Browse TV Series. Mystery & Suspense

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Columbo - Seasons 1-7

Actor: Peter Falk
ASIN : B0017QLXPM
Sales Rank : 12420
Format : NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0025195028936
UPC : 025195028936
Release Date : December 13, 2008

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Columbo - The Complete First Season

TV detective fans rejoice: Peter Falk's rumpled and infallible Lt. Columbo joins the DVD precinct with a five-disc set that features the detective's first nine appearances for NBC. Though Falk as Columbo (no first name) made his TV debut in 1967, the detective had actually first appeared on an episode of the 1960-61 Chevy Mystery Show (Bert Freed played the role) written by veteran TV scribes Richard Levinson and William Link (The Fugitive, Alfred Hitchcock Presents). The pair turned the episode into a stage play titled Prescription: Murder, which was adapted into a TV movie in 1967 with Falk in the lead. NBC greenlit a two-hour Columbo pilot (Ransom for a Dead Man) in 1971, and the series was launched that fall as part of the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie, a rotating 90-minute program that alternated Columbo with episodes of MacMillan and Wife and McCloud (another Levinson/Link creation). Viewers were quickly won over by Falk's shrewd performance as he matched wits with a host of exceptional guest stars (including Gene Barry, Patrick McGoohan, and others), all of whom assumed that the disheveled detective would never figure out their "perfect crimes"; the popularity and quality of the original series allows Falk to continue to don the trenchcoat some 30 years later for occasional Columbo TV movies.

All seven 90-minute episodes of the 1971-72 debut season are included here, along with Prescription: Murder and Ransom for a Dead Man; unfortunately, as the lieutenant himself would say, "Oh, just one more thing"--no extras are included in the set, but having these fine TV mysteries in one set should be reward enough for armchair sleuths. --Paul Gaita

Columbo - The Complete Second Season

Armchair sleuths, get out your trenchcoats: Universal has released the sophomore season (1972-73) of the classic detective series Columbo, starring Peter Falk as the sage but rumpled police lieutenant. As with the first season, there's plenty of star power in front of and behind the camera to abet Falk in these eight 90- and 120-minute episodes: John Cassavetes stars in the season premiere, Etude in Black, as a philandering symphony conductor, with Blythe Danner and Hollywood legend Myrna Loy in support; Oscar winner Ray Milland is a scheming orchid grower in The Greenhouse Jungle, co-starring Bradford Dillman and William Smith; Robert Culp and Dean Stockwell are a football team manager and owner, respectively, whose disagreements blossom into murder in The Most Crucial Game; and Jeanette Nolan offers stellar comic relief in Double Shock, which features Martin Landau as identical twins--one of whom has murdered their uncle. Performances by Richard Basehart, Laurence Harvey, Leonard Nimoy, Anne Francis, Anne Baxter, and Mel Ferrer also highlight the season; direction by small-screen stalwarts like Boris Sagal, Jeremy Paul Kagan, and Nicholas Colasanto ("Coach" on Cheers) and scripts by Stephen Bochco also bring quality and style to the proceedings. Sadly, no extras are available in this five-disc set, but the stellar image and sound quality (and lack of commercials) should appeal to series fans and newcomers alike. --Paul Gaita

Columbo - The Complete Third Season

Oh, just one more thing, mystery mavens--get ready to be mystified and entertained by the award-winning third season of Columbo, starring Peter Falk as the rumpled but unbeatable Lieutenant. Having taken home Emmys for outstanding limited drama and lead actor in its '71-'72 debut season, Columbo was again named best drama for its third season ('73-'74). The reason for the repeat success? The formula remained the same: intelligent, engaging scripts and direction, guest performances by top actors, and, of course, Falk at center stage as Columbo, the most unlikely of supersleuths, but unquestionably one of the sharpest (the role would later earn Falk three more Emmys between 1975 and 1990). The 10 episodes compiled in this two-disc set again feature top talent from film and television: directors include veterans Jeannot Swarc and Boris Sagal, as well as actors Nicholas Colasanto (better known as Coach from Cheers) and Ben Gazzara (Falk's frequent co-star in the films of John Cassavetes), while the season's scripts feature contributions from Stephen J. Cannell, Steven Bochco, and Larry Cohen. And in regard to co-stars, Falk matched wits with the likes of Donald Pleasance, Martin Sheen, Vincent Price, Robert Culp (in one of four turns on the series), Jose Ferrer, Ida Lupino, and in two novel but effective casting choices, Johnny Cash and hard-boiled mystery scribe Mickey Spillane. And there's even a bonus feature in the form of an episode of the spinoff series Mrs. Columbo, starring Kate Mulgrew as the Lieutenant's oft-mentioned better half. In short, it's 11 hours of solid sleuthing for armchair detectives. --Paul Gaita

Columbo - The Complete Fourth Season

Legendary actor Peter Falk returns in his 4-time Emmy award-winning role as everyone's favorite trenchcoat-wearing Police Lieutenant in Columbo - The Complete Fourth Season. From a spoiled kidnapping plot to murder at a historic military academy, join Columbo in this three-disc set as he asks all the right questions in some of the most deceptive and deadly cases. The captivating fourth season also features such brilliant guest stars as Dick Van Dyke, Larry Storch, George Hamilton, Robert Conrad and more. The landmark crime series that inspired a genre is back, and no murderer can hide for long with Columbo on the beat.

Columbo - The Complete Fifth Season

Peter Falk took home back-to-back Emmy Awards for his portrayal of the indefatigable Lt. Columbo during the show’s fifth season in 1975-76, and the series itself earned two Emmy nominations, which should give an indication of the quality of the episodes contained in this double-disc set. Although the fifth season only featured six episodes, the quality of writing and acting talent is impressive, to say the least: Janet Leigh, John Payne, Sam Jaffe, and Maurice Evans star in the season opener, "Forgotten Lady," about a faded movie queen who may have murdered her elderly husband to finance a comeback; Patrick McGoohan, who won an Emmy for his performance in the fourth-season episode "By Dawn’s Early Light," returns to direct "Identity Crisis", which pits Columbo against a deceptive secret agent (McGoohan, who makes slyly overt references to his Prisoner character throughout the episode), and "Last Salute to the Commodore," with John Dehner and Robert Vaughn as relatives whose disagreement over the fate of a shipping line turns deadly; and then-newcomers Steven Bocho and Steven Spielberg write and direct, respectively, "Murder by the Book," with Jack Cassidy returning for his fourth Columbo turn as a devious PR agent. As far as TV mysteries go, few have been as clever, well acted, and intricately plotted as Columbo, and home detectives should find plenty of sleuthing material to enjoy here. Unfortunately, as with all previous Columbo boxes, the supplemental material is limited; the "Caviar with Everything" episode of the Mrs. Columbo series with Kate Mulgrew is this set’s sole extra. --Paul Gaita

Columbo - The Complete Sixth and Seventh Seasons

Before returning to the television fold in the '80s with a string of successful TV movies, Peter Falk's Lt. Columbo concluded his network sleuthing with eight episodes that aired between 1976-1978; these final two seasons of the original Columbo series are packaged in this no-frills boxed set that should be a welcome addition to any armchair detective's collection. Quality-wise, the performances, writing, and direction in these eight episodes are as top notch as any that preceded it, with a host of terrific guest stars doing their best to match wits with the lieutenant in a string of complex mysteries. William Shatner gives a typically juicy turn as a demanding TV actor facing blackmail in the sixth season opener "Fade in to Murder"; Theodore Bikel and Sorrell Booke (The Dukes of Hazzard) are friends, business partners, and bitter rivals in "The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case" (and watch for Jamie Lee Curtis in a bit role as a waitress); the great Ruth Gordon (Harold and Maude) shines as a wily mystery writer in the seventh season's "Try and Catch Me," while a host of fine character actors (including the late Mako, Richard Dysart and Michael V. Gazzo) have reasons for wanting food critic Louis Jourdan dead in "Murder Under Glass," and a very young Kim Cattrall helps Columbo unravel a mystery involving mind control and trained dogs in "How to Dial a Murder." The talent behind the camera in these episodes is equally impressive: Jonathan Demme helms "Murder Under Glass," while Leo Penn takes the final episode, "The Conspirators." As with all of the original Columbo shows (and many of the subsequent TV movies), the episodes presented here are smartly written, crisply acted by a quality cast, and anchored with sly charm and deceptive strength by Falk's Emmy-winning performance. Previous Columbo box sets have included an episode of the spin-off series Mrs. Columbo as an extra, but no such supplement is included here. --Paul Gaita

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Midsomer Murders, Set 10

Actors: John Nettles, Jason Hughes, Jane Wymark, Barry Jackson, Nigel Anthony
ASIN : B00118VEH8
Sales Rank : 4310
Director : Peter Smith, Renny Rye, Richard Holthouse, Sarah Hellings
Studio : Acorn Media
Format : Box set, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0054961804399
UPC : 054961804399
Release Date : December 25, 2008
Publisher : Acorn Media
Manufacturer : Acorn Media
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Acorn Media
Running Time : 100

Description

As seen on A&E and The Biography Channel

WHAT EVIL LURKS BEYOND THE WELL-TRIMMED HEDGES OF MIDSOMER . . .

The cozy villages of Midsomer County reveal their most sinister secrets in these contemporary British television mysteries. Inspired by the novels of Caroline Graham, modern master of the English village mystery, the series stars John Nettles (Bergerac) as the unflappable Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby with John Hopkins (Love in a Cold Climate) as his brash young assistant, Sergeant Dan Scott. Guest stars include Oliver Ford Davies, Annette Crosbie, Owen Teale, June Whitfield, Geoffrey Whitehead, and David Burke.

THE MYSTERIES
Second Sight -- A mysterious death brings the detectives to Midsomer Mere, where villagers claim psychic powers.
Hidden Depths -- Barnaby and Scott face a bizarre crime scene when a local oenophile gets killed by a combination of catapult, croquet, and Chateau Lafite.
Sauce for the Goose -- After a visitor dies while touring Plummer’s relish factory, Barnaby and Scott investigate the local food wars.
Midsomer Rhapsody -- Barnaby links a long-deceased local composer with odd events that crescendo to a murderous conclusion.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE Caroline Graham biography and cast filmographies.

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Gruesome doings in bucolic villages make Midsomer Murders an addictive British detective series. Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby (John Nettles), a staunch, determined policeman with a nose for sniffing out motives and crucial mistakes, investigates murders in this bizarrely homicidal rural district, accompanied by the younger, not as insightful, but still dutiful Sergeant Scott (John Hopkins). Set 10 features three superb episodes and one disappointing one (which, confusingly enough, are from the show's eighth series on the BBC). Each episode is a 90-100 minute movie, cunningly structured so the solution always seems just out of reach yet tantalizingly close. The characters are well-developed and rarely feel like mere puppets designed to distract viewers from an inevitable solution; the psychological richness of the show is crucial to its appeal. In Second Sight, a young lad may have died from electric shocks delivered during tests of his extrasensory powers. As Barnaby struggles to separate science from superstition, he comes across an ominous caged chair, a psychic baby, and a man who fears he's foreseen his own death. Hidden Depths features some truly spectacular revenge killings, including one using a catapult and many bottles of wine; the episode is practically a genteel (and less pretentious) version of Saw or Seven. Sauce for the Goose turns the prosaic setting of a relish factory into a swirling crucible of madness, secrets, lost love, and boiled flesh. Only Midsomer Rhapsody, in which the possibly forged manuscript of a dead composer results in a variety of head traumas, founders in melodramatic backstory. But even when the show isn't at its sharpest, Nettles drives each episode forward with his charismatic blend of compassion and doggedness. Viewers usually resistant to crime-show formulas may find Midsomer Murders more compelling than most, while any fan of mysteries will be hooked in seconds. --Bret Fetzer

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Columbo - The Complete Sixth and Seventh Seasons

Actor: Peter Falk
ASIN : B000HT3Q1Y
Sales Rank : 3478
Brand : Universal
Studio : National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0025193205421
UPC : 025193205421
Number Of Discs : 3
Release Date : December 21, 2006
Publisher : National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Manufacturer : National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Label : National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Running Time : 636

Product Description

Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 11/14/2006

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Before returning to the television fold in the '80s with a string of successful TV movies, Peter Falk's Lt. Columbo concluded his network sleuthing with eight episodes that aired between 1976-1978; these final two seasons of the original Columbo series are packaged in this no-frills boxed set that should be a welcome addition to any armchair detective's collection. Quality-wise, the performances, writing, and direction in these eight episodes are as top notch as any that preceded it, with a host of terrific guest stars doing their best to match wits with the lieutenant in a string of complex mysteries. William Shatner gives a typically juicy turn as a demanding TV actor facing blackmail in the sixth season opener "Fade in to Murder"; Theodore Bikel and Sorrell Booke (The Dukes of Hazzard) are friends, business partners, and bitter rivals in "The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case" (and watch for Jamie Lee Curtis in a bit role as a waitress); the great Ruth Gordon (Harold and Maude) shines as a wily mystery writer in the seventh season's "Try and Catch Me," while a host of fine character actors (including the late Mako, Richard Dysart and Michael V. Gazzo) have reasons for wanting food critic Louis Jourdan dead in "Murder Under Glass," and a very young Kim Cattrall helps Columbo unravel a mystery involving mind control and trained dogs in "How to Dial a Murder." The talent behind the camera in these episodes is equally impressive: Jonathan Demme helms "Murder Under Glass," while Leo Penn takes the final episode, "The Conspirators." As with all of the original Columbo shows (and many of the subsequent TV movies), the episodes presented here are smartly written, crisply acted by a quality cast, and anchored with sly charm and deceptive strength by Falk's Emmy-winning performance. Previous Columbo box sets have included an episode of the spin-off series Mrs. Columbo as an extra, but no such supplement is included here. --Paul Gaita

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Poirot - Classic Crimes Collection (The Mystery of the Blue Train / After the Funeral / Cards on the Table / Taken at the Flood)

Actors: David Suchet, Hugh Fraser, Philip Jackson, Pauline Moran, Richard Bebb
ASIN : B000CRR3EC
Sales Rank : 6095
Brand : A&E
Studio : A&E Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Color, Subtitled, Closed-captioned
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0733961752106
UPC : 733961752106
Release Date : December 30, 2006
Publisher : A&E Home Video
Manufacturer : A&E Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : A&E Home Video
Running Time : 379

Product Description

Tony Award-nominee David Suchet reprises his celebrated role as Hercule Poirot in the CLASSIC CRIMES COLLECTION--an exclusive collection of four brand-new A&E original films. Artfully adapted from Agatha Christie s famous mystery series each multi-million dollar production features a top-notch cast stunning settings and of course enough murder and mystery to test the mettle of our inimitably beloved Belgian sleuth.The CLASSIC CRIMES COLLECTION contains the following four brand-new Poirot movies:THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN: When the daughter of an oil magnate is found dead on the famous Blue Train to the French Riviera Poirot must investigate the past to reveal the killer.TAKEN AT THE FLOOD: Mystery surrounds a young woman after her new husband is killed in the London Blitz but with the discovery of new information Poirot wonders about her true motives.AFTER THE FUNERAL: Following the murder of a wealthy patriarch Poirot is called upon to begin an investigation. The case takes a wild twist however when his prime suspect turns up dead.CARDS ON THE TABLE: When the host is found dead at a card game four investigators - including Poirot himself - look for clues as they set out to discover which guest is the killer.System Requirements:Running Time 379 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 733961752106 Manufacturer No: AAE-75210

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The incomparable David Suchet reprises his role as Agatha Christie's indefatigable Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot in this collection of four A&E teleplays. Poirot is older now, and mostly solo in solving his crimes, without his previous sidekicks Hastings and Japp. Yet the world-weary Suchet is as compelling as ever to watch, surrounded by the decadent rich who seem to find murder an easy solution to life's inconveniences. The Mystery of the Blue Train, for instance, features a young, and suddenly very dead, heiress, with a dissolute husband, an overprotective father (a fabulously blustery Elliott Gould), greedy cousins, and all sorts of scheming money-owing hangers-on--all cocooned and coddled on a luxury train on the French Riviera. Indeed, one of the many pleasures of this collection is its very high production values; sets, costumes, and locations are detailed and opulently believable. (Though one annoying tic from the films' TV roots inexplicably remains: some "naughty" words, like the "God" in "God-damned," are edited out; surely we home viewers could handle a teensy bit of upper-crust rough talk?) The supporting casts are rich and varied, and the suspects deliciously numerous. And at the center of it all is the ever-refined, driven Poirot, who will not rest until the evil-doers are exposed. Extras include biographies of Agatha Christie and of David Suchet. --A.T. Hurley

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C.S.I. Miami - The Fifth Season

Actors: Joe Mantegna, Paget Brewster, Shemar Moore, Matthew Gray Gubler, A.J. Cook
ASIN : B000UAE7QI
Sales Rank : 4487
Brand : Paramount
Studio : Paramount
Region Code : 1
Format : Full Screen, Color, Digital Sound
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0097368509047
UPC : 097368509047
Release Date : December 30, 2007
Publisher : Paramount
Manufacturer : Paramount
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Paramount
Running Time : 1048

Description

Join lead criminalist Horatio Caine (David Caruso) and his state-of-the-art forensics team as they investigate hot and steamy Miami crimes using cold hard facts. The CSI: Miami Season 5 Complete DVD Collection features 24 episodes of riveting and shocking mysteries. The evidence leads into seedy nightclubs, privileged suburbs and explosive family secrets. The stakes are higher than ever before, because this time it’s personal.

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The fifth season of CSI: Miami begins with revenge: Lead CSI Horatio Caine (David Caruso) and underwater recovery whiz Eric Delko (Adam Rodriguez) travel to Brazil to avenge the murder of Horatio's wife Marisol (who was Eric's sister). While there, Horatio also helps his sister-in-law and nephew after his brother is murdered by drug lords. (Never mind that the crime-fighting duo seem to have carte blanche to do as they like in a foreign country.) The scenes are beautifully shot and the rhythm of the first few episodes are reminiscent of classic Miami Vice. The most stylistic--and hammy--show in the CSI franchise, CSI: Miami is driven by Caruso's quiet delivery. Never one to get overly excited, Horatio rarely exhibits more than a shy smile or a whispery threat. In this season, two CSIs--Ryan Wolfe (Jonathan Togo) and Natalia Boa Vista (Eva La Rue) face professional and personal problems that could threaten their jobs, while Horatio himself battles a recurring nemesis who always seems to be one step ahead of him. The crimes range from an apparent death by grizzly bear to what looks like an off-shore betting pool dealing with celebrity deaths. After solving the latter case, ballistics expert Calleigh Duquesne (Emily Procter) observes that "Somebody will always think it's easy to make [money]." Taking his classic hands on hips stance, Horatio says, "But we know different, don't we?" Considered smarmy by some, and dreamy by others, Caruso is a love-him-or-hate-him kind of actor. While he doesn't have the depth of William Petersen (star of the original CSI), his preening works in the context of the glitzier CSI: Miami. All 24 episodes, which originally ran during 2006-2007, are included in this six-disc set. Extras include a six-minute look at the actors' wardrobe and a 25-minute documentary hosted by Togo that explores the similarities (and differences) between real and fictional forensic experts. Also, gamers will get a kick out of the CSI: Hard Evidence PC game that comes with the DVD box set. --Jae-Ha Kim

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Foyle's War: Sets 1-5 Bundle (Amazon.com Exclusive)

Actors: Foyle's War - Set 1, Foyle's War - Set 2, Foyle's War - Set 3, Foyle's War - Set 4, Foyle's War - Set 5
ASIN : B001EWF7VK
Sales Rank : 4151
Studio : Acorn Media Group in
Format : Box set, Color, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0054961819195
UPC : 054961819195
Release Date : December 04, 2008
Publisher : Acorn Media Group in
Manufacturer : Acorn Media Group in
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Acorn Media Group in

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Foyle's War - Set 1

Foyle's War is the rare mystery series that does more than plop a good detective into the middle of a decorative and bygone era. Created by writer Anthony Horowitz, Foyle's War makes profoundly resonant use of British society in 1940, a terrifying time in which the threat of an Axis assault on England disrupted ordinary life in often horrible ways, from the resettlement of city children (into the care of rural strangers) to a spike in xenophobia to a loss of personal freedoms. Against this heady backdrop is the near-solitary figure of Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen), a London investigator who would rather be fighting Hitler abroad but is stuck solving domestic homicides--generally sparked by wartime fervor--with the help of a plucky driver (Honeysuckle Weeks) and a steadfast assistant (Anthony Howell). Kitchen's magnificently measured performance and Horowitz's masterful grasp of the moral and dramatic issues of his battle-scarred milieu make Foyle's War a must. --Tom Keogh

Foyle's War – Set 2

Product Description

The critically acclaimed PBS series that weaves mystery with real historical events returns with four stories set in September and October 1940. Winner of the Audience Award at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2003, the series stars Michael Kitchen (Proof of Life) as quietly enigmatic detective Christopher Foyle whose territory on the south coast of England is rocked by the chaos and danger of World War II.

Foyle's War - Set 3

Foyle's War - Set 3, another great suite of mysteries largely written by series creator Anthony Horowitz, finds Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen) presented with his best opportunity to do what he has wanted to do since the outbreak of World War II: take a hiatus from sleuthing to join Britain's intelligence campaign against the Nazis. But there's a problem, as Foyle learns in Set 3's first mystery, "The French Drop." The circumspect detective investigates the suspicious death of a young operative whose father, a highly placed intelligence officer, objects to Foyle rooting around top-secret projects. "The French Drop" is particularly fascinating for Foyle's dangerous visit to a government operation that trains agents to employ assassination and dirty tricks in their work. Meanwhile, Foyle's right-hand man, Sgt. Milner (Anthony Howell), looks into an elaborate deception designed to throw Foyle and company off the case.

"Enemy Fire" is also a fine story, featuring Foyle's heroic son, Andrew (Julian Ovenden), a Spitfire pilot for the RAF and a man about to crack from combat stress. Andrew's problems are set against the possible murder of a despicable man whose carelessness as a mechanic caused the severe burning of another pilot. "Enemy Fire" also outs Andrew's romance with Sam Stewart (Honeysuckle Weeks), Foyle's straight-arrow driver, to the unsuspecting Foyle himself. "They Fought in the Fields" marries several phenomena about Britain's wartime experience--among them the capturing of German pilots on English ground and the hard work of "land girls" (women put to work on farms)--in a thriller about the death of a farmer. A nice bonus: longtime widower Foyle grows interested in a woman who appears, despite a seemingly low opinion of men, interested in him. Finally, "A War of Nerves" deals with the hard work of "sappers," soldiers who defuse unexploded German bombs, and the sad reality of black marketeers who steal supplies badly needed for the war effort. Foyle also looks into, against his wishes and principles, the work of a socialist activist who makes a compelling case that the war is suppressing workers' rights. As with previous sets, this one is superb in its depiction of little-known facts about World War II's effects on civilian life in Britain. Michael Kitchen, heading a superb cast, continues to make Foyle one of the most interesting English detectives of all time, a figure of unimpeachable integrity. --Tom Keogh

Foyle's War - Set 4

The excellent Foyle's War returns with four episodes (each on its own disc) that first appeared on television in 2006 and '07. As before, the show's "history meets mystery" tagline pretty much sums it up, as Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle solves murders and various other heinous crimes in and around bucolic Hastings, England, while World War II rages on at home and abroad. "Invasion," the first episode, marks the arrival of American forces in 1942, not long after Pearl Harbor. Not all the locals are thrilled to see them; disparaging remarks about the G.I.s showing up "late" are common, and many a stiff upper lip curls at the Yanks' brash, boisterous behavior. Thus when a Hastings barmaid turns up strangled at a dance arranged by the Americans to get to know their hosts, fingers are quickly pointed at the "invaders." But Foyle and his assistants, Sgt. Paul Milner (Anthony Howell) and driver Samantha "Sam" Stewart (the delightfully named Honeysuckle Weeks), have other suspects, and the detective, who comes on a bit like Columbo without the trench coat and other idiosyncrasies, manages to sort through them while somehow keeping the Brit-Yank enmity from festering and dealing with the deadly effects of the illegal "hooch" the barmaid and her employer were brewing.

This balance of deftly intertwined elements typifies a series in which each installment is essentially a 90-minute movie; in "Bad Blood," murder, romance both illicit and international, and the appalling specter of Britain's experiments with biological weapons like anthrax are all on the bill, while gambling, sabotage, personal tragedy, and yet more murder feature in "Bleak Midwinter" and "Casualties of War." The mysteries aren't especially confounding; what the quietly persistent Foyle does is less interesting than how he does it. And while it's set in wartime, the war and its impact on the English (who endure the death and injuries visited upon their young men, along with shortages of gas, electricity, and such) is more often a backdrop than a central focus. Each disc includes a several pages of often fascinating text about the "historical truth" behind a given episode, while other bonus features include cast filmographies and a brief "making of" documentary on disc 1. All in all, while it may not appeal to fans of the fast-paced, effects-laden cop procedurals popular on American TV, Foyle's War is a classy production, well written (by creator Anthony Horowitz), nicely photographed, and well worth the investment of both time and money. --Sam Graham

Foyle's War - Set 5

No one was unhappy when World War II ended, but the demise of Foyle’s War is something else entirely. For fans of this first-rate British murder mystery series, set against the backdrop of that epic conflict, Set 5 represents something of a reprieve; although Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen) retired at the end of Set 4, circumstances force him to return to action in "Plan of Attack," the first of three 90-minute episodes (each on its own disc) offered here. But by the end of this set, the war is over and Foyle has eased back into retirement. That’s lamentable. Smartly conceived and often quite masterfully executed, this show will certainly be missed. "History meets mystery" has been the concept from the beginning, as the low-key (like Peter Falk’s Columbo, he knows much more than he lets on), unfailingly decent Foyle and his assistants, Sgt. Paul Milner (Anthony Howell) and driver Samantha "Sam" Stewart (Honeysuckle Weeks), solve murders and various other crimes in and around bucolic Hastings, England, while WWII rages on at home and abroad. But this time out, the war provides much more than context, as the murders tend to be directly related to it. What’s more, Set 5 affectingly deals with combat’s heavy emotional psychological toll. It’s a burden we see carried by the cartographer who can’t bear knowing that his work is helping to kill innocent German civilians (in "Plan of Attack"); by the maimed former POW struggling to readjust to life at home, the teenager whose job it is to deliver bad news telegrams to soldiers’ families, and the Jewish doctor, a refugee from Poland, whose survivor’s guilt leads him down a very dark path (all three in "Broken Souls"); and even by Foyle’s own son (Julian Ovenden, in "All Clear"). OK, so the mysteries may not be all that mysterious--perceptive viewers will have little difficulty identifying the culprits. But with its multi-layered storytelling (the scripts were written by creator Anthony Horowitz) and fine production values (the cinematography, editing, and music are all excellent), Foyle’s War is a whodunit that’s both a prime example of its genre and thoroughly successful on its own unique terms. Bonus features include a brief "making of" featurette and cast filmographies. --Sam Graham

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Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Classic Collection

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Columbo - Seasons 1-7

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Midsomer Murders, Set 10

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Columbo - The Complete Sixth and Seventh Seasons

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Poirot - Classic Crimes Collection (The Mystery of the Blue Train / After the Funeral / Cards on the Table / Taken at the Flood)

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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - The Second Year

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The X-Files - The Complete Ninth Season (Slim Set)

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Criminal Minds - Seasons 1-3

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C.S.I. Miami - The Fifth Season

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Foyle's War: Sets 1-5 Bundle (Amazon.com Exclusive)

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