A Chinese girl (Maylia) goes into a laundry and finds her uncle dead. Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) sends for Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) and the Runt (Sid Tomack) because Blackie's laundry is on the counter. The owner was once in the rackets, and Farraday thinks Blackis is somehow connected. Maylia tells Farraday that her uncle picked up the laundry as usual at a club owned by Louis Van Rooten, where she works. Her uncle had objected to her working there. She is fired, and asks Blackie to help her. Van Rooten meets his girl, Joan Woodbury, in a bar and gives her a jewelry gift. Blackie is there, pretending to be drunk and watching. Then Woodbury meets a man in a movie theater - Blackie still tailing her. She works as a shill for a bus tour of Chinatown. Blackie and the Runt get on the bus. Woodbury lags behind the group and goes to a room where Peter Brocco is held captive. He is being forced to do illegal jewel cutting. Blackie observes some tea go from the shop clerk to the bus driver, so he orders some, then switches his package with the one the driver got.
A beat policeman reports to Farraday that Blackie was seen in Chinatown, so he and Sgt. Matthews (Frank Sully) go to get him. Blackie finds jewels in the packages of tea. Farraday gets the tea, but Blackie slips the jewels out. Blackie goes back to the tea shop, but the clerk is not there so they go to Van Rooten's night club. They say they want a cut of the jewel market, but he denies it. It appears that he is being doublecrossed by Woodbury and the bus driver - and he gets a knife for his troubles. They quiz Maylia about the bus driver and Van Rooten. The next day Blackie and the Runt disguise themselves as part of the events in the bus tour, and knock out the bus driver. Then they go into a theater to hide. The owner captures them and puts them in the room with Brocco. They figure out quickly that he is not the main criminal, and disarm him. The theater owner comes in and there is a shoot-out. Farraday shows up, and they go to the tea shot, where Blackie pays for a large amount of tea to be opened. They find some diamonds.
Maylia
Tomack
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