A scheming nightclub singer and beautiful showgirl known as "the Canary" makes blackmail her business, and it ends with her being killed. So who murdered her? Every suspect knew her and had been used by her, and each of them had a reason to want her dead. The one witness to the crime has been "rubbed out" as well. Only the sharp, fascinating and debonair detective Philo Vance can work out who the killer is.