Alice Kendall is the darling of her social set, the sons and daughters of millionaires, although Alice's mother has impoverished herself to provide Alice with the luxuries she expects as her right. Mom blows what's left of her fortune to provide the best trousseau that money can buy when Alice marries Fred Garlan, and then wishes Fred lots of luck. Now, Alice is trying to coax Fred into buying her a new sable coat while Fred is busily trying to borrow enough money to keep his business afloat.

Thomas P. Manning, businessman and chess expert, mysteriously shot in a locked room, dies clutching some chess pieces. Police are baffled, and finally abandon the case. Six months later, victim's daughter Leah Manning, stung by a scurrilous book about the case, enlists the aid of Charlie Chan and Number 3 Son. Additional murders follow, leading to a climactic confrontation in a seemingly deserted "Fun House."

Johnny, an ex-Marine, and Evelyn, a chance acquaintance, find themselves caught up in a plot involving Nazi spies in California.