Inside the Lines

by Earl Derr Biggers, Robert Welles Ritchie

Earl Derr Biggers (August 26, 1884 - April 5, 1933) was an American novelist and playwright. He is remembered primarily for his novels, especially those featuring the fictional Chinese American detective Charlie Chan, from which popular films were made in the United States and China. The son of Robert J. and Emma E. (Derr) Biggers, Earl Derr Biggers was born in Warren, Ohio, and graduated from Harvard University in 1907, where he was a member of The Lampoon. He worked as a journalist for The Plain Dealer before turning to fiction. Many of his plays and novels were made into movies. He was posthumously inducted into the Warren City Schools Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. His novel Seven Keys to Baldpate was popular in 1913, and George M. Cohan quickly adapted the novel as a hit Broadway stage play of the same name. Cohan starred in the 1917 film version, one of seven film versions of the play, and a 1935 revival. The novel was also adapted into two films with different titles, House of the Long Shadows and Haunted Honeymoon, but they had essentially equivalent plots. More than 10 years after Baldpate, Biggers had even greater success with his series of Charlie Chan detective novels. The popularity of Charlie Chan extended even to China, where audiences in Shanghai appreciated the Hollywood films. Chinese companies made films starring this fictional character. Derr Biggers publicly acknowledged the real-life detective Chang Apana as the inspiration for the character of Charlie Chan in his letter to the Honolulu Advertiser of June 28, 1932. Biggers lived in San Marino, California, and died in a Pasadena, California hospital after suffering a heart attack in Palm Springs, California. He was 48. (wikipedia.org)

Genres: Fiction

150 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1915

About the author

Earl Derr Biggers was born in Warren, Ohio on August 24, 1884. Years later, while attending Harvard University, Biggers showed little passion for the classics, preferring instead writers such as Rudyard Kipling and Richard Harding Davis. Following his graduation from Harvard in 1907, he worked briefly for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and at Bobbs-Merrill publishers. By 1908, Biggers was hired at the Boston Traveler to write a daily humor column. Soon, however, he became that paper's drama critic. It was at this time that he met Elanor Ladd, who would later become his wife and who would have a marked influence in his writing.

Reviews

[Tim Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can read my review at http://world-of-sleuths.blogspot.com/....

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

World War I drama, based on the Broadway play by Earl Derr Biggers.

Opens on the eve of the outbreak of WWI. A young New York City business woman, Jane Gerson, is on her first trip as a buyer for her department store. She is independent minded and out to prove she can do a good job. She meets Captain Woodhouse, an officer in the British signal corps on his way back to his base in Egypt, at French customs and he helps her through and sees her to Paris. He advises her to complete her business quickly and return to America before war breaks out. She refuses to take the advice as she is out to prove she is a capable employee who can do more than is expected and can’t be bothered by a little thing like war. (One can easily see where this is leading.)

It turns out that there is much more to Woodhouse than their initial meeting suggests and, as expected, with the outbreak of war, Jane finds herself in very difficult circumstances.

[Mh430 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've enjoyed everything I've read by this author - not just the Charlie Chan books - and this novel is no exception. Here he shares the credit with another man but since the novel based on Biggers' play I'm assuming he had the larger role in its creation. The story is set in the Summer of 1914 as Europe is kicking off the First World War. A spunky young business woman from New York finds herself on the wrong side of the Atlantic as combat commences and quickly discovers that her nascent career, her heart, and yes even her life are all in peril. The characters, the pacing, dialogue, the European atmosphere all sparkle here and this book is highly recommended.

[Bert · Rating 3 out of 5]

What seems a straight forward tale suddenly twists and turns almost beyond belief at the end. Fun story though that hearkens back to a more innocent time.

I listened to this through Librivox. A most excellent rendition.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an audiobook from LibriVox.


https://librivox.org/inside-the-lines...

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little hard to keep track of character at the beginning. Predictable, but a good read.

[Lowell Dyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just read this book that was written over 100 years ago. Wonder if people will enjoy it as much as I did 100 years from now.

[Samantha Glasser]

Read this book online for free through Project Gutenberg:
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/...

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, like a John Buchan novel.

[Johanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very exciting WWI spy novel.

[Yibbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, for an insta-love story it's pretty average. For a spy novel, it's adequately convoluted. For the two combined it's really not great. The stakes are too high in the spy story for the insta-love story to play well. There just isn't enough time to build the trust that this story demands. It just didn't work for me.