This is the first Charlie Chan mystery, written in 1925. I read it years ago, but then forgot who committed the murder of Dan Winterslip, how they did it, and the motive. Charlie Chan may be the detective, but the main character is Dan Winterslip's second cousin, John Quincy Winterslip, who assists Charlie Chan with his investigation. John Quincy is a proper Bostonian Brahmin who discovered the adventurous side of the Winterslip family when he arrives in Hawaii. Charlie Chan solves the case more in the background of this story.

This was interesting to read for the background about Hawaii and Honolulu society in the 1920's. I was able to enjoy the story despite most of the racism about Charlie because the white characters do appreciate his intelligence, but there is quite a bit of racism in the story about not only Asian characters, but also non-English descended Europeans such as Spaniards and so on.