The Clue of the Leaning Chimney

Infobox Book |
name = The Clue of the Leaning Chimney


image_caption =
author = Carolyn Keene
country = United States
language = English
series = Nancy Drew stories
genre = Detective, Mystery novel
publisher = Grosset & Dunlap
release_date = 1949
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = ISBN 0-448-09526-2
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Clue of the Leaning Chimney" is the twenty-sixth volume in the Nancy Drew mystery series. It was first published in 1949 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual authors were ghostwriters George Waller, Jr. and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams.

Plot summary

As a result of an encounter with a sinister stranger on a lonely country road, Nancy Drew and her friend Bess Marvin discover that a rare and valuable Chinese vase has been stolen from the pottery shop of Dick Milton, a cousin of Bess.

Dick had borrowed the vase from his Chinese friend, elderly Mr. Soong. He is determined to repay Mr. Soong for the loss and tells Nancy that if he can find "the leaning chimney", he feels he will be on the track of a discovery which will solve his financial problems.

Nancy finds the leaning chimney, but it only leads her into more puzzles. Can there be any connection between the vase theft -- one of a number of similar crimes -- and the strange disappearance of the pottery expert Eng Moy and his daughter Lei?