A series about Olivia Simon, a teenage girl who gets roped into a murder case after following her detective brother to the crime scene. With the help of her friends, Justin, Mae, and Chuck, she must find the killer before someone else ends up dead.
This story provides examples of the following tropes:
- Beauty Contest: One of the sideplots in the fifth book is Mae and Chuck going undercover at a beauty pageant where one of the contestants is thought to be the next target.
- Bedsheet Ladder: Olivia and Mae use one per book, the first time to get out of Mae's house to go on a rogue investigation, the second time to break out of house arrest from Detective Madison's apartment, the third time to go to the crime scene in the middle of the night, the fourth time to go see the body in the middle of the night. Apparently, Olivia keeps one on standby.
- Berserk Button: Detective Madison does NOT like being kicked off murder cases. And she likes knowing her daughter is in danger even less.
- Beta Couple: Even though they're the main couple, Justin and Olivia took far less time getting together than any other couple did and is far saner than any other couple.
- The Big Board: Olivia has one covering her entire bedroom wall in the third book, which she keeps hidden behind a tarp.
- Bilingual Bonus: Olivia speaks Russian. In the fifth book, this exchange comes up:Benny the Shopkeeper (About getting a key to unlock the bondage cuffs linking Liam and Olivia together) It might take a few days. Maybe a few weeks. Sorry.Liam A few weeks?Olivia (speaks Russian.)Liam What'd you just say?Olivia Really bad curse words in Russian.
- If you translate what she says, the phrase she's literally saying in Russian is 'really bad curse words in Russian.'
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Mae (blonde), Detective Madison (brunette), and Chuck/Olivia (Redhead)
- Broken Bird: Detective Madison eloped with her boyfriend, got knocked up, found out he was cheating on her, kicked him out, and is now a single mother. Mae's little sister was killed, the first victim of the serial killer, and she never knew why her sister died.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Detective Madison is said to only be allowed to do the things she does because she does what she's supposed to do so well. Heyrovsky, Olivia and Liam's English teacher, is a much straighter example. He's barefoot, a hippie, old, probably stoned or drunk, and only allowed to teach because he has a doctorate in English literature.
- Butt-Monkey: Detective Larson always ends up listening to people's relationship rants, much to his dismay. Chuck steals his credit card, Olivia steals his breakfast, and nobody particurally likes him.
- Chained Heat: Olivia and Liam in the fifth book. With
probably used bondage cuffs.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Justin and Landon about their feelings for Olivia and Detective Madison, respectively.
- Darker and Edgier: The chapter where a five-year-old girl is stabbed 36 times.
- Fake-Out Make-Out: Detective Madison and Landon take this to an extreme, sneaking off to pretend having sex when undercover at a party and being followed by bad guys. Olivia's reaction is hilarious:"As much as I enjoy the idea that you two have put your differences aside and fell in love, you couldn't have chosen a worse time to do so."
- Gender-Blender Name: Chuck, short for Charlene
- Happily Married: Landon and Cassie. It stays happy for all of a week.
- Heroic BSoD: Detective Madison, after her daughter is attacked by the killer. And everybody gets one when Olivia goes to meet the killer.
- Improbable Infant Survival: Kate.
Word of God confirms that her only purpose in the book is to be cute.The author, in a comment: "Kate defies death for the sole purpose that she's cute. I can't kill cute. I can kidnap cute, I can drug cute, I can hang cute upside down from a tree, but I cannot kill cute." - Intrepid Reporter: Mandi Reede, less so in her first appearance, but much more in other appearances.
- Last-Name Basis: Olivia calls all the adults by their last names, with the exceptions of Landon and Samantha
- Law of Inverse Fertility: Not only is Cassie supposedly infertile, but she and Landon didn't try getting pregnant from their one-night stand.
- Love Makes You Dumb: There's not really another way to explain the character's actions sometimes.
- Manipulative Bastard: Most of the characters, at one point or another, show signs of this. Most prominently Olivia, Chuck, and Detective Madison.
- Megaton Punch: When Landon quits his job as a cop, Detective Madison punches him in the face.
- Poor Communication Kills: Landon and Cassie. Half of their major relationship problems could be avoided if Landon listend and Cassie communicated.
- Promotion to Parent: Landon Simon, after he, Olivia, and Chuck's mother passed away and their father ran away.
- Screaming Birth: Played straight by Detective Madison (though justified since she was shot in the ovary, which induced labor), and averted by Sam, who was calm enough to talk Chuck through how to help her give birth.
- "Shut Up" Kiss: Justin to Olivia, right before she is about to go meet the killer.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Chuck and Mae, respectively, with Olivia between them.
- Two First Names: Landon Simon, Cassie Madison, and Kate Madison.
- We Need a Distraction: Mae and Chuck's 'asthma attack' in the third book to help Olivia get past guards and sneak onto a crime scene in an animal habitat at the zoo.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Everyone but Gibbs' reaction to Landon leaving his job at the station.
