The Clue of the Leaning Chimney is the twenty-sixth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. 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.
Nancy receives an urgent call from her Aunt Eloise in New York, requesting her help in solving a mystery. Her neighbor's granddaughter, Chi Che Soong, has gone missing! Nancy and her friends fly to New York to help track down the missing girl.
When the eerie performances of a life-size puppet begin to haunt the old Van Pelt estate, where an amateur acting group – The Footlighters – have their theater, Nancy Drew is called upon to unravel the baffling mystery.