"The moment has charm." -- Charlie Chan

Earl Derr Biggers wrote in a style which lent itself to romance as well as mystery. Perhaps only M.M. Kaye blended the two as perfectly as Biggers. His greatest creation, Charlie Chan, is in romantic San Francisco in Behind That Curtain, but he can feel the trade winds of Hawaii calling him back to Honolulu for the birth of his eleventh child. Yet the romance of a misty San Francisco filled with the Orient beckon him to remain long enough to solve a crime.

Bill Rankin is the reporter bringing the visiting sleuth from Honolulu, together with Scotland Yard's, Sir Frederic Bruce, to write a feature based on their exploits. But it is Frederic's regrets in connection with an unsolved murder, and the seemingly unrelated disappearance of Eve Durand from India nearly 15 years prior, that haunt their conversation. Barry Kirk and the pretty young D.A. he's immediately smitten with, June Morrow, plead for Charlie to stay when Sir Frederic is murdered. There are as many suspects to ponder over as there are mysterious clues. But which is that elusive "essential clue" so beloved by Scotland Yard?

Charlie initially wants no part in the investigation. Only once onboard the S.S. Maui does Charlie overhear a conversation which has him rushing down the gangplank to join Barry and June. Captain Flannery's methods, however, are as heavy-handed as Charlie's are subtle. Charlie discovers evidence of two other missing young women, and suspects a possible connection to yet another unsolved murder. How does a world famous adventurer fit into the picture? Are the slippers the essential clue, or something else? In the end, of course, our favorite detective from the Islands realizes the clue has been there all along.

Behind That Curtain has so much atmosphere it washes over the reader like a sudden rain shower. San Francisco during the '20s is alive with cable cars, and quaint bungalows for shelter from the rain, beneath the delicate pen of Earl Derr Biggers. Dark passages and murder do exist in Biggers's mysteries, but he always allows the elegant Chan to guide us away from danger, and towards romance.

There is an innocence to the romance between Barry and June indicative of another time, as is the writing style of Biggers. Both Biggers and his creation, Charlie Chan, are at the top of their game here, funny and wise. The final scenes hold humor and a dash of romance. Behind That Curtain offers one of the most charming endings of any entry in the Charlie Chan canon. A must read for those who like their mysteries very old-fashioned, and a bit on the romantic side. ( )

This one was a little harder to get into than the first two, but it eventually gets moving.
The language and dialog and mannerisms are obviously very dated but the reveal of the killer and the mystery itself are quite good. ( )

Fairly entertaining old school mystery if you can put aside the racism and misogyny ... honestly, it's not as bad as many from that period particularly considering the main character. The plot was a bit convoluted and parts of the story seem formulaic in line with the first two of the series that I've read. But it is good for mostly mindless entertainment and a look in to another time and place. ( )

By far the best mystery yet of the three Charlie Chan novels I have read. And not only the mystery. Even the perspective of the book is thrown in doubt and then tossed into the air repeatedly. As with the first two books, I expected the main protagonist to be yet another White man, with Charlie working behind the scenes. But Behind That Curtain changes things up quite a bit. At first, it seems as if this is the story of Bill Rankin, the reporter. But Rankin quickly disappears into the background. Then, we're introduced to Barry Kirk. Aha! The typical hero of the first two novels—a wealthy socialite in pursuit of a reluctant young woman. But, no, that doesn't work out either. Then, just for a second, it seems as if we're centering in on the young woman, Asst. D.A. June Morrow. But not really. Yes, it seems, finally, that it's Charlie Chan who is driving the action. And that is mostly true, although Kirk and Morrow continue to have their moments. It's all just another part of the puzzle, really, that Earl Derr Biggers has given us. And it also marks another point in the evolution of the Charlie Chan character. Here, he is standing all alone, solving his case despite the interference, doubts, and outright deception on the part of almost everyone else—including Charlie's relatives and fellow Chinese in San Francisco's Chinatown.

The setting? It almost fits to a tee the model for the classical detective story. Somehow, Biggers has put his reader in the teeming metropolis of San Francisco but also managed to isolate his characters in a bungalow atop a modern skyscraper. A few trips occur—to the D.A.'s office, a club, some restaurants, Chinatown, and some residences. But things always come back to the bungalow, which is almost as lonely and remote as any country house, where whodunits so often take place. There is even a butler in this story. Hard-boiled versus Classic detective. Elements of both exist--although Charlie is certainly no anti-hero. And the hard-boiled, as a genre, was just getting started. Clever man, Biggers.

By this point in the series, Chan is not only endearing, he is someone comforting. With Charlie on the case, things cannot help but work out to the reader's satisfaction. And, yes, it doesn't spoil the plot to say that Kirk gets the girl at the end. A Charlie Chan novel is nothing, if not cathartic. ( )

I'm developing rather a fondness for Charlie Chan. This was the third of the six books Biggers wrote that featured the detective. Poor Charlie is still stranded in San Francisco, hoping to go home to greet the birth of his eleventh child, eighth son. But, a day or so before he is to leave, he gets invited to a dinner party, one of whose guests is a famous Scotland Yard detective. The dinner party is to feature films taken by a famous English explorer who has been everywhere, Tibet, the Gobi Desert, the Amazon. You name it, he's been there. Well, the movies drag on. There appears to be a bit of shuffling here and there, but people appear mostly to sit through it. But then, a woman guest sees someone fleeing down the fire escape. So they investigate the room below and discover that the Scotland Yard guy has been shot through the head. So, Charlie gets sucked into helping figure out what happened.

It's interesting that the Charlie Chan books, not only feature a Chinese detective, i.e. someone who isn't your standard white-man hero common to virtually all books from that era (except a few featuring white women or white children), but also all of them, so far, have included a prominent character who is an intelligent, independent, working woman. Drop-dead gorgeous, of course, but still, not just arm candy, a secretary, or a house wife. In this book, the young woman in question is the assistant DA, i.e. a lawyer no less. I'm imagining she is like my new daughter-in-law, a intelligent and lovely young woman with a law degree and licensed to practice in New York and New Jersey. All of which, of course, makes the book even more fun. ( )