An entertaining collection of the Charlie Chan stories and other stories by the same author. ( )

Surprisingly good
I bought this out of curiosity, having read a remark somewhere that the speaker couldn't understand how they had made such poor films out of such good books. So far I've read books 1 and 2, and each one has left me with a smile on my face, and keen to start the next one.

Charlie Chan is a Chinese detective living and working in Honolulu. Although he is the one who solves the crime and brings in his unique insights, he is not the main character in each book, nor is the location limited to Honolulu.

The protagonist in the first book is a young, aristocratic Bostonian who reluctantly goes to Honolulu to 'retrieve' his aunt who seems to be behaving quite frivolously. The stuffed shirt gets involved with a murder, discovers scandal in the family, finds romance and danger, and has his life turned completely upside down. It's a lot of fun! ( )