History Literature / AccidentalDetectives

* CompanionCube: Joel treats his teddy bear like it was his own child.

* CameraFiend: Ralph is always taking pictures of people whether they like it or not. Rick and Mike try to prank him for this in ''Lost Beneath Manhattan'' switching his camera for a fake one that shoots water. This gets them into trouble when the first picture he tries to take with it is a museum security guard they'd been arguing with and who he was trying to make amends with.

* AdorablyPrecociousChild: Joel, a shy kid whose strongly attached to his teddy bear and shows concern for his brother and others while getting into trouble at times.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Ricky and his friends pranks, deliberate or otherwise, towards each other can inspire this. Notably, in ''The Disappearing Jewel of Madagascar'' after Ricky accidentally [[spoiler:Mixes in some real worms with fake licorice ones Mike was eating for a carnival]].

A MiddleGradeLiterature series following the adventures of Ricky Kidd, his friends Mike, Ralph and Lisa, and Ricky’s young brother Joel. As the title would imply, they’re a group of [[MysteryMagnet mystery magnets]] who get caught up in some kind of hoax or mystery requiring a lot of remorsefulness to solve, and sometimes even survive, always having a good amount of laughs and decent plot twists. The story is also notable for Christian themes and messages which often relate to the struggle or CharacterDevelopment of one or more guest characters. The series ran from 1990 to 2003, consisting of fifteen books ( ''Lost Beneath Manhattan'', ''The Missing Map of Pirates Haven'', ''Sunrise at the Mayan Temple'', ''The Race for the Park Street Treasure'', ''The Mystery Tribe of Camp Blackeagle'', ''Creature of the Mists'', ''The Downtown Desperadoes'', ''Tyrant of the Badlands'', ''The Phantom Outlaw of Wolf Creek'', ''Madness at Moonshiner's Bay'', ''Shroud of the Lion'', ''The Disappearing Jewel of Madagascar'', ''Terror on Kamikaze Run'', ''The Legend of the Gilded Saber'' and ''The Volcano of Doom'') and one short story collection (''Short Cuts'').

* DisguisedInDrag: The bad guy of [[spoiler: ‘’The Disappearing Jewel of Madagascar’’]].

* NoSympathy: Sam Keyster the banker who was held up by Delilah Abercombie flat out states that he thinks she did die in the flood that followed and that she deserved it as far as he is concerned. [[spoiler:which is especially galling considering how he knew good and well how Delilah had only been tying to take back the proof that he'd cheated her out of her father's land when she was 14]].

* SpoilerCover: Happens a few times. The covers always accurately represent something that happens in the book, and sometimes in a big way. For instance, in ''The Mystery Tribe of Camp Blackeagle'' the cover reveals the identity of one of the pranksters, and in ''The Missing Map of Pirates Haven'', two characters Ricky was suspicious of for part of the book are tied up along with him and his friends, [[spoiler:While someone else who is present when they're captured isn't tied up with them, providing a hint that he's TheMole]].

* BigScrewedUpFamily: The children and grandchildren of Madman Charlie in ‘’Madness at Moonshiners Bay’’ with their conflict over the treasure, and how one was once accused of murdering another.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Several villains act honest an compassionate but are extremely cruel.

* NewOldFlame: Jennifer for Brother Phillip at the end of ''Downtown Desperadoes''.

* OddballInTheSeries: A minor example, but while most of the books are standalone stories which don't reference each other in major ways, ''The Downtown Desperadoes'' is a sequel to ''Lost Beneath Manhattan'' and explicitly references events from ''The Race for the Park Street Treasure''. ''Madness at Moonshiners Bay'' is also set right after ''Shroud of The Lion'' and references its events.

* EvilTwin: [[spoiler: Brother Phillip’s separated-at-birth twin is trying to frame him for the purposes of committing a crime in ''The Downtown Desperadoes'']]. In ''Terror on Kamikazie Run'' Peter Avery is also a real jerk in contrast to his warmer twin JP.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Several villains.

* BlindMusician: Saxophone player Stonewall Sawyer in ''Race for the Park Street Treasure'' is blind due to a childhood battle with Dysentery in an era with poorer medicine.

* HollywoodAtheist: Zigzagged. The books have a fair amount of characters who openly don't believe in God and often trace this back to some traumatic past, but few of them have anything against people who do believe or try to change their mind, and most but all of them find belief again (sometimes due to life-threatening circumstances).

* MagicalNativeAmerican: The Indian family in ''The mystery Tribe of Camp Blackeagle'' are expert woodsmen (the father is capable of staring down a bear) who feel deeply invested in the land and upset at any mistreatment of it.

** Mr. Keyster in ’’The Phantom Outlaw of Wolf Creek’' is a smug, money-grabbing man who cheats the main characters out of the promised reward when they find the bank money. [[spoiler:and who stole oil rich land he knew was valuable from a friends daughter under false pretenses and is willing to hold the kids hostage to cover that up]].

** ''Terror on Kamikaze Run'' has a ghost supposedly appear in the woods as a way of signaling a coming disaster. [[spoiler:It's a hologram being done in order to provide an explanation for the accidents and temporarily drive the resorts price down for estate tax purposes]].

* SiblingsInCrime: The three henchmen in ''Tyrant of the Badlands'' are brothers. Downplayed in [[spoiler: ''The Mystery Tribe of Camp Blackeagle'']] where the culprits are brothers, but are fairly non-malicious and mend fences with the kids by the end of the book.

* TheVamp: The BigBad of [[spoiler: ''Terror on Kamikaze Run.'']]

* WoundedGazelleGambit: In ''The Phantom Outlaw of Wolf Creek,'' the villain [[spoiler: tricked Delilah into taking a lot of the banks money with her while he was handing over the deed to the property he'd stolen from her, in order to frame her as a bank robber and discredit anything she had to say]].

* AbsenteeActor: Lisa doesn’t appear or get mentioned in ''The Phantom Outlaw of Wolf Creek''' or ''Downtown Desperadoes'' and only has a minor role in ''The Mystery Tribe of Camp Black Eagle'' (the later of which is justified due to most of the story taking place at a boys only summer camp).

** [[spoiler:Thelma]] in ''Terror on Kamikazie Run''.

* TheScrooge: Old Lady Busby has a reputation for cheapness. Her father was even worse, being known as "Moth Wallet" due to how rarely he opened his wallet. Mr. Fredericks is also considered tight fisted but is more approachable and willing to donate money for the class trip after the school play makes him laugh.

* TheVamp: The BigBad of [[spoiler: ''Terror on Kamikazie Run.'']]

* HawaiianShirtedTourist: Mike where's a Hawaiian T-shirt just about everywhere he goes (and the group end up as tourists a lot), with Ricky noting mike's uncanny knack for always wearing a shirt that clashes with his (deliberately mismatched) sneakers.

* NoOneSeesTheBoss: In ''Sunrise at The Mayan Temple'', Señor Castillo, the owner of the archeological site, is constantly away on business while his assistant Roderick Kay manages things. Many of the locals believe Castillo to to be the embodiment of a god demanding HumanSacrifice, while Kay claims that there are rumors that Castillo is dead; having been sacrificed to that very God, and the local police consider him a person of interest in smuggling operations. [[spoiler:It eventually turns turns out that Castillo is an InventedIndividual and [[ApparentlyPowerlessPuppetMaster Kay is the real boss]]]].

** ''Terror on Kamikazie Run'' has a ghost supposedly appear in the woods as a way of signaling a coming disaster. [[spoiler:It's a hologram being done in order to provide an explanation for the accidents and temporarily drive the resorts price down for estate tax purposes]].

* CoolUncle: Lisa's uncle Carl, Mike's paternal aunt and uncle and Mike's maternal aunt and uncle all host the gang at one point or another and are fairly pleasent and helpful characters.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Ricky and his friends pranks, deliberate or otherwise, towards each other can inspire this. Notably, in ''The Dissapearing Jewel of Madagascar'' after Ricky accidentally [[spoiler:Mixes in some real worms with fake licorice ones Mike was eating for a carnival]].

* OldCopYoungCop: Local policemen Miguel and Carlos in ''Sunrise at the Mayan Temple'', with them largely being describesd in relation to their respective ages.

* TheScrooge: Old Lady Busby has a reputation for cheapness. Her father was even worse, being known as "Moth Wallet" due to how rarely he opened his wallet. Mr fredericks is also considered tight fisted but is more approachable and willing to donate money for the class trip after the school play makes him laugh.

* WheelchairWoobie: Mad Eddie from ''Sunrise at the Mayan Temple'' (albeit in a rambunctious and accepting way) and homeless guy Lyle in ''Lost Beneath Manhattan.''

* ThoseTwoBadGuys:
** Clovis and Ernie, [[spoiler:the local deputy sheriffs]] in ''Madness at Moonshiners Bay.''
** The unnamed kidnappers in ''The Missing Map of Pirates Haven.''
** [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Beady Eyes and Yellow Fingers]] in ''The Race for the Park Street Treasure, although they're more of just rival treasure hunters than real villains.
** Andy and Neil, the fake limo drivers, in ''Shroud of the Lion.''

* BlindMusician: Saxophone player Stonewall Sawyer in ''Race for the Park Street Treasure'', due to a childhood battle with Dysentery in an era with poorer medicine.

* BullyHunter: In the short stories, Ricky can be this (albeit in a non-violent way) and another classmate Harvey is noted as being the only person who can stop a bullying classmate (either throughh physical intimidation or scaring him with a snake).

* TheDreaded: In ''Sunrise at The Mayan Temple'' the mere mention of Señor Castillo is neigh to make most locals flee in terror.

* EvilGloating: Also every book where the main characters (or anyone else) gets held prisoner by someone intending to kill them involves quite a bit of that.

* EvilTwin: [[spoiler: Brother Phillip’s separated-at-birth twin is trying to frame him for the purposes of committing a crime in ‘’The Downtown Desperadoes’’]]. In ''Terror on Kamikazie Run'' Peter Avery is also a real jerk in contrast to his warmer twin JP.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Except Joel to befriend approximately 80% of non-dangerous animals to appear in the series.

* GoodShepherd: Street missionary Brother Phillip, from ''Lost Beneath Manhattan'' and ''The Downtown Despradoes''.

* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: Comes up several times. In ''Race fo the Park Street Treasure'' Ricky hasn't told anyone and is threatened with a gun after saying so. In ''Terror on Kamikaze Run'' he states that his friends no everything, and the villain gives serious thought to going out and killing them too.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In ‘’Creature of the Mists’’, the bad guy [[spoiler:accidentally -nonfatally- poisons himself due to cutting his hand while he was preparing the poisoned food]].

* InstantlyProvenWrong: As the clueless cops from ‘’The Missing Map to Pirates Haven’’ accuses the cast of having made everything up, there’s a nearby explosion caused by a bob the villain set which proves their claims.

* MagicalNativeAmerican: The Indian family in ''The mystery Tribe of Camp Blackeagle'' are expert woodsmen (the father is capable of staring down a bear) who eel deeply invested in the land and upset at any mistreatment of it.

* NeverFoundTheBody: Delilah Abercrombie, the titular character in ''The Phantom Outlaw of Wolf Creek'' robbed a bank, but vanished in a flood while fleeing, with an article of clothing turning up in the aftermath, but no sign of Delilah herself ever showing up, adding to the legend that she haunts the area. [[spoiler:the final chapters confirm her survival]].

* NoOneSeesTheBoss: In ''Sunrise at The Mayan Temple'', Señor Castillo, the owner of the archeological site, is constantly away on business while his assistant Roderick Kay manages things. Many of the locals believe Castillo to to be the embodiment of a god demanding HumanSacrifice, while Kay claims that there are rumors that Castillo is dead; having been sacrificed to that very God, and the local police consider him a person of interest in smuggling operations. [[spoiler:It eventually turns turns out that Castillo is an InventedIndividual and [[ApparentlyPowerlessPuppetMaster Kay is the real boss]]]].

* NotSoFinalConfession: Zigzagged in ''The Phantom Outlaw of Wolf Creek.'' When facing possible death, Ricky, Ralphy and Mike confess to various pranks pulled in the past, but not ones ‘’they’ve’’ committed, but rather ones that another member of the group had done. And of course they all survive.

* PartingWordsRegret: The last words Mike’s cousin Sarah ever said to her father (who died in a farming accident later that day) were that she hated him for not letting her go to a movie. Sarah is deeply guilty and traumatized about this a full year later and as a result has trouble believing that his dying message “Love” was meant for her instead of just her mother.

* PoliceAreUseless: Zigzagged. Sometimes they are, but often they had a good inkling of what was going on the entire time (the series had multiple UndercoverCopReveal’s) or show up to serve as TheCavalry.

* RealMenLoveJesus: Several of the more positive adult figures do.

** Ricky referring to Old Lady Busby as an "old cookie" right as she's coming into the room in ''Sunrise at the Mayan Temple'', although ti was mixed in with some more positive comments so she shrugs it off.

** The last quarter of ‘’The Mystery Tribe of Camp Blackeagle’’ has someone fake Indian spirits haunting the camp site. [[spoiler: the culprits are local Native American boys who feel that the campers don't respect the land]].

* SiblingsInCrime: The three henchmen in ‘’Tyrant of the Badlands’’. Downplayed in [[spoiler: ‘’The Mystery Tribe of Camp Blackeagle’’]] where the culprits are brothers, but are fairly non-malicious and mend fences with the kids by the end of the book.

* StrongFamilyResemblance: The Indians in ‘’The Mystery Tribe of Camp Blackeagle’’, to the point where this is a major factor behind [[spoiler:Ricky realizing that the culprits are the sons of a man he met]].

* VitriolicBestBuds: Ricky and Mike can snipe at each other a lot, but amount to this.

* ItsACostumePartyISwear: Mike once got Tixky to dress up as a a banana to Lisa’s birthday through this.

* NotSoFinalConfession: Zigzagged in ‘’The Phantom Outlaw of Wolf Creek’’. When facing possible death, Ricky, Ralphy and Mike confess to various pranks pulled in the past, but not ones ‘’they’ve’’ committed, but rather ones that another member of the group had done. And of course they all survive.

* TheScrooge: Old Lady Busby has a reputation for cheapness. Her father was even worse, being known as "Moth Wallet" due to jow rarely he opened his wallet. Mr fredericks is also considered tight fisted but is more approachable and willing to donate money for the class trip after the school play makes him laugh.