Games, Toys, Collectibles and Other Odds & Sods
HARDCOVERS | PAPERBACKS | DIGITAL | AUDIO | COLLECTIONS & ANTHOLOGIES
NON-FICTION, REFERENCE & TRUE CRIME | COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS | TV & FILM
THE THRILLING DETECTIVE GIFT SHOP
I used to do a Holiday Gift Guide every year for Mystery Scene, and it was pretty popular. So I started thinking (always a dangerous proposition) that it might be fun to do it again, but do it all year round. After all, there are plenty of other holidays and special occasions to treat that mystery-loving special someone in your life–Valentine’s, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc. And every day is somebody’s birthday.
(And it’s a good way to list things that might not easily suit any of my other Word on the Street pages.)
COLLECTIBLES
- The Big Lebowski Talking Bowling Pin | Get it!
(2023, Running Press)
In this crazy old mixed-up world, where today’s wisdom becomes tomorrow’s retraction, it’s good to know that depsite it all, The Dude abides. Which is why this tiny ( 3-inch!), spring-loaded bowling pin packs such a wallop! It just may be all you need to really tie your life together. It comes pre-loaded with seven audio pearls of wisdom straight from the Dude himself, available with a mere tap of your finger. But that’s not all—it also includes a 2 x 3 inch illustrated magnet. - | Get it!No, really. Somehow worming its way into becoming a cock-eyed Christmas staple, this 1988 action flick has inspired a slew of collectibles, including this 2″x3″ ornament featuring John McClane, crawling through the A/C ducts of the Nakatomi building. And it lights up! Includes a small booklet of full-color graphics and selected quotes from the film. Whoopi-tye-yi-yay, and Merry Christmas.
- The Urwerk UR-210 Maltese Falcon
Okay, unless you’re a watch nerd, a cheap one pretty much tells the same time as an obscenely expensive one, but saps are going to be saps, so the scientists over at Urwek, best known for their now-iconic satellite system, have come up with this gewgaw “inspired” by The Maltese Falcon (I don’t see it). Here’s what you get: “the world’s-first winding efficiency indicator – with a single hand drifting between the green and red ends of a curved scale, spinning hour indicators integrated into a retrograde minutes display… a minute hand that’s a three-dimensional cage inspired by the beak of the Maltese Falcon… 3-micron tolerance milled aluminum (that) weighs in at a super-light .302g… central spring and ruby bearing system… a 39 hour power reserve” and on and on.You ask me, it’s kinda ugly. But for $145.000 US? What a bargain!!!
BOOKS/FICTION
- Block, Lawrence, Collectibles | Buy this book
Mystery geeks and collectors should keep an eye peeled for this collection of crime tales about… collecting, by some of our best crime writers. With obsession-drenched stories by Joyce Carol Oates, Dennis Lehane, S.J. Rozan, Thomas Pluck, S.A. Crosby, Lee Goldberg, Joe R. Lansdale, Alex Segura and more. - Box, C.J., editor, The Best American Mystery Stories 2020 | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
It’s the end of the world as we know it, as series editor Otto Penzler (What? Him again?), with perennial sidekick Michele Slung riding editorial shotgun one last time. Next year, a new series editor steps in, and the series itself gets a (slightly) new title. But the song remains the same: to present the very best crime stories, no matter where they come from. And this year’s edition is no exception—it includes “twenty perfect pearls” from the likes of Sheila Kohler, David Dean, Jeffery Deaver, Robin Yocum, James Lee Burke, Pamela Blackwood, John Sandford and Rick Helms. - Vorzimmer, Jeff, editor, The Best of Manhunt 2 | Buy this book
A sterling collection of fifties and sixties pulp fiction, might be right up your (dark) alley. Yeah, Black Mask gets all the huzzahs, but Manhunt may have been the better (or at least more consistent) crime pulp of them all, laser-focused on what they wanted: hard, tough stories of people pushed to the very edge. No, the stories didn’t always have happy endings, but fans will bust a grin after plowing though this rollicking collection. Included are stories (many never reprinted before) from such shadowy suspects as Howard Browne, Helen Nielsen, Erle Stanley Gardner, William Campbell Gault, Eleazar Lipsky, Fletcher Flora, Richard Demming, Ira Levin, Donald Westlake, Jack Ritchie, Wade Miller and Frank Kane. Plus an essay on Manhunt’s history by Robert Turner, and and a fine tribute by Jon L. Breen. Suggested accompaniment: Cheap Scotch. Neat. Possibly in a dirty glass. Essential. - The Steeger Books Pulp Library
Got pulp? 2020 has been a kick in the guts to publishing schedules (as well as everything else), which may explain this virtual late-November dump from pulp pimps Steeger Books. They’ve unleashed a tidal wave of collections over the Black Friday weekend, including Jan Dana’s The Complete Cases of the Acme Indemnity Op, Vol. 1, about a nameless op for a huge insurance company, Frederick C. Davis’ The Complete Cases of Bill Brent, Vol. 2 , featuring the most hard-boiled dispenser of advice for the lovelorn ever, and Ray Cummings’ The Complete Cases of Uncle Tubby, about a chubby, middle-aged P.I. And for those who think anyone called “Tubby” might not quite cut it, or that even Mike Hammer’s a bit of a wimp, they’re offering two slabs of full-tilt blood and thunder from John Carroll Daly: Gang Man’s Gallows, the sixth volume in their ongoing series of Race Williams collections, and Satan’s Vengeance, featuring Satan Hall, the kinda cop Trump has wet dreams about.
COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS
- Noir: A Crime Comics Collection
A slight upgrade (hardbound, and now comic book size) of one of the few collections devoted to crime comics exclusively, this black & white volume offers a staggering selection of some of the very best in crime comics, mostly indies, from the last few decades, featuring thirteen stories of betrayal and deceit, bad choices and bad luck, written and illustrated by such masters of crime comics as Brian Azzarello, Gary Phillips, Jeff Lemire, the dynamic duo of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, Dean Motter, David Lapham and more.
GAMES
- Blacksad: Under The Skin | Buy this game
(2019, Pedulo Studios/Maximum Games)
Look what the cat dragged in! An all-new case, set in the comic book series’ seedy, retro-noir world of 1950s New York City. Blacksad’s called in when the owner of a boxing club is murdered, and his star boxer disappears just before a big fight. the games a beauty to behold, perfectly recreating the comics with jaw-dropping graphics (the splash at the top is a screen grab from the game). Gameplay features investigations, puzzles, quick time events and multiple-choice dialog, while jazz warbles in the background, and danger beckons at every turn. And for collectors, the Limited Edition includes four art prints, 3D Lenticular artwork, and a limited edition sleeve. Available for Playstation Four, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. - Clue: The Scooby-Doo! 50th Anniversary Board Game | Buy this game
(2019, USAopoly)
Sure, you can always go out and buy one of the four zillion currently available licensed versions of Clue, which turns 70 this year (Game of Thrones? Downton Abbey? Harry Frickin’ Potter? Really? What’s next? The FOX and Friends edition?), but if you’d rather not, may I suggest one of the few licensed versions of the beloved classic to be released this year that is actually mystery-related — and just happens to mark another monumental anniversary in mysterydom: the fiftieth anniversary of the debut of the one of the most beloved cartoon canines ( I call it a dog) on television, the one and only Scooby-Doo! You can play as your favorite character (Who wants to be Velma?), searching Mrs. White’s haunted mansion to figure out who was snatched and solve the mystery (with occasionally Scooby Snack breaks). Suitable for adults and meddling kids. - Clue: The Luxury Edition | Get it now!
(2014, Winning Solutions/Hasbro)
For the mystery fan who has everything… here’s something else! This super-duper deluxe version of the classic mystery game is simply the most gorgeous version I’ve ever seen, a full-fledged 3D delight, not so much a board game as a chunk of fine furniture– a handsome, burl-finished wooden cabinet, with the actual rooms of Tudor Mansion in three dimensions, topped with a glass playing surface and attention to detail, from the weighted die cast base and weapons to the gold foil stamped cards– and everything can be tucked away neatly in an almost-leather storage box. - Von Reiswitz, Stephanie,
Murder Most Puzzling: Twenty Mysterious Cases to Solve | Get it now! | Get it on Kindle!
A handsomely illustrated collection of puzzles in book form–a variation of sorts on those five-minute mystery books many of us had as kids, this one is definitely for adults. The premise is that you’ve applied for a job as the assistant to Medea Thorne, an eccentric and absent-minded private eye, and the book itself is a chronicle of twenty of your first cases that you solved together. Except she forgot to include the solutions, and it’s once again up to you to do the leg work, using logic, math and all your deductive skills to solve the puzzles, analyze the evidence and crack the case. Ideal for couples.
JUST NEAT STUFF
- Sherlock Holmes Bookend | Get it!
To many books? Prop ’em up with this stylish silhouette of the World’s Greatest Detective! Fashioned from sturdy painted black metal and measuring 17″x10″x12″, it’s a great gift; an elementary solution for anyone who lives in fear of perishing in a book avalanche. Hey, it could happen… - The Maltese Falcon | Get it!
The stuff that dreams are made of! Not the original, of course, but a reasonable facsimile and a perennial favourite. Every home should have one.
