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Reviewed by Dot Emm
The Young Man
Don Holt - he's also the Sheriff. Elected more because he's the son of his father, the old Sheriff, than for any skills that he possesses. But he respects Chan and lets Chan do the job.
The Young Woman
Leslie Beaton - Hugh's sister. She's taken care of the boy all her life, can she let him go now?
The Victim
Ellen Landini - The famous opera singer, she has not been lucky in love.
The Husbands
Dudley Ward - her first. He wants to know what has become of his son.
John Ryder - the second. How he hates his ex-wife!
Dr. Frederic Swan - supplanted by a chauffeur. Not to be tolerated!
Luis Romano - has given all to further Landini's career. Now he needs money.
The Complications
Michael Ireland - chauffeur turned pilot. He won Landini away from Swan, but lost her to Romano.
Cecile Ireland - his wife. French, with all the temperament of the French.
Hugh Beaton - next in line to become Mr. Landini, unless his sister has something to say about it.
Interested parties
Sam Holt - the old sheriff. He's gone blind now, but he hasn't lost his wits.
Sing - the faithful retainer of the Ward's.
Trouble - Landini's dog.
| Opening lines
The train had left Sacramento some distance behind, and was now bravely beginning the long climb that led to the high Sierras and the town of Truckee. Little patches of snow sparkled in the late afternoon sun along the way, and far ahead snow-capped peaks suddenly stood out against the pale sky of a reluctant spring.
Two conductors, traveling together, as though for safety, came down the aisle and paused at section seven. ''Tickets on at Sacramento,'' demanded the leader. The occupant of the section, a pretty blonde girl who seemed no more than twenty, handed him the small green slips. He glanced at them, then passed one to his companion. ''Seat in Seven,'' he said loudly, ''Reno.''
''Reno,'' echoed the Pullman conductor, in an even louder tone.
They passed on, leaving the blonde girl staring about the car with an air that was a mixture of timidity and defiance. This was the first time, since she had left home the day before, that she had been so openly tagged with the name of her destination. All up and down the car, strange faces turned and looked at her with casual curiosity. Some smiled knowingly; others were merely cold and aloof. The generalpublic in one of its ruder moments.
One passenger only showed no interest. Across the aisle, in section eight, the girl noted the broad shoulders and back of a man in a dark suit. He was sitting close to the window, staring out, and even from this rear view it was apparent that he was deeply engrossed with his own affairs. The young woman who was bound for Reno felt somehow rather grateful toward him.
Presently he turned, and the girl understood, for she saw that he was a Chinese. A race that minds its own business. An admirable race. This member of it was plump and middle-aged. His little black eyes were shining as from some inner excitement; his lips were parted in a smile that seemed to indicate a sudden immense delight. Without so much as a glance toward number seven, he rose and walked rapidly down the car.
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The Keeper of the Keys is the last Charlie Chan book written by Earl Derr Biggers. Chan was in San Francisco, after having tracked down the cruise ship murderer in Charlie Chan Carries On, and is persuaded by millionaire businessman Dudley Ward to travel to his estate, Pineview, on Lake Tahoe.
Many years ago, Ward was married to Ellen Landini. She was at the beginning of a career as an opera singer, and she left him. Now, years later, he has heard rumors that she also gave birth to a child - a son, and he wants to find the boy.
To that end, he has invited all of Landini's ex-husbands to visit him at his estate, so that Charlie Chan can question them. As coincidence would have it, Ellen Landini is also in the area, for in order to obtain her divorce from Romano she must stay in Reno, Nevada for a specific period of time. And she decides to drop in on her ex-husband, as well, along with her fiance, the very young Hugh Beaton, and Beaton's sister, Leslie.
It's a situation just ripe for murder, and indeed, Ellen Landini is murdered. It is up to Charlie Chan to discover who done it.
The Keeper of the Keys is disappointing Chan. It's another one, like Charlie Chan Carries On, in which Charlie seems stuck in by afterthought, for all that he's on the scene from page one to the denouement. But why should he interest himself in attempting to find out if Dudley Ward does indeed have a son? Surely there are private detectives, more familiar with the ins-and-outs of tracking down long-ago movements of a then budding opera star, than Charlie Chan.
The denoument itself is a disappointment, as Biggers falls into the trap of having the killer switch almost instantaneously from a suave and debonair individual into a drunken killer. It is not a fair-play type of crime (not that Biggers has ever written a fair-play type of book.) Still, it's unsatisfactory.
Charlie Chan still has his moments, of course. On the silver screen Warner Oland makes a popular Chan and his many aphorisms are a hit. It's only in Keeper of the Keys that Biggers gives Chan aphorism after aphorism to say (which is ironic because, of the Chan books, only Keeper of the Keys is never made into a movie.) He is also human, regretting the gulf between him and his countryman, the servant Ah Sing:
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''Mr. Chan'' he said suddenly. ''How close can you git to the heart of Ah Sing?''
''It overwhelms me with sadness to admit it,'' Charlie answered, ''for he is of my own origin, my own race, as you know. But when I look into his eyes I discover that a gulf like the heaving Pacific lies between us. Why? Because he, though among Caucasians many more years than I, still remains Chinese. As Chinese today as in the first moon of his existence. While I - I bear the brand - the label - Americanized.''
Holt nodded. ''You've stated the case. These old Chinese in this stretch of the state ain't never been anything else. Maybe they didn't admire the ways of the stranger - I dunno. Which I couldn't of blamed 'em. But they were born Chinese, and they stayed that way.''
Chan bowed his head. ''I traveled with the current,'' he said softly. ''I was ambitious. I sought success. For what I have won, I paid the price. Am I an American? No. Am I then, a Chinese? Not in the eyes of Ah Sing.'' He paused for a moment. ''But, I have chosen my path and I must follow it.''
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Biggers writes with the same light hand. He creates some good characters - in particular Luis Romano who worries what will become of Landini now that he is not there to make sure she doesn't abuse the pastries and the cigarettes - indeed it's a pity this wasn't made into a movie so that Erik Rhodes could have his turn at the role. It would have ranked up there with his Tonetti and his Beddini (his two famous Italian impersonations from the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movies).
Read the Wisdom of Charlie Chan
Learn about Charlie Chan's Hawaii
This review uploaded January 5, 2003.
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