City in Darkness

Charlie Chan is visiting Paris during the Czech annexation crisis of September 1938. Transportation disruptions threaten his ability to return to the United States. The looming war casts a tense backdrop over the city, drawing Chan into a local murder investigation.

Word arrives that Petroff, a well-known millionaire, has been murdered. With Romaine away on business, Spivak is left in charge of the case and seeks Chan's assistance. The high-profile nature of the crime heightens the pressure on the young inspector.

Spivak, the chief's godson and acting inspector, begs Chan to assist. He is terrified of handling such a high-profile murder alone. Chan agrees to help and begins the investigation.

Spivak suspects his butler Antoine as the killer, but spy Charlotte Ronnell is seen fleeing the Petroff residence, suggesting another layer of intrigue. Chan recognizes that the case involves more players than a simple domestic crime. The seeds of a conspiracy begin to surface.

Through a chance encounter, Chan discovers local woman Marie Dubon is involved in the case. He and Spivak head to her hotel to question her. Chan learns Dubon had been helping her husband, Tony Madero, clear his name after Petroff accused him of smuggling.

Chan discovers Marie Dubon was helping her husband, Tony Madero, clear his name after Petroff's accusation of smuggling. This connection ties Dubon to the motive for the murder. A clue in Dubon's room begins to point toward a counterfeiter.

Following the clue in Dubon's room, Chan interrogates counterfeiter Louis Santelle. Santelle nearly kills Chan during the confrontation, underscoring the danger surrounding the case. The detective begins to understand three key clues emerging from the evidence.

Back at Petroff's household, Chan and Spivak track down burglars Lola, Max, and Alex who had broken in before the murder. They also interrogate Petroff's business partner Belescu. Belescu is shot during the interrogation, heightening the urgency of solving the case.

Chan realizes three clues are key: a dropped franc coin, a wooden leg, and a telephone left off the hook. These clues tie together disparate threads of the crime and point toward the perpetrator. The connections suggest a planned, staged sequence of events.

With Belescu shot, Chan and Spivak chase Charlotte Ronnell to Le Bourget Airport. The pursuit escalates as Ronnell attempts to flee by plane. The tense chase reveals the danger surrounding the case.

Ronnell's plane crashes during takeoff, and she dies in the accident. The death removes a key spy figure and forces the investigation to shift its focus. Chan's mind begins to assemble the pieces into a coherent motive.

Chan returns to the police headquarters and reveals that Antoine, Petroff's butler, killed Petroff after discovering he was selling arms to Nazi Germany. The revelation links the earlier suspicions to a concrete motive and perpetrator. The truth complicates what justice might look like in this crisis.

Prefect Romaine says Antoine will stand trial for murder, but his patriotism makes it likely he will receive the Legion of Honour rather than the guillotine. The case ends with a sense of moral ambiguity amid the looming war. Chan closes the file knowing the city has survived another peril, for now.