Charlie Chan in Rio

Charlie and son Jimmy visit an exotic Rio nightclub in the company of local police chief Suoto in order to arrest nightclub chanteuse Lola Dean, whom Charlie believes killed her paramour a year earlier in Honolulu after discovering that he was married. Rather than cause a public scene, the always discreet Chan decides to wait until she gets home. By the time the minions of the law arrive, they find the singer has been stabbed to death, her jewels stolen, and a bevy of clues seemingly planted at the crime scene. Among the suspects are the singer's companion, an ex-husband, a Dean friend along with her boyfriend, an amateur sleuth, her rich playboy fiancee, a rival for his affections, a mind-reading mystic, and, of course, the butler.