Tiger Claws by Frank L. Packard (1928)

 

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About the author: Frank L. Packard (1877 - 1942) was born in Montreal, Quebec. As a young man he worked as a civil engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railway. His experiences working on the railroad led to his writing many railroad stories, then to a series of mystery novels, the most famous of which featured a character called Jimmie Dale. Several of his novels were made into films. (Wikipedia)

Major characters:

• Allan Wharton, sea trader
• Keith Wharton, his younger brother, a.k.a. Rookie Dyke
• Gur Singh, their East Indian navigator
• Hoka, a Malay crewman
• Taipi, a Malay crewman
• Blackie, one of four shipwrecked criminals
• Whitie, one of four shipwrecked criminals
• The Weasel, one of four shipwrecked criminals
• The Magpie, one of four shipwrecked criminals, with no fingers
• Bob Clinton, US Secret Service, a.k.a. Canary Jim

Locale: The South Pacific and New York City

Synopsis: Allan and Keith Wharton are successful sea traders on their schooner Malola. The crew includes Hoka, Taipa, and navigator Gur Singh. They spot a signal fire on a small, supposedly uninhabited island. Four of them set out to the island in a rowboat, leaving Gur Singh on board. No sooner do they land, then they are overpowered by four castaways. In the fight, Allan and Taipi are killed, Keith and Hoka left for dead. When they revive, the find the castaways have stolen their rowboat, rowed out and disappeared with the Malola.

Keith and Hola survive a while on the island, then Gur Singh arrives in a different schooner. He finds Hola dead from his injuries, and rescues Keith. He relates what he learned about the four criminals when he was on board with them: 

1. The four are named Blackie, Whitie, The Weasel, and The Magpie
2. They have a small mahogany box which is very valuable
3. Their ultimate destination is New York City.

Keith sets out in pursuit to bring the four to justice. In New York, he teams up with old friend, Secret Service agent Bob Clinton. The two go underground on the Upper East Side - Clinton as Canary Jim, Keith as Rookie Dyke - to track them down.

Review: The book has two major parts: the island scene and (mostly) the New York City scene. The New York scene is a really nice portrayal of the tun down lower East Side, with lots of shady characters and dim light bulbs. Much of the dialogue is rendered in tough-guy phonetics, which gets tedious: "Youse can count on Bowery Sal for anythin' youse wants any time; an' I'll tell Tony youse're de one an' only."

Packard's writing style takes a little getting used to - plenty of exclamation marks, run-on sentences, and stacks of rhetorical questions. But still there is a solid adventure underneath. 

This book features well-oiled hinges.