History Literature / EncyclopediaBrown

* AffectionateParody: "[[http://www.adamcadre.ac/content/brown/ Wikipedia Brown: The Case of the Captured Koala]]", which doubles as a TakeThat to [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]].

* BerserkButton:
** It's subtle but don't you ''dare'' belittle Sally around Encyclopedia; in book 2, chapter 6 ("The Case of the Two-Fisted Poet"), before Percy tried to convince her to be a GirlyGirl instead of her true CuteBruiser tomboy self, Encyclopedia was willing to ignore his annoyance with the other boy. However, the moment Percy did that, Encyclopedia was on the case and determined to unmask Percy as a fake who wasn't good for her.
** As discussed in book 23, chapter 3 ("The Case of the Black Horse"), Waldo Emerson, one of the neighborhood kids, flips out when he hears the word "round" in any context. It's because he believes the world is actually flat, and is extremely offended by any reminder that other people don't believe the same thing.

** In book 1, chapter 3 ("The Case of the Civil War Sword"), the ConvictionByCounterfactualClue that a sword purporting to be from UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar is a fake is the inscription, which states that it was given to Stonewall Jackson by General Lee "after the first Battle of Bull Run" (specifically, in August 1861, exactly one month after the battle). The solution points out two things: first, the South called that particular battle the Battle of Manassas -- Bull Run was the ''Union'' name for it, and a Southern general would never call it that, let alone inscribe a sword thus. Second, ''neither'' side would have called it the ''first'' battle because of the aforementioned dates on the sword; neither side could have known there would be another battle in that exact same place in August 1862, thirteen months after the first battle.

** Book 1, chapter 3 ("The Case of the Civil War Sword"): Bugs Meany claims to have a sword from UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, and says it's authentic due to the engraving showing that it was given to Stonewall Jackson by Robert E. Lee after the First Battle of Bull Run. The 'correct' answer was that the sword was fake, because [[AnachronisticClue nobody would have called it FIRST Bull Run]] until there had been a Second Bull Run (and the sword was dated August 21, 1861, just a month after the first battle -- although given how long it can take to commission, make, retrieve, and engrave a sword, it's entirely possible that the second battle a year later already happened by the time the sword was actually finished), and that Confederate forces did not refer to either battle as Bull Run at all, but rather as the Battles of Manassas[[note]]The one being Union-specific nomenclature referring to a creek that passes through the battlefield, the other being Confederate nomenclature referring to the nearby city of Manassas, VA[[/note]]. However, there's an even bigger hole in the story: General Lee wasn't ''present'' for the First Battle of Bull Run/Manassas: the Confederates there were led by P.G.T. Beauregard. (Sobol edited the epilogue in later editions to include this fact.)

* ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement: In virtually every book, Bugs Meany tries to frame Encyclopedia for something, only for the other boy to prove that the accusations are bogus. Knowingly filing a fraudulent criminal complaint is a crime in and of itself in 99% of police jurisdictions[[note]]Although, to be fair, Idaville could be in the 1% of police jurisdictions where it's not a crime[[/note]], so Bugs' attempts to get Encyclopedia arrested for crimes that never happened should have gotten ''him'' arrested and thrown into a juvenile detention facility by the end of the third book. And even if he was released, the police would likely ignore any later accusations from Bugs on that grounds that he was a known perjurer.

** Bugs Meany repeatedly tries to frame Encyclopedia for something, only for the other boy to prove that the accusations are bogus. Knowingly filing a fraudulent criminal complaint is a crime in and of itself in 99% of police jurisdictions, so Bugs' attempts to get Encyclopedia arrested for crimes that never happened should have gotten ''him'' arrested and thrown into a juvenile detention facility by the end of the third book. And even if he was released, the police would likely ignore any later accusations from Bugs on that grounds that he was a known perjurer.

** Book 4, chapter 8 ("The Case of the Blueberry Pies"): Encyclopedia realizes one of the competitors is cheating when they show off perfectly white teeth despite eating two blueberry pies.

** Bugs Meany repeatedly tries to frame Encyclopedia for something, only for the other boy to prove that the accusations are bogus. Knowingly filing a fraudulent criminal complaint is a crime in and of itself in 99% of police jurisdictions, so Bugs' attempts to get ''the police chief's son'' arrested for crimes that never happened should have gotten ''him'' arrested and thrown into a juvenile detention facility by the end of the third book. And even if he was released, the police would likely ignore any later accusations from Bugs on that grounds that he was a known perjurer.

* Book 7, chapter 10 ("The Case of the Foot Warmer"): A young inventor named Melvin is accused of smuggling two BB rifles out of a toy shop, but the kid claims he was just wearing his new invention at the time. Encyclopedia realizes the inventor is lying when the toy shop owner remembers Melvin bent down to pick up a baby: Melvin's invention prevented him from bending down, so he couldn't be wearing the foot warmer at the time.

** Book 1, chapter 9 ("The Case of the Missing Roller Skates"): Combining with "INeverSaidItWasPoison", Encyclopedia is at the dentist's and has his roller skates stolen. The perp [[INeverSaidItWasPoison manages to identify himself]] because he never even heard of him (Dr. Vivian) until Brown mentioned him, and he wasn't at the dentist's because "I had a sprained wrist, not a toothache". Because he couldn't have found out that Vivian was a dentist through other means (such as being close enough to notice that this is a dentist's office), or simply assumed "Vivian" was male since Vivian is a gender-neutral name. (In fact, it's only been seen as a feminine name [[NewerThanTheyThink Since around the 40s or 50s]].)

** Book 5, case 3 ("The Case of the Wagon Master"): The solution relies on a frontier fort in ''1872'' following the Flag Code of ''1923''.

** Book 15, chapter 6 ("The Case of the Crowing Rooster"): The solution is based entirely on the supposed 'fact' that roosters ''only crow when they saw light'', apparently based on the urban legend that roosters crow at sunrise. The crime was a con man trying to convince kids he found a way to make roosters crow on command, but actually uncovering the cage so they saw light and thought it was sunrise; he claimed that he would soon improve the device to make hens cluck on command, and that whenever hens clucked, they laid an egg. Anybody who has been around a rooster for an extended period of time will know full well that they crow whenever the heck they want, whether the sun is out or not. And, of course, the hen part of his story should have been clearly false, especially since he was targeting the con towards chicken farmers.

** Book 6, chapter 7 ("The Case of the Missing Ring") has a variant where the culprit just has amnesia rather than dying, but leaves a confusing note that only makes sense once Encyclopedia realizes that the victim had swapped all instances of the letter "c" with "v" and vice versa.

* GenderBlenderName: Book 1, chapter 9 ("The Case of the Missing Roller Skates") features this as the key to solving the case (a male doctor named Vivian) -- while it's technically a unisex name, it's more commonly associated with women. Jody Turner, one of Encyclopedia's friends, also has one.

* IAteWhat: In book 15 1/2, chapter 9 ("The Case of the Missing Watchgoose"), Encyclopedia is squicked out, mad at himself, and horrified when figuring out [[spoiler: the "chicken" he accepted from two men was actually the remains of the goose he was hired to find and a friend's pet guard bird. He goes MyGodWhatHaveIDone when remembering that chicken doesn't have "dark" meat]].

** Downplayed with Bugs Meany. On one hand, he is frequently called out on his trickery and sometimes even publicly humiliated. On the other hand, he frequently files false police reports against Encyclopedia (son of the police chief) with no consequences.

* ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement: In virtually every book, Bugs Meany tries to frame Encyclopedia for something, only for the other boy to prove that the accusations are bogus. Knowingly filing a fraudulent criminal complaint is a crime in and of itself in 99% of police jurisdictions[[note]]Although, to be fair, Idaville could be in the 1% of police jurisdictions where it's not a crime[[/note]], so Bugs' attempts to get ''the police chief's son'' arrested for crimes that never happened should have gotten ''him'' arrested and thrown into a juvenile detention facility by the end of the third book. And even if he was released, the police would likely ignore any later accusations from Bugs on that grounds that he was a known perjurer.

* TeensAreMonsters: Out of 72 confirmed teenagers featured or mentioned in the series, 44 are bullies, cheaters, con artists, or petty crooks, including recurring antagonist Wilford Wiggins.

* ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement: In virtually every book, Bugs Meany tries to frame Encyclopedia for something, only for the other boy to prove that the accusations are bogus. Knowingly filing a fraudulent criminal complaint is a crime in and of itself in 99% of police jurisdictions[[note]]Although, to be fair, Idaville could be in the 1% of police jurisdictions where it's not a crime[[/note], so Bugs' attempts to get ''the police chief's son'' arrested for crimes that never happened should have gotten ''him'' arrested and thrown into a juvenile detention facility by the end of the third book. And even if he was released, the police would likely ignore any later accusations from Bugs on that grounds that he was a known perjurer.

* ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement: In virtually every book, Bugs Meany tries to frame Encyclopedia for something, only for the other boy to prove that the accusations are bogus. Knowingly filing a fraudulent criminal complaint is a crime in and of itself in 99% of police jurisdictions, so Bugs' attempts to get ''the police chief's son'' arrested for crimes that never happened should have gotten ''him'' arrested and thrown into a juvenile detention facility by the end of the third book. And even if he was released, the police would likely ignore any later accusations from Bugs on that grounds that he was a known perjurer.

* Book 7, chapter 10 ("The Case of the Foot Warmer"): A young inventor named Melvin is accused of smuggling two BB riffles out of a toy shop, but the kid claims he was just wearing his new invention at the time. Encyclopedia realizes the inventor is lying when the toy shop owner remembers Melvin bent down to pick up a baby: Melvin's invention prevented him from bending down, so he couldn't be wearing the foot warmer at the time.

** Although, to be fair, Idaville could be in the 1% of police jurisdictions where it's not a crime.

* TeensAreMonsters: Out of 72 confirmed teenagers featured or mentioned in the series, 44 are bullies, cheaters, con artists, petty thieves, or vandals, including recurring antagonist Wilford Wiggins.

** Book 5, case 3 ("The Case of the Wagon Master"): The solution relies on a frontier fort in 1872 following the Flag Code of 1923.

* TeensAreMonster: Out of 72 confirmed teenagers featured or mentioned in the series, 44 are bullies, cheaters, con artists, petty thieves, or vandals, including recurring antagonist Wilford Wiggins.

** Book 1, chapter 5 ("The Case of the Bank Robber"): A blind man is the only witness to a crime; a perp fleeing the scene with a bag of cash crashed into him, and it is thought that the man might have felt his face well enough to identify him if he felt it again. Turns out the blind man is not blind, and was in on it the whole time: he swapped bags with the thief when they collided. How does Encyclopedia prove this? When he visited the man in his hotel room, the lights were on and there was a newspaper on the table despite the man claiming he hadn't had visitors in "a long time". Because no hotel in the world offers complimentary newspapers that they put in your room[[note]]Although, to be fair, this particular hotel is implied to be a bit of a crap-hole, so they probably don't[[/note]]. And they ''never'' have the lights on when you arrive. And a blind man would totally notice if they were on, and turn them off. This is a lesser example, however. Once Brown figures out what happened getting a doctor to confirm that the guy can see shouldn't be too hard. Overlaps with ConvictionByCounterfactualClue since most blind people aren't completely blind and it is entirely possible for one to leave the lights on and read a newspaper.

** Book 1, chapter 5 ("The Case of the Bank Robber"): A blind man is the only witness to a crime; a perp fleeing the scene with a bag of cash crashed into him, and it is thought that the man might have felt his face well enough to identify him if he felt it again. Turns out the blind man is not blind, and was in on it the whole time: he swapped bags with the thief when they collided. How does Encyclopedia prove this? When he visited the man in his hotel room, the lights were on and there was a newspaper on the table despite the man claiming he hadn't had visitors in "a long time". Because no hotel in the world offers complimentary newspapers that they put in your room. And they ''never'' have the lights on when you arrive. And a blind man would totally notice if they were on, and turn them off. This is a lesser example, however. Once Brown figures out what happened getting a doctor to confirm that the guy can see shouldn't be too hard. Overlaps with ConvictionByCounterfactualClue since most blind people aren't completely blind and it is entirely possible for one to leave the lights on and read a newspaper.

** A man tries to claim insurance money on a painting he's reported stolen. His story goes that while shaving after a shower, he saw reflected in the mirror a man stalking away with the painting. Encyclopedia explains that the claim is a fraud because a mirror would be foggy after a shower and so the man wouldn't have been able to see anything. (Never mind that it only takes a second to wipe away condensation, something people often do when they ''need to shave''. Or cold showers, or how movement and shapes are still discernible through a foggy mirror. Or how some people use a fan or leave the bathroom door open specifically so that the mirror doesn't fog up in the first place. And finally, as ScienceMarchesOn, fog-free mirrors now exist.)
** One case was solved because the culprit claimed their wobbly table was knocked and various possessions spilled on the floor. EB points out that the table was three-legged, and that such tables can't tilt. Three-legged tables won't be wobbly even if the legs are different lengths. However, if the table was on a slant to begin with, jostling it might very well knock it over, or at least knock the items off.

* LondonEnglandSyndrome: Book 6, chapter 5 ("The Case of the Wanted Man") has this as its solution. The culprit included a list of locations that are seemingly overseas -- London, Paris, Odessa, Athens, Jerusalem and Palestine -- but doesn't specify the countries. Encyclopedia, however, identifies the culprit as having flown to Texas, where cities by all those names[[note]]Except for Jerusalem[[/note]] ''also'' exist, in part because Palestine didn't exist as a country at the time.

* MysteryFiction

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: In book 5, chapter 3 ("The Case of the Wagon Master"), one of Encyclopedia's clients is Joe Cooper, a boy obsessed with frontier history who runs around with an authentic 19th century musket. It's specifically noted that the gun is so old and rusted that it couldn't shoot gumdrops, but 1) common gun safety rules are to assume all guns are loaded and dangerous at all times unless you genuinely just checked, and 2) black-powder firearms that are left loaded can become dangerously unstable but still functional for decades, if not centuries.

** Book 17, chapter 6 ("The Case of the Painting Contest") has a man who appears to be in the Navy enter an amateur painting contest. However, he gets numerous sailing terms wrong, calling into question his true identity. He turns out to be a professional painter and is disqualified. In the same chapter, it's mentioned that local child artist Pablo Pizarro also has to compete in the speed painting competition because the child's division was dropped that year -- no other kid was willing to go against him in it.

** Although, to be fair, Idaville could be in the 1% of police jurisdiction where it's not a crime.