The Black Camel

{{short description|1929 novel by Earl Derr Biggers}} {{about|the detective novel in the ''Charlie Chan'' series|the 1931 film based on the novel|The Black Camel (film)|other uses|Black camel (disambiguation)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{infobox book |  | name = The Black Camel | title_orig = | translator = | image = Image:BlackCamel.jpg | caption = First edition dust cover | author = Earl Derr Biggers | cover_artist = | country = United States | language = English | series = Charlie Chan | genre = Mystery, Novels | publisher = Bobbs-Merrill | release_date = 1929 | media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback) | pages = | isbn = | preceded_by = Behind That Curtain | followed_by = Charlie Chan Carries On }}

'''''The Black Camel''''' (1929) is the fourth of the Charlie Chan novels by Earl Derr Biggers.

==Plot summary== {{Wikisource|The Black Camel (Biggers)}} It tells the story of a Hollywood star (Shelah Fane), who is stopping in Hawaii after she finished shooting a film on location in Tahiti. She is murdered in the pavilion of her rental house in Waikiki during her stay. The story behind her murder is linked with the three-year-old murder of another Hollywood actor and also connected with an enigmatic psychic named Tarneverro. Chan, in his position as a detective with the Honolulu Police Department, "investigates amid public clamor demanding that the murderer be found and punished immediately. "Death is a black camel that kneels unbidden at every gate. Tonight black camel has knelt here", Chan tells the suspects."<ref name="DET">Roseman, Mill ''et al.'' ''Detectionary''. New York: Overlook Press, 1971. {{ISBN|0-87951-041-2}}</ref>

==Film, TV or theatrical adaptations== It was adapted into a film of the same name based on the book and released in 1931. This was the second of a series of sixteen Chan films to feature Warner Oland as the sleuth.

==References== {{Reflist}}

2. In Robert A. Heinlein's 1970 novel ''I Will Fear No Evil'', the kneeling black camel reference is employed as a euphemism for death near the start of chapter 2.

3. In Robert A. Heinlein's first published work, a short story called "Lifeline", Dr. Pinero says "I can tell you when the Black Camel will kneel at your door."

==External links== * {{FadedPage|id=20170337|name=The Black Camel}} * {{Internet Archive|id=the-black-camel-earl-derr-biggers|page=|name=''The Black Camel''}} * {{IMDb title|qid=Q3010079}} *[https://charliechan.org/the-films-the-black-camel/ ''The Black Camel'' film details] at [https://charliechan.org// The Charlie Chan Family Home]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Camel, The}} Category:1929 American novels Category:Charlie Chan novels Category:Novels set in Hawaii Category:American novels adapted into films Category:Bobbs-Merrill Company books