Thanks so much for answering my question. Now I'm halfway through "The Black Camel" and you are right, having seen the movie gives away the plot of the book. It must be the first time in history they actually followed a books plot when the did the movie version. All that is left for me is "Charlie Chan Carries On". I might read some Mr. Moto after that, but somehow I don't think it would be as good. ;)

I was happy to find the beachcomber artist lives in the book, instead of getting murdered. He asked to be kept in jail overnight, so he wouldn't get drunk and miss the boat back to the mainland. Also, the butler was basically innocent, although I wouldn't have miss Renfield as a butler for anything. :) Pretty good adaptation.

(I wonder where all that "the butler did it" stuff originated?)