Charlie Chan #7

Charlie Chan investigates the murder of a government scientist whose atomic research has gone missing, and his suspicions lead him to the Steiner Troupe—a vaudeville act with a week-long engagement before heading to Paris. When Chan discovers a truth drug in the theatre cellar and begins closing in on the culprits, the case takes him across the Atlantic to catch an enemy agent in the act of receiving stolen secrets. With the help of his son and the troupe's ventriloquist Moira Lubeck, Chan must uncover how the intelligence is being passed and stop it before it reaches hostile hands.

When Charlie Chan's vacation in Mexico is interrupted by news of a murder, the detective joins a university expedition hunting the legendary Talking Stone Face—a fabled Aztec treasure said to be guarded by an ancient skull. As the team ventures deeper into the jungle toward a lost city, deaths mount with grim regularity, each victim claimed by ceremonial arrows from a bygone age, and Chan must determine which member of the expedition is the killer before the curse claims another soul.

Charlie Chan and his son catch wind of a con man named Mysto—the famous buried-alive showman who's actually running a séance swindle with his partner Joe Santee—bilking the credulous out of their money with ghostly messages from beyond. When Charlie's chauffeur Birmingham becomes a target for the scheme, the detective allows himself to be drawn into Mysto's trap in order to expose the racket once and for all. It's a battle of wits where the criminal's own confidence in his "perfect plan" may just be his undoing.

Lion Tamer Tad King arrives at the circus to investigate after a bareback rider named Zelda is shot and a performer named Doris falls from the high wire—both under suspicious circumstances. With help from his keen-nosed tiger Rajah and lion Sahara, the resourceful King works to untangle the clues hidden in the chaos of the big top and expose the culprit before they strike again.