| The Black Camel | |
| Author: | Earl Derr Biggers |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Publisher: | Bobbs-Merrill |
| Release Date: | 1929 |
| Media Type: | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Followed By: | Charlie Chan Carries On |
The Black Camel (1929) is the fourth of the Charlie Chan novels by Earl Derr 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."[1]
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.
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."