Behind That Curtain , published in 1928, finds Charlie Chan in San Francisco preparing to return to Honolulu after a working holiday.

He meets a Sir Frederic Bruce from Scotland Yard, who is following the trail of a woman who disappeared fifteen years before. The two attend a dinner party together—where Sir Frederic is murdered. Chan is then pressed to delay his return to Hawaii to assist in the murder investigation. Before Charlie can find the murderer, he must find the missing woman.

Because the previous Chan novel, The Chinese Parrot , was so well received, Earl Derr Biggers was paid an impressive $25,000 for a serialized version of Behind That Curtain by The Saturday Evening Post

The novel was adapted for film in 1929.