Earl Derr Biggers(1884-1933)

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).