The Case Files of the Oriental Sleuths: Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto, and Mr. Wong

by David Rothel

During the golden age of magazine fiction, motion pictures, and radio-roughly the 1920s through the late 1940s-three Oriental crime fighters were introduced to the American public. Through the media which they inhabited they became fictional icons in American popular culture: Honolulu Police Inspector Charlie Chan, International Secret Agent Mr. I. A. Moto, and Justice Department Agent Mr. James Lee Wong-commonly known as the Oriental Sleuths. Created by respected authors Earl Derr Biggers, Pulitzer Prize-winner John P. Marquand, and Hugh Wiley, the three Oriental sleuths' adventures first appeared in popular magazines and then were quickly snapped up by Hollywood to sate the appetites of film-goers for detective thrillers on the silver screen. Charlie Chan carried his case loads over into radio, television, newspaper comic strips, comic books, Better Little Books, and games. Mr. Moto followed with radio adventures and a graphic novel, and Mr. Wong added comic book exploits to his r?sum?. Now author David Rothel brings all three Oriental sleuths together for the first time in one volume as he examines their origins and covers their development in all the media forms they encompassed through the years.

THE CASE FILES OF THE ORIENTAL SLEUTHS: CHARLIE CHAN MR. MOTO MR. WONG During the golden age of magazine fiction, motion pictures, and radio-roughly the 1920s through the late 1940s-three Oriental crime fighters were introduced to the American public. Through the media which they inhabited they became fictional icons in American popular culture: Honolulu Police Inspector Charlie Chan, International Secret Agent Mr. I. A. Moto, and Justice Department Agent Mr. James Lee Wong-commonly known as the Oriental Sleuths. Created by respected authors Earl Derr Biggers, Pulitzer Prize-winner John P. Marquand, and Hugh Wiley, the three Oriental sleuths' adventures first appeared in popular magazines and then were quickly snapped up by Hollywood to sate the appetites of film-goers for detective thrillers on the silver screen. Charlie Chan carried his case loads over into radio, television, newspaper comic strips, comic books, Better Little Books, and games. Mr. Moto followed with radio adventures and a graphic novel, and Mr. Wong added comic book exploits to his résumé. Now author David Rothel brings all three Oriental sleuths together for the first time in one volume as he examines their origins and covers their development in all the media forms they encompassed through the years. THE SUSPENSEFUL NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES THE EXCITING FILMS THE MYSTERIOUS RADIO EPISODES THE LIVE-ACTION TELEVISION EPISODES THE ANIMATED TELEVISION EPISODES THE CLASSIC COMIC BOOKS, BETTER LITTLE BOOKS, AND GAMES