The Books

1. The House Without a Key - 1925 - For Sale
   There has been a murder of a former member of Boston society who has lived in Hawaii for a number of years. The victim's nephew, a straitlaced young Bostonian bond trader, who came to the islands to try to convince his aunt Minerva, whose vacation has extended many months, to return to Boston. The nephew, John Quincy Winterslip, soon falls under the spell of the islands himself, meets an attractive young woman, breaks his engagement to his straitlaced Bostonian fiancee Agatha, and decides as the murder is being solved to move to San Francisco. In the interval, he is introduced to many levels of Hawaiian society and is of some assistance to Detective Charlie Chan in solving the mystery.
    
2. The Chinese Parrot - 1926 - For Sale
   A valuable string of pearls which is purchased by a wealthy and eccentric financier. The handsome young son of the jeweller is assigned to shepherd the transfer of the pearls to the financier's vacation home in a desert area of California. Because of his long association with the owner of the pearls-before joining the police force, he was her houseboy-Charlie Chan travels from Hawaii to California with the pearls. After two mysterious deaths, first of a Chinese-speaking parrot and then of the household's Chinese man-of-all-work, Charlie Chan masquerades as a pidgin-speaking cook named Ah Kim and works underground to solve a number of crimes. Along the way, the jeweller's son meets a beautiful young woman who works as a location scout and decides to stay in the California desert.
    
3. Behind That Curtain - 1928 - For Sale
   The former head of Scotland Yard is pursuing the long-cold trail of a murderer. Fifteen years previous, a London solicitor was killed in circumstances in which the only clue was a pair of Chinese slippers, which he apparently donned just before his death. Sir Frederic Bruce has been following the trail of the killer ever since. He has also been interested in what appears to be a series of disappearing women around the world, which has some connection to the disappearance of a woman named Eve Durand in rural India also fifteen years ago. Just when it seems he might finally solve the murder case, at a dinner party to which a number of important and mysterious guests have been invited, Inspector Bruce is killed-and was last seen wearing a pair of Chinese slippers, which have vanished. It is left to Chan to solve the case and tie up all loose ends.
    
4. The Black Camel - 1929 - For Sale
   "Death is the black camel that kneels unbidden at every gate." This is what Charlie Chan tells the guests of the unfortunate Shelah Fane, a glamorous Hollywood movie star who has been murdered while on location beach side in Honolulu. Here the detective confronts his most perplexing case of his long and illustrious career. Chan is aided by a mysterious fortune teller named Tarneverro the Great. It appears that Miss Fane had summoned Tarneverro to Honolulu as she strongly believes in his mystical powers. A number of bystanders do not have alibis in this case, and it takes every bit of Chan's considerable powers to untangle this intricate web of deception and murder.
    
5. Charlie Chan Carries On - 1930 - For Sale
   Inspector Duff, a Scotland Yard detective and friend of Chan's, first introduced in Behind That Curtain, is pursuing a murderer on an around-the-world voyage; so far, there have been murders in London, France, Italy and Japan. While his ship is docked in Honolulu, the detective is shot and wounded by his quarry; though he survives, he is unable to continue with the cruise, and Chan takes his place instead. Eventually, after more murders, Chan finds the killer before the next port of call.
    
6. Keeper of the Keys - 1932 - For Sale
   In rural California, where Chan has been invited as a houseguest, he meets a world-famous soprano, Ellen Ladona, who is murdered not too long after the meeting. Chan does not have far to look for suspects-the host is her ex-husband, as are three of the other house guests. Her servants, entourage and husbands all come under suspicion. Once again, Chan is expected to solve the murder, which he does by understanding the key clues-the actions of a little dog named Trouble, two scarves, and two little boxes. When he understands how the murder is committed, he learns the role of elderly house servant Ah Sing-the keeper of the keys.

List of all Films

Early Films

The House Without a Key (1926 - Pathe) (Silent 10 part serial)

Wealthy Honolulu resident Dan Winterslip has not spoken to his brother, who owns a hotel next to Winterslip's estate, in over twenty years. Their sister Minerva comes from Boston to try to reconcile the two men. Dan's nephew, John Quincy Winterslip, receives a letter instructing him to retrieve a box from San Francisco and dump the contents into the ocean. He is on board a ship bound for Hawaii in which other passengers are also after the box. Dan Winterslip is murdered. Charlie Chan offers to help solve the killing and the mysteries that surround the box. Charlie realizes that a person whose wristwatch is missing the number "three" is the likely culprit.

The Chinese Parrot (1927 - Universal) (Silent)

Sally Randall, daughter of a wealthy Hawaiian planter, marries Phillmore, even though she loves Philip Madden. Tearing off the expensive pearls given her by her father, Madden declares that one day he will buy her at the same price.

Twenty years later, a widowed Sally offers the pearls for sale in San Francisco. Accompanied by her daughter, she is astonished to discover Madden bargaining for the pearls, which she has entrusted to Charlie with the sale contingent on her delivery of the jewels to Madden's desert home.

Meanwhile, Madden is taken prisoner by thugs and is impersonated by Jerry Delaney, who welcomes Sally and Robert Eden, the jeweler's son, to the ranch. While Charlie is secretly conducting an investigation, the jewels are stolen by various parties, but it develops that a Chinese parrot has witnessed the kidnapping and told him about it.

Behind That Curtain (1929 - Fox)

Sir George Mannering hires private eye Hilary Galt to dig up dirt on Eric Durand, who wants to marry his daughter, Eve Mannering. Galt is murdered and the couple, now married, run off to India.

Eve soon realizes that her husband is a drunken wastrel and seeks comfort in the arms of old friend, John Beetham. John and Eve fly to San Francisco but Eric shows up and tries to kill John. Charlie Chan intervenes and soon put things right.