Charlie Chan Carries On — Earl Derr Biggers

In this fifth novel of the classic series of mysteries featuring the Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan of the Honolulu Police, readers are confronted by a mystery so confounding in its twists and turns, only Inspector Chan can bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. Set in the 1930s, a series of baffling murders plague a wealthy group of American travelers as they embark on an around-the-world tour, starting at the fashionable Broome's Hotel in London, One of the guests, Hugh Morris Drake, an automobile baron from Detroit, is found strangled in his room with a luggage strap. We are introduced to the redoubtable Inspector Duff of Britain's Scotland Yard, who made a memorable appearance in the third book of the series, Behind That Curtain. Duff tries his best to pick apart a series of baffling clues, which include Drake's hearing aid, a safety deposit box key, and a bag full of small stones, but he finds himself completely flummoxed; chaos ensues and the tour picks up the pieces and pushes on to the Wild East.

Arriving in Hawaii, Duff is reunited with his old friend Charlie Chan, who takes over the case at great risk to his own life. Just when Duff is getting ready to join the tour for the final leg of the journey a shot rings out and Duff is critically wounded in Chan's office. Chan rushes to the hospital, where the barely conscious Duff says, "Carry on, Charlie."