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Characters / Trixie Belden

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The Bob-Whites of the Glen

The Bob-Whites of the Glen, or B.W.G.s, were formed in #3, The Gatehouse Mystery, when Honey expressed her wish that they could be part of a club. The name is derived from the whistle Jim taught Honey and Trixie in #1, The Secret of the Mansion, and the name of the road they live on: Glen Road. They have their own jackets which are red with white lettering. The main purpose of the club is to help others (while having fun). They are often involved in charitable projects, and of course, solving mysteries. Oftentimes, the two are somehow connected. Usually if they go on a trip, either Honey's parents or Trixie's uncle will pay their way through.

The seven members are: Trixie, Honey, Jim, Brian, Mart, Diana, and Dan. Diana joined the club after #4, The Mysterious Visitor, and Dan became a member after #8,The Black Jacket Mystery. Trixie and Jim are co-presidents, Honey is vice-president, and Mart is secretary/teasurer (Considering that there were five founding members, it's unknown why he wasn't just one or the other so Brian could also have a position).

Because of the various ghostwriters throughout the series, everything about the characters, from their personality to their eye color, switched between books. As a result, many of the tropes on this page are Depending on the Writer.

Associated tropes for all of the Bob-Whites include:

Beatrix "Trixie" Belden

"'Gleeps!"

The spirited protagonist who is an amateur detective. She's quick-tempered, smart, and often is quick to deduce clues, but not fond of schoolwork. Trixie is a tomboy, finding fashion, make-up, and jewelry to be dull. Additionally, she hates housework and only completes her chores out of respect for her parents. Among her interests, she enjoys horses, solving mysteries, and the Lucy Radcliffe spy novels. When the series started, Trixie was thirteen going on fourteen. Her age became fixed at fourteen for the remainder of the books.

As co-president of the Bob-Whites of the Glen, Trixie takes great pride in the club and has a generous heart, but sometimes finds it difficult to remain a team player due to her impatience and tendency toward bossiness. She also has a bad habit of acting on impulse, ignoring basic common sense, and being utterly tactless.

Her character provides examples of:

Madeleine "Honey" G. Wheeler

Honey is Trixie's bestfriend and detective partner. She's pretty, very kind, and an excellent swimmer. The daughter of wealthy parents, she is not close to either of them. Her early years were spent in boarding schools, where she was lonely and dejected. Due to Honey's poor health and failing grades, her parents relocated to the countryside in hopes of her regaining her strength. They bought Manor House, the property neighboring Crabapple Farm, where Honey met Trixie and later Jim, becoming fast friends with them both. She convinced her parents to adopt Jim as well.

Her interests include sewing and solving mysteries with Trixie. Because her parents are often away on business, she had substitute parental figures in the form of her governess, Miss Trask, and Bill Regan, the Wheelers' handsome and muscular groom.

The Bob-Whites' clubhouse is located on her parents' property and she is vice-president of the club. Out of all the Bob-Whites, she probably best embodies the charitable qualities they try to exemplify and remains the most diplomatic, always trying to prevent arguments. Her nickname comes from the honey colour of her hair and her sweet disposition.

Her character provides examples of:

James "Jim" Winthrop Frayne II

The handsome, red-haired, adopted older brother of Honey. Initially, he was a fifteen-year old junior in high school (his birthday way in July and he skipped a grade), but somehow became seventeen when he was a senior. He lived with his parents in Rochester until his father, Winthrop Frayne, died when he was ten, and later, when his mother remarried, he moved to his step-father's farm in Albany. It seems his mother, Katje Vanderheiden Frayne, died when he was thirteen or fourteen years old.

When Jim was introduced, he had just escaped from his physically and verbally abusive stepfather, and he was hiding out in the ramshackle mansion of his comatose great-uncle in hope of seeking refuge. After his great-uncle died, Jim was adopted by Matthew and Madeleine Wheeler, becoming Honey's adopted brother.

His interests include basketball and football, and the outdoors in general. Jim is handsome, knowledgeable, studious and serious. He appears an expert at everything he attempts and does not seem to have any flaws except his quick temper and his stubbornness. His ambition is to take his inheritance and build a school for underprivileged boys once he has graduated from college.

As co-president of the Bob-Whites along with Trixie, he has natural leadership skills and is always willing to help out his friends. Jim also acts as the main romantic interest for Trixie throughout the series.

His character provides examples of:

  • Abusive Stepfather: The first time Jim ran away, Jonesy caught him and tied him hand and foot, leaving him that way for three days.
  • Broken Ace: He's an excellent student and athlete, he's honorable, generous, and kind-hearted, but he was subject to disturbing physical abuse by his stepfather.
  • Determinator: Completed two school years in one in order to escape from under his stepfather's thumb.
  • Dumb Muscle: Averted, despite being talented at boxing, Jim is very academically intelligent.
  • Fiery Redhead

Martin "Mart" Belden

Mart is eleven months older than Trixie and a grade above her. He looks enough like Trixie to be her twin, so he deliberately keeps his hair short to subvert this. His resemblance to Trixie is more than just physical: he is often just as impulsive and hot-tempered as her. The two bicker and tease each other, but they are very close and frequently confide personal troubles to each other. He and Trixie know that they can depend on each other no matter what, and he often indulges her by helping her out with her chores when she's off sleuthing.

Mart has a love for big and difficult words and often uses them to impress his friends and bewilder his sister. Occasionally, he uses these terms in the wrong context and Trixie delights in his embarrassment. Mart is knowledgeable and may occasionally have an air of arrogance when speaking, but his friends know him too well to think so. Diana is very impressed by how smart he is and looks up to him: the two share a special friendship.

Supposedly, Mart has a love of the land and the farm where he has grown up. He loves to work with his hand and he plans to major in agriculture and work at Jim's school for underprivileged boys after he graduates.

He is also secretary/treasurer of the Bob-Whites, though this role is rarely expounded upon.

His character provides examples of:

Brian Belden

Trixie's oldest brother, in Jim's grade at school, first a junior, than a senior. He is introduced alongside Mart in #3, The Gatehouse Mystery. Brian is the eldest of the Belden children and takes his role as the eldest very seriously. He is an ideal role model: patient, understanding and considerate of others and often plays the referee between Trixie and Mart.

Brian is also the oldest Bob-White and his friends respect his opinion and often look to him for advice. He is conservative, serious and studious as he intends to study medicine and become a doctor at Jim's school for underprivileged boys.

He is the first to aid an injured person and is knowledgeable in medicine and first aid. He is often praised for his care of injured people and takes charge in an emergency. Brian is quick to caution Trixie and stop her from acting impulsively. He questions her theories and often discounts them, but he is quick to defend her when Mart's teasing gets a little too much.

His character provides examples of:

Diana 'Di' Lynch

Described by Trixie as the prettiest girl in their year with black hair and violet eyes, she Diana was possibly modelled on a young Elizabeth Taylor. She is aware of her good looks and knows how to use them, often making Trixie feel quite inadequate.

Diana is the eldest child of her family, with a set of twin brothers and twin sisters for siblings. Diana has lived in Sleepyside all her life and spent most of her life growing up in a small apartment.

However, when her father made his fortune, he purchased a huge estate and relocated his family. Though she and Trixie had been close friends, Trixie felt uncomfortable with Diana's new wealth. Diana was aware of this, and she and Trixie grew apart until Honey made an effort to include Diana in the Bob-Whites.

Di is a sweet, friendly girl who loves her younger brothers and sisters. She originally intended to become an air stewardess, but later in the series she expressed an interest in majoring in art and possessed some good drawing skills. She and Mart are hinted to have romantic feelings for one another.

Her character swings wildly between the books- at times she is all beauty and no brains, other instances have her as the stereotypical girly-girl who's afraid of spiders and snakes, but books #26, 27, 30 and 32 present a much stronger, knowledgeable Diana who has much more meaningful dialogue.

Her character provides examples of:

Daniel "Dan" Mangan

The most mysterious of the main characters, Dan was introduced in #8, The Black Jacket Mystery, as the nephew of Regan, the Wheelers' groomsman, and a sort of juvenile delinquent. Of course, he "reformed" by the end of the book (he was never all that bad in the first place- he just had an attitude problem).

However, the writer of Black Jacket never returned, so other writers were never quite sure what to do with him. His initial personality was at odds with the Bob-Whites and they had little other basis material. Besides, they couldn't write conflicting personalities in a book series for tween girls! As a result, the writers often wrote him out of the story to avoid giving him legitimate characterization, which would distract from Trixie and her mysteries. When he does appear in a story, he's about fifty percent more likely than anyone else to undergo some sort of angst and try deal with it alone, though this appears unintentional on behalf of the writers.

Dan is an orphan, whose father, Tim, died in a car accident when he was young, and his mother died when Dan was in his mid-teens. He fell in with a bad gang in New York City and was later arrested for a gang fight. His uncle, Bill Regan, whom he had never met, was contacted by the juvenile courts and given the option of offering Dan a home or letting him go to a juvenile home.

Unsure how to raise a teenage delinquent, Regan arranged for Dan to stay with Mr Maypenny, the gamekeeper, and assist him in patrolling the game preserve, under Mr Wheeler's employ. Dan had a shaky start and Trixie suspected the worst of him, but he saved the life of her and her younger brother Bobby. Afterwards, he was quickly accepted into the Bob-Whites.

Dan often misses group vacations because he has to work or catch up on his studies. Therefore, he doesn't usually get to play a large role in the mysteries but when he does, he is incredibly useful. His knowledge of New York City's underground once saved Trixie's life when he led the police to her and rescued her from three gangsters. Not so quick to dismiss Trixie's theories, he sometimes supports her when the other boys don't. Dan's ambition is to become a policeman in New York and this could be why he is more supportive of Trixie than the others.

Dan is quiet and sensitive, a hard worker who doesn't mind manual labour. He is extremely loyal, sensitive to the feelings of others, and a talented ice-skater. His deeper personality is quite enigmatic, and the audience is only shown brief flashes of his fundamental beliefs.

His one-time excuse as to why he couldn't hang out ("I'll be chopping wood.") has become a Memetic Mutation with the fandom.

Due to inconsistent writing, Dan's age was never confirmed. Perhaps Trixie can solve that mystery.

Also, his mother told him fairy tales about leprechauns when he was a child, so he may have been Irish.

His character provides examples of:

  • The Aloner: He's the most detached of all the Bob-Whites.
  • Ambiguously Brown: He was mentioned upon his introduction and on several other occasions to have a "dark face", but this may have only been to indicate his brooding, sullen nature.
  • Berserk Button: Drugs.
  • Beware the Quiet Ones: He's a former gang member who knows how to use a switchblade, and now he spends his days chopping wood. So he has access to an axe in addition to being able to beat people senseless.
  • Big Damn Heroes: When he leads the police to where the gangsters are holding Trixie at a gunpoint in #12.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Has black eyes and black hair.
  • Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Honey attempts to invoke this after noticing his cold and moody demeanor, by acting extra-nice to to him, deliberately ignoring his brush-offs, and offering to help him numerous times. Dan subverts this with his Don't You Dare Pity Me reaction.
  • The Cynic:
    Dan:So many people I knew before I came to Sleepyside turned out to be bad characters. I guess I find it hard to keep faith sometimes in present people’s goodness.(#24, p. 51).
  • Dark Is Evil: Played with but ultimately played straight. Despite his black leather jacket, Dan ultimately is discovered to be a good person beneath his bad attitude, but in order to prove that he's "good", the writer has him give up his black jacket and black clothing.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: His parents died, leaving him to live on the streets, and he became involved with a violent street gang and, possibly, drugs.
  • Darker and Edgier: Possibly introduced with the intention of bringing in this element.
  • Defrosting Ice King: Over the course of #8. Though Hidden Heart of Gold was in partial effect as well.
    Jim: I can tell by the look in Dan's eyes that no matter how big he talks, he's scared.
  • Delinquents: He's reformed, however.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: To Trixie and Honey at first, whenever Honey tried to be nice to him. Trixie was never pleasant toward him, and didn't plan on pitying him anyway.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: In order to remain in his safe and secure home, he often has to miss out on fun activities for his job of manual labor.
  • Emotions vs. Stoicism: He tries to be unemotional at times, but Trixie, Honey, and Jim on separate occasions are all able to read him anyway.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: He and Trixie became friends after he defies a senior gang member to help rescue Bobby, who was trapped in a cave, and then did his best to protect them both from a cougar (the animal).
  • Harmful to Minors: He was an orphaned street gang member during the 60's. Enough said.
  • Hell-Bent for Leather: At first, as a Shout-Out to the greasers of that era.
  • Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Seemingly, toward Trixie, but subverted. His Hidden Heart of Gold would have had him help Bobby and Trixie even if she hadn't appealed to him for help.
  • Hospitality for Heroes: The town is much more welcoming to him after he rescues Bobby.
  • I Just Want to Have Friends: His motivation for joining the street gang, and later, the Bob-Whites.
  • Ineffectual Loner: Even after he becomes friends with the Bob-Whites, his stubborn refusal to trust others, including the Bob-Whites, often has disastrous results. Ironically, he goes off on his own because he wants to protect the people around him, but ends up just endangering himself along with everyone else.
  • Keeping Secrets Sucks: Three times out of four, he and others will personally suffer because he didn't confide in anyone.
  • Lean and Mean: In his first appearance. He stays lean but shows his nicer side.
  • Mysterious Parent: Dan's mother, Regan's sister, is given contradictory backstories and never so much as named.
  • Naive Newcomer: Inverted. Though not The Corrupter, Dan is the Jaded Newcomer.
  • Nephewism: His connection to Regan is what ties him to the books.
  • Odd Friendship: With Mr. Maypenny, his legal guardian, an old hermit who prefers to live in the woods rather than in a town, because that would require interaction with people. Also counts as an Intergenerational Friendship.
  • Orphan's Ordeal: See Trauma Conga Line.
  • Perpetual Frowner: Frowns much more frequently than he smiles.
  • Put on a Bus: Often, to avoid giving him characterization.
  • Pride: Many of his problems could be solved if he just learned to depend on other people.
  • The Quiet One: More than likely the writers just didn't want to have to give him dialogue.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: He can ice-skate like nobody's business, and is possibly the best skater of the Bob-Whites. Also, he's familiar with "The Blue Danube Waltz" enough to hum the tune.
  • Relatively Flimsy Excuse: Bizarrely inverted. At first, the Bob-Whites assume that he must be Mr. Maypenny's grandson. Even after Dan tells them that he isn't. Noticeably, in spite of her friendship with Mr. Maypenny, Trixie is hostile to Dan from the start, and she's deliberately trying to provoke him the first time she speaks to him. She continues to unnecessarily, though perhaps not consciously, make his life difficult, even while she suspects he's related to her friend.
  • Shrouded in Myth: He rarely discusses his background or divulges much personal information, which leads the fandom to speculate.
  • The Spock: He prefers logic and control over emotion.
  • Still Wearing the Old Colors: Subverted, for a reason. The black gang jacket is never seen again after he receives his Bob-White jacket.
  • Street Urchin: Lived on the streets on New York City while in his early teens.
  • Troubled, but Cute: Enough for Diana to be very pleased with him and primp in hopes of impressing him. Honey and Hallie are also implied to find him attractive.
  • Trauma Conga Line: His father dies. His mother dies. He becomes involved in a NYC street gang. He's arrested after a gang fight and taken to a juvenile detention center. When his uncle is located, the guy wants nothing to do with Dan, so he sends the city kid to live in the middle of the woods with a complete stranger and do manual labor. But a gang member tracks him down, harms the one person Dan's close to, and tries to convince him to rob the Wheelers' mansion. When Dan refuses, the gang member leaves him, Trixie, and Bobby to die at the hands of a catamount. Later, justice is done and it looks as if Dan will have a happy ending.
    • But his entire old gang shows up and captures him, keeping him tied to a bed in an un-airconditioned attic room for two weeks during a summer that is continually described as "blazing hot." He is also hinted to be tortured with switchblades by his old gang. During this time, the entire town, including his friends, suspect that he is involved in the recent jewel thefts. Then he's rescued. And then later his home is threatened by industrial construction. The construction is readily supported by all of his friends. It's all okay in the end. But during all this, his uncle rarely seems to spend any time with him, interacting with the other Bob-Whites much more often. And he's held at a gunpoint along with all the Bob-Whites, on at least two separate occasions.
  • Undying Loyalty:
    Trixie:: Dan’s as stubbornly loyal as Regan. It runs in their family. (#17, p. 148)
  • Vague Age: At first he's introduced as being in Brian's grade (a junior in high school, at the time), but later reprints changed this to Mart's grade (a freshman). In the very next book, all editions mention him to be in Jim and Brian's grade, but #27 confirms that he's in Mart's grade, and later books go back to state that he's in Brian's chemistry and social studies classes. Book #35 totally contradicts all of this to state that he didn't attend school at all, but later books contradict this as well, because he's still attending high school.
  • What You Are in the Dark: At the climax of The Black Jacket Mystery, Dan has the choice between escaping consequences for his actions by running off to New York City, or staying to help Bobby and Trixie, by doing which he must face consequences for his past and present decisions. He chooses the latter.
  • When He Smiles: After Dan scowls and sneers his way through The Black Jacket Mystery, the first time he smiles in #8, Trixie feels that it's a very humanizing moment for him.
  • Wicked Stepfather: Maybe. Could just have been a mistake.
  • Workaholic: Considering that Dan's underage and almost every moment of his spare time is spent working, Mr. Wheeler may well be in violation of child labor laws.

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