Review of Murder Over New York

Coincidentially, Charlie Chan meets an old colleague and friend of his, Inspector Drake from Scotland Yard, aboard the plane that takes him to New York for the annual police convention; and Drake reveals to him that he's now in the secret service, and he's been chasing dangerous saboteur Narvo literally all over the world - and he suspects him to have been involved in the crash of a new test plane only a few days ago. And the same night, Drake is murdered at a dinner party given by plane constructor Kirby, poisoned in his library by a newly invented gas (Jimmy, who's once more followed his dad, this time using the World Fair as an excuse, can identify it easily, being a chemistry student) that kills instantly and is usually put into small glass balls that smash easily... So, Charlie deduces that this was also the way the plane was made to crash - and immediately takes over his friend's case, investigating all the more or less suspicious characters who were present at Kirby's dinner party...

Once again, Charlie proves a lot cleverer than even 'New York's Finest' (Donald MacBride as the slow-witted Inspector Vance used to specialize in this kind of roles anyway), and as always his psychological tricks work excellently - there's just nothing but oriental finesse to catch a cunning criminal!

The whole cast is superb, the case is very intriguing, and of course the jokes aren't missing either (as usual at the expense of poor Jimmy...) - great 40s' murder and spy entertainment which really transfers us back into time!