Earl Derr Biggers

Outright distinguished, stellar in his craft, and worth his salt, Earl Derr Biggers was an American word-slinger whose bibliography awed and inspired bibliophiles and filmmakers in equal measure. Biggers penned splendid plays which prompted film and theatrical adaptations, authored superb novels which warranted reading by book lovers, wrote attention-grabbing short stories, and crafted a literary serie which fed the filmmakers' spools. Who is this scribble? Meet Earl Derr Biggers.

The best place to start is the Charlie Chan series, the earliest of Earl Derr Biggers's multi-book series: it opens with The House Without a Key (1925) and runs to 7 books across 1925–1974, ending with Charlie Chan in the Temple of the Golden Horde (1974).

Earl Derr Biggers has 17 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1913 and 2019. 8 of them belong to 2 named series — the largest being the Charlie Chan series with 7 books — and 9 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Earl Derr Biggers's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Charlie Chan (1925–1974, 7 books) and Charlie Chan Collections (1985, 1 book).

This guide splits Earl Derr Biggers's 17 books into 2 named series and 9 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Charlie Chan (7 books, 1925–1974); Charlie Chan Collections (1 book, 1985).