Chick Carter, Detective is a 1946 Columbia film serial. Columbia could not afford the rights to produce a Nick Carter serial so they made Chick Carter, Detective about his son instead. This was based on the radio series Chick Carter, Boy Detective. A Nick Carter series was being made by MGM.

In a "rather strange precedent" for a serial, the title character is rarely involved in the cliffhangers. For example, the first cliffhanger revolves around the reporter Rusty rather than Carter. The film starred Lyle Talbot as Chick Carter, Douglas Fowley as Rusty Farrell, Julie Gibson as Sherry Marvin, Pamela Blake as Ellen Dale, Eddie Acuff as Spud Warner, and Robert Elliott as Dan Rankin.