The Blue Sphinx

In this story we see a lot of the Shadow's associates involved. The story opens with a man named Hawkeye watching crooks and others pass by, and following a guy to “Luke's Joint.” He talks to the guy, named Tinker, who is a crook, and Tinker talks about going to a town called Latuna. A crime boss named Konk Zitz is a big man there.

Hawkeye, though, is really one of the Shadow's agents. Other agents that we see in the story include Rutledge Mann (investments); Slade Farrow (criminologist), Cliff Marsland, and Clyde Burke (reporter.) This is also one of the stories that has Barth as the police commissioner, and not Weston.

The story is named after a Blue Sphinx that is going to be put on exhibit at a museum in the city of Latuna.

Tinker wanted a certain guy to help break open a safe; Hawkeye claims he can't get the guy, but knows Cliff Marsland, who happens to be another agent of the Shadow. The Shadow has arranged for a fake robbery and fakes his own wounding during the robbery. Harry Vincent is also in the story.

Burke writes a column praising Joe Cardona and attacking another inspector, and ends up getting fired. He goes to Latuna and gets a job on a paper there. Marsland and Tinker are also going to Latuna.

A man named Rubal is the museum curator. The museum is only partially built, and there's a fair chance that the planned expansion will got really work correctly. He lets some prowlers in and then returns to his office.

The curator, Rubal, is murdered, as is his assistant named Hollis. burke gets a job at the paper

The Shadow checks in at a local hotel using a different disguise than Lamont Cranston.

There's a reference on one of the pages to a guy that works for a rich man. The servant happens to be Japanese, and the story refers to him with the term “Jap.” The story is dated 1935, well before Pearl Harbor, so it helps to show the type of prejudice against them in this country at the time.

Harry Vincent arrives. Cliff Marsland is found out and taken captive, as is Burke. The crooks decide to do some kind of major operation they were planning a day early.

From this point on the action is fast and furious. Clyde Burke makes a break and is helped by the Shadow who shoots two of the crooks. Two more of the crooks are downed when he rescues Cliff Marsland shortly later.

the shadow destroys the sphinx, revealing a hole in the floor leads into the storeroom where there was supposed to be valuables stored, but in which there is nothing.

Burke finds out that a reporter he had befriended had been forced to turn against him and was not actually an evil man. There's an even bigger gun battle at the end when the master crook behind the entire scheme is revealed.

It's another really good, complex, action-packed adventure of The Shadow.

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