A young girl goes to work as a live-in caretaker for a spooky old woman. She doesn't know that every night, the woman drains some blood from her to feed her strange plant.

Philo Vance is hired to write a true-crime mystery... but when the facts about an unsolved crime are about to be brought out into the open a murder takes place.

Playboy Larry Blendon introduces his grandmother Stella Blendon to his fiancée, radio singer Virginia Berneaux. Despite Larry's record of broken romances and divorces, Virginia decides she will marry him. Virginia is slain that night and Blandon telephones his friend, Philo Vance, to help find the killer.

Private Detective Philo Vance gets involved with a succession of murders and a mystery concerning the disappearance of an emerald that has been smuggled into the United States.

Stephen Torino, who is tricked by his brother Marco into an arranged marriage with tempestuous Annie Caldash. Annie is willing to give the union a go, but Torino wants none of it.

Oklahoma outlaw Belle Starr meets the Dalton gang when rescued from lynching by Bob Dalton, who falls for her. So do gang member Mac and wealthy saloon owner Tom Bradfield, who's enlisted in a bankers' scheme to trap the Daltons. Discord among the gang and Bradfield's ambivalence complicates things, as Belle demonstrates her prowess with shootin' irons and horses, and as a surprisingly racy saloon entertainer.

Wealthy writer Stephen Byrne tries to seduce the family maid, but when she resists, he kills her. Long jealous of his brother John, Stephen does his best to pin the blame for the murder on his sibling. Also affected by Stephen's arrogant dementia is his long-suffering wife Marjorie.

A plane carrying a sheriff and a man indicted for manslaughter is wrecked on a lonely California beach and the prisoner manages to escape, after a struggle, only to be taken in hand by the female manager of a remote sheep ranch.

An attorney enraged over the prosecution of two innocent people goes on a killing spree.

A black cat is suspected of being possessed by the spirit of a elderly murdered woman.