The novel, which takes place in 1920s Hawai, spends time acquainting the reader with the look and feel of the islands of that era from the standpoint of both white and non-white inhabitants, and describes social class structures and customs which have largely vanished in the 21st century. The novel deals with the murder of a former member of Boston society who has lived in Hawai for a number of years. The main character is the victim's nephew, a straitlaced young Bostonian bond trader, who came to the islands to try to convince his aunt Minerva, whose vacation has extended many months, to return to Boston. The nephew, John Quincy Winterslip, soon falls under the spell of the islands himself, meets an attractive young woman, breaks his engagement to his straitlaced Bostonian fiancee Agatha, and decides after the murder is solved to move to San Francisco. In the interval, he is introduced to many levels of Hawaiian society and is of some assistance to Detective Charlie Chan in solving the mystery.

アール・デア・ビガーズが描く本作は、単なるミステリを超え、堅物なボストン気質がハワイの芳醇な風土に溶け出していく「魂の解放」を描いた文学的傑作です。1920年代の多文化が交差する情景は文章から当時の潮風が漂うほど鮮烈であり、知的なチャーリー・チャンの登場は、偏見に満ちた時代における静かなる革命を物語に刻んでいます。 映像化作品ではチャンの謎解きの妙が際立ちますが、原作には映像で捉えきれない「失われたハワイの空気感」が濃密に詰まっています。活字ならではの緻密な心理描写が、若き主人公の価値観の変容をドラマチックに補完し、映像版の華やかさと相まって、読者を古き良き楽園の深淵へと誘うのです。