I am pleased to say that I am now a proud owner of 5 modular buildings (yes, I know, 5/13 is still not very impressive). This was delivered to my place not more than a week ago and I started building right after it arrived. I was deciding between the Detective's Office or 21310 Old Fishing Store, and chose to go ahead with the former. Glad I did because, as good as the fishing store looks, the Detective's Office is more suitable for a city scene and won't require me to set aside space for a lake in the (imaginary) city I'm planning on building in the near future. Also, the modular is already 3 years old, so to avoid missing out, now would be a good a time as any to obtain my own copy.

This is the 10th modular building preceded by 10243 Parisian Restaurant and succeeded by 10251 Brick Bank. The build is divided into 4 bags: the pool hall, barber shop, second floor, and third floor plus roof. I spent 4 evenings (one bag per evening) over the week for a total of 8 hours to build this set.

Of greatest emphasis is the backstory included in the set. What we have is a chain of illegal contraband smuggling events taking place in the ghetto parts of a city during a prohibition era and it is up to the detective, and his trusty officer partner, to crack the suspects and make their bust. Many features in this set support the story which will be discussed below.

Minifigures come out to a total of six and include Ace Brickman the detective, Al the barber, a female officer, a female civilian, and two pool hall patrons, accompanied by a cat. Also included is a minifigure's cap thrown out in the garbage bin, which you will find out later is someone's attempt to get rid of a piece of evidence. Accessories include a magnifying glass for the detective, scissors for the barber, money, suitcase, newspapers, envelopes, candies, cookies, and barrel containing the sweets.

The first floor consists of the pool hall on the left and barber shop on the right. The exterior has a newsstand with newspapers, tree, and white lamppost. The pool hall has a brick built pool table, a rack for cues, dart board, darts, trophy case, and coffee table. The pool table is built integrally into the ground so you really can't take it out as one. On the wall is a 2x2 dark tan tile with star and brick decoration which appeared as the walk of fame tiles in 10232 Palace Cinema. Also mounted on the wall is a ceiling fan whose blades are ingeniously composed of snowshoes. The fan can swivel out of the way to allow easier access to the interior. The barber shop contains a sink, barber's chair, two window displays for hairpieces, and cabinet. An actual mirror piece is included and mounted on the wall, held in place by railing and guide pieces. The mirror is the same size as a 1x4x6 window. A staircase from the alley leads up to the second floor and can swivel to allow access to the cabinet. Why is this important? The biggest play feature of this set is the secret passageway for contraband smuggling. At the back of the barber shop is a weed-covered grate that can be opened up. The cabinet in the barbershop next swings open to allow the contraband to enter. A small door under the staircase then allows the contraband to pass through a hidden tunnel underneath the raised alleyway which can be lifted to reveal the barrel of sweets being smuggled across. A neat little sliding door underneath the trophy cabinet in the pool hall can be opened and the contraband would've been successfully transferred from one building to the next. Exterior details of the pool hall include dark green domes nested under the 1x2x6 tan arches, stained glass over the entrance, and ball-ended columns surrounding the windows. The barber shop's exterior features the "AL'S" sign built using clips and plates, red and white awning, scissors mounted beside the lettering, and the barber's pole to indicate that it is a barber shop. There are two lights in the second floor build which hang above the "AL'S" sign that are built using painters' handles.

The second floor is mostly Ace Brickman's detective office. In the office are a desk, cabinet, safe, and hat rack. The desk has a desk lamp and paperwork scattered all over, which includes a map, newspaper, and envelope. Inside the cabinet are more envelopes, while the safe has money and a suitcase with evidence inside. On the wall is a wanted poster of the guy who threw away his cap, and a lit painting which swivels out of the way to reveal a hidden compartment containing an important envelope. Through the hallway leading out of the office and beside the staircase is a small bathroom which has a pull chain toilet and an extremely tiny sink, which I'm impressed at considering how little space there is in there. The bathroom is a corner bathroom which is not fully enclosed, making it more of a stall. The 1x4x3 window leads out to the fire exit where there is a working ladder held in place by a lever. The ladder drops partially to ground level but not all the way which is realistic for security reasons. The "POOL" sign is built using red 2x2 corner and 2x2 round tiles with stud hole, and arranged in such a manner as to give off a cartoonish feel.

The top floor is the kitchen where the contraband (sweets) are manufactured. There's a small table with a mixing bowl for the ingredients, a table of cookies (which the cat is eagerly waiting for to fall to the ground), and a rolling pin mounted on the wall. A door leads outside to the roof. The water tank is built out of 12 tank tread pieces wrapped around a 24-tooth gear. 1x3 brown tiles are simply placed on top of the tank treads. The parapets on both buildings are wonderfully detailed. The left building is apparently decorated with hand pieces used for large scale action figures such as 75525 Baze Malbus and 75533 Boba Fett from the Star Wars theme, while the right building uses four Unikitty tails for decoration. Another fire escape is present, but I feel sorry for whoever has to make that jump to get down to the ladder on the second floor.

All pieces are printed and there are no stickers included. The windows of the pool hall with "The Highlander", and the detective's office window with "Ace Brickman Private Detective" written are all printed.

The overall design is visually appealing and captures the New York style architecture very well. The "L" shaped plan of the right building and the difference in heights give the modular depth. The staircase entrance of the barber shop and outward extrusion of the trophy case in the pool hall align with the brown transition building in the floors above which give the impression of continuity even though the alleyway passes through underneath. This means that if you look at the modular head-on the illusion of the brown building "floating" over the alleyway is eliminated. The rear of the building is also very nice to look at with detailing and windows present. I think the colours go great together and actually look friendlier than those given off by the older modulars such as Grand Emporium or Green Grocer. There is no shortage of brick bricks in this set used to build the detective's office, in fact this is the first time I've seen a 1x4 brick brick.

As people elsewhere have pointed out, there was a bit of uncertainty with this modular when it came out. Some found the play features off putting and felt that design and practicality were sacrificed because of it. Many (including myself) claim the right building is very small, being only 10 studs wide, and some found it difficult to fit their hands in. Others found the kitchen entirely out of place because it serves little purpose except to advance the narrative. In my opinion, I appreciate the way this has been done. These types of low-end apartments are supposed to be cramped and unfit for living in. I do find it amazing, though, that the staircase landings are only one stud deep! The apartment can be treated as a condemned living space turned into a crack (cookie) house, which would explain the suspicious, random kitchen. Being located in a tough neighbourhood, I wouldn't expect anything more comfortable, spacious, or luxurious than what we've been given here. With a bit of imagination, we can start understanding why some of the design choices were made, and see how they fit into the environment the designers wanted to simulate.

There is something that I tried to forgive but simply couldn't: the walls of the pool hall and barber shop facing the alleyway aren't fully enclosed, they cut off two bricks from the ceiling! Also, the staircase entrance does not have a door either! This leaves the barber shop exposed and poor Al must have to deal with rain, snow, hail, sleet, hot, and cold! From what I gather, the partial walls are to allow easier access into the rooms. Also, the lack of door is probably to allow the staircase to swivel without being blocked. I can see where the designers went ahead with playability and ended up cutting some small corners. Regardless of the reasons, there should be no excuse not to provide full enclosure; since this is a modular building, it should be held to that standard. Luckily, the fixes for fully extending the walls to the roof and adding a door to the staircase entrance is straightforward.

To finally conclude then, why did I give this set a 5? The design and aesthetics is perfect in every other way. The mistake discussed above is not readily apparent and is easily fixed. At $200, I would definitely recommend this modular to accompany the Parisian Restaurant.