Created by Richard Foster
Pseudonym of Kendall Foster Crossen
Other pseudonyms include Bennett Barlay, M. E. Chaber, Christopher Monig & Clay Richards
(1910-81)
Short, tubby private eye CHIN KWANG KHAM may be America’s”only Tibetan detective,” proud part owner of a detective agency with offices in New York and Los Angeles that specializes in cases involving precious stones and jewelry, although in both his appearances, The Laughing Buddha Murders (1944) and The Invisible Man Murders (1945), he and his partner, beautiful, red-headed Kay Barrett, end up trying to crack “impossible” murders.
Born and raised in the States, Chin attended the University of Trashilhumpo in Tibet, as well as several American universities, although he tends to spit out long-winded Charlie Chan-like aphorisms like he’s getting paid by the word, slipping into broken English.
Like, “The hunter who would trap the tiger must have more patience than the tiger”?
Or how about “A man who continues to murder is like man walking down narrow mountain trail. Sooner or later he must dislodge a pebble”?
But when questioned about whether he’s a Buddhist, his reply is “No, I’m a Methodist.”
So, a racist rip-off?
Not quite, although there are definitely some cringey moments for modern readers, notably Kham’s occasional lapses into becoming “Oriental” and spouting all those cut-rate fortune cookie proclamations. Fortunately, if you can accept those stumbling blocks as the crafty Kham just playing the hand others expect him to play, he’s also a clever and engaging character, who just happens to also be an accomplished stage magician and sleight of hand expert, although sadly magic never really figures into the solutions of either novel.
Unfortunately, neither does fair play. But hey, this ain’t math class, and, like most of Foster’s stuff, these are good, pulpy reads.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard Foster was actually Kendall Foster Crossen who, in the course of his long and prolific career, wrote over 400 radio and television dramas, some 300 short stories, 250 non-fiction articles and around forty-five novels. As Richard Foster, he wrote private eye novels about Chin Kwang Kham, but was best known for his stories featuring the Green Lama, a popular pulp magazine costumed crimefighter of the 1940s. He also wrote reviews, and edited several science fiction collections, and served as editor for a while for Detective Fiction Weekly. His radio credits include The Green Lama (naturally), Suspense, The Saint, and Mystery Theater, and for television he penned episodes of 77 Sunset Strip, The Man from Blackhawk, and Perry Mason). Still, Crossen’s probably best known in these parts, though, as M.E. Chaber, the writer of numerous books and stories featuring insurance investigator Milo March. Other private eyes he created under assorted pseudonyms, as well as his own name, were Brian Brett, Necessary Smith, Pete Draco, and outer space gumshoe Manning Draco.
UNDER OATH
- “Crossen was a talented writer who knew how to craft a good mystery novel filled with appealing people, and Kham is one of his best creations, a thoroughly unstereotypical and non-racist East Asian detective of wit and charm. In a world of knockoff mysteries, the two Chin Kwang Kham novels stand apart as an attempt at something new. ”
— Jess Nevins (The Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes)
NOVELS
- The Laughing Buddha Murders (1944) | Buy this book
- The Invisible Man Murders (1945) | Buy this book
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
