from antiquary

Personally, I prefer the Charlie Chan mysteries set in Hawaii, but this one is set during a visit to California, with Chan investigating a murder on a ranch, where one of the witnesses is a Chinese parrot (which gets killed itself if I recall rightly -I read it years ago.)

from Condorena

The twist at the end salvaged the story for me because the goings on were not making sense although I liked the main good guys. I use that term because there was a Western flavor to the action.

from wmorton38

A weak Charlie Chan. Charlie is on vacation but is asked by an old friend to deliver some expensive jewels to a new buyer. Charlie and the jeweler's son, Bob Eden, travel into the desert to complete the transaction but mysterious things seem to be happening and Charlie is determined to get to the...

from vernefan

*Derring-Do in the Desert* In the dry desert region of Southern California, Bob Eden, the son of a famous San Francisco Jeweler, travels to the dusty town of Eldorado accompanying Earl Derr Biggers famous Chinese sleuth, Charlie Chan. Charlie and Bob are to travel to the desert to hand deliver an...

from AliceAnna

Solid story and nice piece of zeitgeist. Much less casual racism than I anticipated given the times. Chan bristles at the loss of dignity incurred as a part of his undercover persona as well he should have. The fact that Chan is such a smart, thoughtful and dignified character helps to overcome a...