wise - and a fountain of delightfully flowery language. I'm moving on immediately to the next mystery in the series: The Black Camel..