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Random House
Crimebusters
Random House’s third expansion of
The Three Investigators came in 1989 with the introduction of the Crimebusters
series. Intended for the young adult market, Crimebusters
featured the investigators as older teenagers in high school and was modeled
after the Hardy Boys Casefiles books. In all, eleven titles
were published: seven in 1989 and four in 1990. William Arden wrote
the first title, #1 Hot Wheels, and Marc Brandel wrote #5 An
Ear For Danger, but otherwise a group of authors never before associated
with The Three Investigators penned the remaining nine books.
All of the titles were initially published
simultaneously in Paperback and GLB Editions with indentical brightly colored cover
art by Hector Garrido and no internal illustrations. The GLB Edition
was published directly by Random House, but the paperbacks were published
as a Borzoi Sprinter Paperback Edition under Random House’s Alfred A. Knopf,
Inc. division. In addition, the books themselves were physically
smaller than those of the original series, measuring approximately 4 1/8"
x 6 7/8" for the Paperback Edition and 4 3/4" x 7 1/2" for the GLB Edition.
As it was not nearly as popular as
the original series, Crimebusters abruptly ended before the "forthcoming"
twelfth title could even be published. This title is listed in later
books as #12 Brain Wash. An additional thirteenth title written
by G.H. Stone exists in manuscript form and would have been published as
#13 High Strung.
In 1991, two titles were re-published
in the short lived Bullseye Paperback Edition under Random House's Alfred
A. Knopf, Inc. division: #1 Hot Wheels and #2 Murder To
Go. Both featured their original Hector Garrido cover art and
original typeface, but the books were larger (5 1/8" x 7 9/16") and the cover art was surrounded on three sides by a dark colored border containing a
shoe prints/confetti design.
Notes
Title, author, etc. information on
all eleven titles can be found in the downloadable Random House Chart discussed
in Random House - Foreword.
In the Crimebusters series, The Three Investigators name was changed to The 3 Investigators.
To my knowledge, only the Borzoi Sprinter Paperback Edition of #1 Hot Wheels and #2 Murder To Go (see
below) had a Second Printing. The remaining paperback and hardcover Crimebusters books were only
ever available as First Printings. Like all other Three Investigators
books published after 1973, printing information can be found on the copyright
page numberline.
With one known exception, the Borzoi Sprinter
Paperback Edition used an embossed, reflective gold and red foil for "The
3 Investigators" title text. The exception is the Second Printing of #2
Murder to Go. For most, but not all, copies of the Second Printing, the text was changed to "regular" red and mustard
yellow. Click
here for a comparison of the two printings. This none-complete change over in cover style is another example of partial conversion. The only other Borzoi Sprinter Paperback Edition to have a Second Printing, #1 Hot Wheels, retained the original foil.
The GLB Edition also used the red
(sometimes blue) and mustard yellow colors for 'The 3 Investigators" title text.
For detailed information on the writing
and publishing of the Crimebusters series, please see the G.H. Stone
(Gayle Lynds) interview at The
Three Investigators U.S. Editions Collector's Site.
Collector's Notes
All of the paperback Crimebusters
books are fairly easy to acquire online.
They are typically inexpensive, usually less than $8.00 each, although prices appear to be rising for the better condition copies. The
GLB titles are harder to find, particularily since most appear to still
be in library circulation. Even considering their somewhat lower availability, the GLB titles are still relatively inexpensive, usually selling on
eBay for around $15.00 each.
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This page last updated on 27-Feb-06
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