In 1991, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., a publishing company owned by Random House, brought out a new edition of The Three Investigators books under their Bullseye Books publishing name. Remember, a new edition is created when a book is issued by another publisher - the text in the Bullseye books is identical to that of the Keyhole Cover edition. These large-size paperback books measure about 5 1/4" X 7 1/2" and feature extremely colorful cover art by Roger Loveless or Dominick Finelle surrounded by a border of question marks. It is appropriate that the question mark is now the symbol on the spine instead of the "keyhole" silhouette. The texts contain the Sebastian introductions and none of these books have internal illustrations. The paper stock is of a higher quality than other paperback editions. This edition originally sold for $3.95 per copy.
The titles in this edition were published in an erratic sequence, some higher number titles being printed before some of the lower-number titles. When I first began collecting this particular edition I had assumed that all 43 original Three Investigators titles and all 11 Crimebusters titles could be found in this edition since a complete listing of the titles of both series can be found in each of the books with one exception: "Terror Castle" doesn't list any Crimebusters titles. Only the following 12 titles were published in this edition:
#1 Terror Castle - June 1991, Roger Loveless cover art
#2 Stuttering Parrot - June 1991, Roger Loveless
#9 Screaming Clock - October 1991, Roger Loveless
#10 Moaning Cave - June 1991, Dominick Finelle cover art
#11 Talking Skull - December 1992, Roger Loveless
#21 Haunted Mirror - June 1991, Dominick Finelle
#26 Headless Horse - April 1992, Dominick Finelle
#32 Blazing Cliffs - November 1992, Roger Loveless
#33 Purple Pirate - June 1991, Dominick Finelle
#35 Kidnapped Whale - June 1991, Roger Loveless
#36 Missing Mermaid - May 1992, Roger Loveless
#39 Trail of Terror - October 1991, Dominick Finelle
This is a fairly recent edition and most of the original owners of these books will be leaving their parents to go out on their own in the first years of this century. As a general observation, #36 "Missing Mermaid" seems to be the most difficult title in this edition to find. Over the next few years we should be seeing more of the books in this edition making their way to the secondary market. Because of the colorful covers and overall high quality of the books, these are truly an attractive addition to a collection. Scans of each of these titles in this format can be viewed in the Original Series section of this site.
