David, I know the feeling. Nothing, quite compares. Maybe it's the aphorisms, maybe the mystique of the topical islands, or maybe just the goodness of our famous detective. However, I will recommend the newest edition to the Chan readings, "Death, I Said, A Charlie Chan Mystery," by John L. Swann. It is true to the first six novels storyline.
And I will also recommend another series with that flavor of the Chan novels, the Lily Wu mysteries:
The Chinese Chop (1949),
The Kahuna Killer (1951),
The Mamo Murders (1952), and
The Waikiki Widow (1953).
I found them most excellent and Anthony Boucher (of the Bouchercon world mystery convention fame) once dubbed her the female Charlie Chan.
I understand how you feel! Whenever I read "other" mysteries, I can't help but compare what I am reading to any of the Charlie Chan mysteries! Maybe we should take Lou up on his suggestions of the Lily Wu mysteries. As these are not far removes from the "Biggers Era," that is probably an added plus in their favor.
Rush,
Well said. I was thinking the same about the Lily Wu mysteries being a possibility because they are somewhat contemporary to the era of Bigger's Chan novels.
I think there is something to be said about newer Chan stories that use the characters but just can not seem (to us who have absorbed the Bigger's Chan's) to get the tone or "feeling", "right" when compared to the Biggers' Chan's. There is just too mush history between the era in which Bigger's wrote versus modern authors. It really isn't just a matter of using the names and characters its about matching the relative "innocence" of Biggers' time period in the tone of the writing. Call it innocence lost.
Thank you. Sadly, no matter how faithful to the Biggers original a contemporary writer strives to be in the creation of a new Charlie Chan story, modern-day mores and elements of political correctness inevitably creep in. The result, as you note, as good as it may be, still does not always ring true.
