Biggers was a successful Broadway playwright, but the stress of the job
shot his blood pressure to dangerous levels and he was advised by his
doctor to take a long rest. He took a bungalow at a hotel on Hawaii's
Waikiki Beach, and it was there he heard about the exploits of a
legendary Chinese policeman in the Honolulu Police Department named
Chang Apana. He used that officer as the basis for detective Charlie
Chan in the first Chan book, "The House Without a Key" (the title came
from the fact that the bungalows in the hotel he was staying at had no
keys).
