This volume of Case Closed contains a pair of two-part stories that are more enjoyable than the average single show tales.  The first story introduces a new interesting villain, one who is a match for Jimmy Kudo.  After that there is a murder in a rich old man's mansion that is more than it appears.
 
Series background:

Jimmy Kudo is a teenage detective who is one of the best investigators around.  The police often solicit his advice on their toughest cases, and he's taken all of the business away from the city's other private eyes even though he's still in high school.  All of that changes one night while Jimmy is out at an amusement park with his girlfriend Rachael.  He sees a crime going down and investigates only to be caught by a pair of thugs.  They give him a new experimental poison so that he won't talk, but the poison doesn't kill him.  Instead it causes him to become younger, much younger.  When he wakes up he's a little kid.  He still has his razor sharp intellect, but no one wants to hire a ten year old detective.

Rachael discovers the little Jimmy wandering around and takes him home with her.  So that his true identity will remain a secret he tells her his name is Conan, taken from his idol, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the creator of Sherlock Holmes.  Rachael's father, Richard Moore, is an incredibly incompetent detective, and Conan soon starts tagging along on Richard's cases.  Using some nifty inventions his friend Dr. Agasa invented, and the aid of the Junior Detective League; Amy, Mitch, and George, Conan is able to solve the cases without anyone knowing that he's the real brains of the operation.  The downside is that with just about every case he solves, the bumbling Richard Moore becomes more famous.

This volume:

The first double episode story introduces the Phantom Thief 1412, a mastermind criminal who is wanted all over the world.  He sends some opaque notes to the police where he threatens to steal the Black Star Pearl.  Of course Conan deciphers the clues and figures out the crooks plans, but when he confronts him, Conan discovers that it was all a ruse.  The Phantom Thief just wanted to see who could figure out his clues, and then miraculously escapes even though he's surrounded by police.  The next note he leaves however proclaims that he really will steal the pearl, and from under the police's nose on a cruise ship too.  Conan is up for the challenge, but is this phantom actually smarter than Conan?

The next story is also a two-parter, and this time there's murder afoot.  When Mr. Moore, Jimmy and Rachael are called to help an rich old man find a long lost love, they never expected that they'd get wrapped up in a murder, but that's what happens.  The rich man's son is killed and as everyone watches his second son, whose face is wrapped in bandages due to a wound he suffered years ago, is clearly identified running from the crime scene.  The only thing is that no one has left the estate, and the bandaged son can't be found.  Why would this man kill his brother, and where did he go?

I enjoyed this disc more that some of the others.  The longer stories gave more room to flesh out the story and deepen the mystery.  I was glad to see someone of Jimmy's intellect appear as a villain.  The Phantom Thief promises to return again, and the fact that he escaped from Jimmy (twice) makes this character all the more interesting.

Audio:

This disc offers the choice of the original stereo Japanese soundtrack, or an English dub in 5.1 or stereo.  I alternated tracks between episodes, and I enjoyed the original audio a bit better.  The English dub was good though, with the actors doing a good job.  There weren't any phoney accents, something that I really dislike.  The audio quality was fine, there wasn't a lot of range, but there weren't any defects either.

Video:

The full frame video was okay but not outstanding.  The program was made on a budget and the animation isn't that great.  The colors were just a bit dull, but the lines were fairly tight.  Digital defects were minimal.  An average looking show.

Extras:

As far as bonus items goes, there are a few character profiles, and a file of Conan's gadgets with explanations of how they work and links to video of them in action.  There is a textless opening, and some trailers too.  This time around we didn't get a "Crack the Case Game" like on the previous volumes.

Final Thoughts:

This disc was a lot of fun.  The first story was light and breezy and the second one was more serious.  A good mix.  While I enjoyed them both, I was more interested in the second story which had a fair share of suspects and clues along with some pretty impossible circumstances.  While this isn't as engrossing or mysterious as Ghost in the Shell: SAC it's still a nice show.  Recommended.