The Shadow battles a villain known as The Black Tiger, who has the power to make himself invisible and is trying to take over the world with his death ray. The plot begins with dynamited railroads, wrecked airplanes and blown-up industrial plants, with the clear message that nothing is safe from the machinations of the secret mastermind of the underworld known only as The Black Tiger. The man has plans to take over everything.

While the police make only a few futile arrests, Lamont Cranston, noted scientist and criminologist, assumes the disguise of a black-garbed, masked figure (The Shadow) to combat this evil. The police,of course, assume that The Shadow and The Black Tiger are one and the same... 15 chapters