Mysteries entering the public domain.

Mysteries that have entered the public domain and are on the online Project Gutenberg:

A.E.W. Mason. NYPL

  •  As a Thief in the Night  by R. Austin Freeman (a Dr. Thorndyke mystery). "One of the most satisfactory detective stories we have read."—Walter R. Brooks, The Outlook

  • Ashenden; or the British Agent by Somerset Maugham (based on Maugham's experiences in World War I). "An urbane series of stories dealing with the diplomatic side of Secret Service work"—Saturday Review

  • Behind That Curtain by Earl Derr Biggers (a Charlie Chan mystery). "Excellent"—Gilbert Seldes, Saturday Review (pb edition here)

  • The Footsteps at the Lock by Father (later Msgr.) Ronald Knox (a Miles Bredon mystery). "breezy characterization and satirical humour"—The Spectator (pb edition here)

 • Murder in the Maze by J.J. Connington. "[T]he usual false clues are skillfully suggested, and the reading public may well be surprised and amused to the end."—The English Review (pb edition here)

 • The Prisoner in the Opal by A.E.W. Mason (an Inspector Hanaud mystery). "another intriguing story of mystery and thrilling adventure"—Wanganui Chronicle (Wellington, Australia; pb edition here)

 • The Velvet Hand: New Madame Storey Mysteries by Hulbert Footner. "thoughtfully and ingeniously constructed"—New York Times

The real-life Charlie Chan.

KHOU2 in Honolulu pays tribute to Apana Chang (1871–1933), the first Chinese police officer in Hawaii who was acknowledged by Earl Derr Biggers as the inspiration for Charlie Chan.

Chan, music in noir in Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles, 2011.

In the inevitable "best of" lists that appear toward the end of the year, Choice: Current Revews for Academic Libraries has selected its outstanding academic titles for 2011. The mystery-related ones include:

• Yunte Huang, Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History

• Robert Miklitsch, Siren City: Sound and Source Music in Classic American Noir

Great Charlie Chan Detective Mystery Game.

Element of Milton Bradley's
Great Charlie Chan
Detective Mystery Game

Beinecke Library's Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities at Yale features the Great Charlie Chan Detective Mystery Game (1937).

Final Earl Derr Biggers: Charlie Chan Carries On, Keeper of the Keys

Academy Chicago Publishers continues its elegant reprints of Earl Derr Biggers's Charlie Chan novels with Charlie Chan Carries On (1930) and Keeper of the Keys (1932)—the latter, sadly, the last of the series.

More Charlie Chan from Academy Chicago.

Today Academy Chicago Publishers releases two more of its stylish reprints of Earl Derr Biggers's Charlie Chan mysteries: Behind That Curtain (originally publ. 1928) and The Black Camel (originally publ. 1929).

Charlie Chan returns.

Welcome news indeed: Hard on the heels of the August 26th birthday of Earl Derr Biggers, Academy Chicago Publishers announced its reprints of several Charlie Chan novels, starting with The House without a Key (1925) and The Chinese Parrot (1926) in October.

(Hat tip to In Reference to Murder)

Happy birthday, Earl Derr Biggers.

Playwright and writer Earl Derr Biggers, the creator of wise Chinese Hawaiian detective Charlie Chan (played memorably by Warner Oland, left), was born today in Ohio in 1884.

Chan made his debut in The House without a Key (1925), which was followed by The Chinese Parrot (1926), Behind That Curtain (1928), The Black Camel (1929), Charlie Chan Carries On (1930), and The Keeper of the Keys (1932).

Wrote the New York Times a week after Biggers's death on April 5, 1933, "The creator of Charlie Chan will be missed all the more because the detective novel of today is in danger of becoming a mechanical and lumbering exercise [. . . Biggers] had . . . the swift forward movement of the true detective tale. With him we are on the trail of a slayer and not putting together a jigsaw puzzle."