There is still time to find the perfect gift for those you love, or for those who think you do. And books are the perfect gift. They are affordable, always the right size, easy to wrap, and no one has hurt feelings receiving a book, unlike, say, a nice assortment of soaps or grooming products.

Unless your name is Bill Gates and your shopping budget is as unlimited as your imagination, the most beautiful book of recent memory (or distant memory, come to think of it) is not one for everyone on your gift list. But, if you really care about someone, or really want them to love you forever, put some elegant wrapping on a copy of “The Dark Page: Books that Inspired American Film Noir, 1940–1949” (Oak Knoll Press, 384 pages, $95).

For anyone who likes hard-boiled or noir fiction, or the films made from them, this oversized coffee table book will make them weep in ecstasy. It is, unequivocally, the single most beautiful book ever produced for the world of mystery and crime fiction.

Arranged alphabetically by author,”The Dark Page” devotes a half-page to an informative description of each book, both in terms of story and as a physical object. The remainder of the page describes the filmed version with cast and production credits. The facing page is a gorgeous full-color photograph of the book in its dust jacket, which will turn any bibliophile’s eyes a pulsating green with envy and desire. Many of these jackets are so rare that only one or two examples are known to exist.

This magnificent volume weighs just under a ton, printed on heavy glossy stock that allows the colors to practically vibrate with intensity, and I defy anyone who likes books to glance at a few pages without becoming fully enraptured.

From the sublime to the utterly ridiculous is Charles Ardai’s “The Good-Neighbor Policy” (Midsummer Night’s Press, 28 pages, $6.95) which can be a stocking stuffer for the person with the smallest foot on your gift list.

This slim volume by the Edgar-winning author is a mystery told entirely in doubledactyls. It is not so much whether it’s brilliantly done as that it has been done at all, much like a Doberman pinscher singing an aria.

For children of every age, pick up Robert Sabuda’s “Winter in White” (Little Simon, $12.99), a pop-up book with eight extremely clever designs, virtually all in white. Hardly any text, and not a mystery, but way cool anyway.

Another stocking stuffer (not literally, unless you are part of Bigfoot’s family) is “Mystery Lover’s Puzzle Book” (Bellwether Books, 128 pages, $10.95) by Linda K. Murdock, a crossword puzzle book with a twist. Each puzzle is devoted to a single mystery writer and is preceded by a page of introduction describing the series character, a list of books in which they appear, etc. Among the authors featured are most of today’s stars, with only John D. MacDonald making the cut from the past.

The puzzles won’t be much of a challenge. The first clue, one across, in the Patricia Cornwell puzzle, for example, is: Main character Kay____, on the page immediately following the brief profile of Ms. Scarpetta. Still, while watching “A Christmas Carol” for the 20th time, this is a nice way to avoid the commercials.

“Uncovered” (Aperture, 48 pages, $24.95), photographs by Thomas Allen with an introduction by famed dust jacket illustrator and artist Chip Kidd, is for a guy on your list. The pages are actually boards with illustrations clipped from pulpy mystery paperback covers, enhanced with additional material that often makes these sexy pictures even sexier.

It’s difficult for me to think of holiday gifts without including Edward Gorey. One counter featured several calendars, boxes of notepaper, and “Amphigorey Again” (Harcourt, 260 pages, $22), which contains, among much else in this handsome hardcover, a charming little detective story, “The Deadly Blotter.” Also, though John Updike wrote the text, the Gorey illustrations alone are worth the bargain price of “The 12 Terrors of Christmas” (Pomegranate, 32 pages, $9.95), in which a dozen Christmas traditions are skewered in a particularly horrifying manner by a pair of curmudgeons.

Okay, go ahead and buy someone a basket of assorted soaps, or even a deodorant sampler (hey, I don’t know who you hang out with), but if you want to be as stylish at gift-giving time as Tony Bennett, visit your local bookshop instead.

Mr. Penzler is the proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan and the series editor of the annual “Best American Mystery Stories.” He can be reached at ottopenzler@mysteriousbookshop.com.