7 Sharpest Detectives on DVD

Got summer-film action-hero overload? Try these cool sleuths from old classics

It was all so simple. Some sassy sociopath would commit a fiendishly complex murder, and before the final fade-out an even smarter detective would figure it out and cuff the malefactor. Gumshoe films are out of favor now, but here are some sleuths who can solve the mystery of what to watch on a summer night.

NICK CHARLES THE THIN MAN

This Debonair, martini-swilling socialite wasn't "the thin man." (That guy was a victim in the original Dashiell Hammett novel.) But Nick was the cool socialite, solving homicides as if they were Times crosswords. Nick and his wife Nora (and their...

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