The Chinese Parrot — Earl Derr Biggers

Murder has been done in a palatial home in the high desert of California. But no corpse can be found, and the only witness is a parrot with a penchant for languages.

When self-made millionaire P.J. Madden purchases a string of perfect pearls values at a third of a million dollars, the newly impoverished patricians who owned it need to make sure that it reaches the right hands. Enter Charlie Chan, an old family friend on his first trip to the mainland.

Chan and Bob Eden, the son of San Francisco's top jeweler, travel to Madden's ranch home as bodyguards for the gems. There they find a choleric millionaire, a nervous personal secretary, a beautiful woman, an ambitious newspaperman, a mysterious prospector, and an Australian parrot who has heard a bit too much for its own good.

In his second case, master detective Charlie Chan patiently works to find the key to murders seemingly without victims, but which have left a multitude of clues...