History Literature / AToZMysteries

* ThreeAmigos: Josh, Dink and Ruth Rose. They're always together.

* BlandNameProduct: From ''The Unwilling Umpire'', we have [=YuBuy=].com an auction site similar to Website/{{eBay}}.

* PandaingToTheAudience: In ''The Panda Puzzle'', the three protagonists search for a missing baby panda bear.

** Donald David Duncan
** Ruth Rose
** Lucky O'Leary

* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Dink, Ruth Rose and Josh respectivcely.

* CrossOver: Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose meet the kids in the ''Capital Mysteries'' in ''White House White-Out'' and end up teaming up with them to rescue the kidnapped First Dog [[spoiler: before ultimately stumbling into a plot to kidnap ''Capital Mysteries'' main character KC, the president's step-daughter]].

* TheGhost: The villain of ''[[spoiler: The Unwilling Umpire]]'' never appears in person and is arrested off-screen, although the kids read a message he wrote.

* QuicksandSucks: Averted in ''The Quicksand Question'' as a case of ShownTheirWork. The kids' investigation into who stole the fundraising money for a bridge so the ducks that live in the river that surrounds Green Lawn can safely cross the nearby road without being run over by cars leads them to a marshy part of the river where an elderly man says that he saw a jeep with the duck bank storing the change for the ducks charge off the road near there. As they're wading in to search for clues, the kids suddenly run into a patch of quicksand that formed in the riverbed recently. Fortunately, Dink remembered to lean back into the water and not struggle in order to not sink in any further, has Josh do the same thing, and Ruth Rose was still on the solid riverbed when she realized that wading in even further would have also gotten her stuck in the quicksand. As a result, she was able to get out of the river and run to the nearby fire department to get help to save her friends. [[spoiler: The incident also ends up solving the case because Josh felt a jeep antenna poking at his leg before he was rescued. Once the fire department fishes the jeep out of the quicksand and the police department finds the fundraising money stored inside the jeep and runs its registration, the culprit is found and arrested. Officer Fallon speculates that the reason why the culprit didn't get caught in the quicksand when he ended up driving the jeep into the river during the theft is that he either managed to jump out of the jeep to the solid riverbed when it got stuck or he just swam from the jeep to the riverbank and never touched the bottom]].
--> '''Ruth Rose:''' I never even knew there was quicksand in Connecticut.\\

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Partial example. When Ron Roy visited the White House during the Christmas season, he watched the hubbub of the festive preparations and remarked that it seemed that the Christmas season would be the perfect time to steal something from the White House since everyone is so busy that it would take a while for anyone to notice. The plot of ''White House White-Out'' revolves around a plot to kidnap the First Dog [[spoiler: with the real target being the president's [[WouldHurtAChild stepdaughter]]]]

* VampireHickey: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in ''The Vampire's Vacation''. When an actor who typically plays the role of vampires comes to town, several adults in the town decide to play a prank on the main characters. They paint puncture wounds on their necks with makeup, act strange, and call the actor [[ActuallyNotAVampire Dr. A. Cula]] to try and scare the kids into thinking that there is a vampire loose in town.
* WouldHurtAChild: Many of the crooks are all too happy to threaten the main trio and both ''The Kidnapped King'' and ''White House White-Out'' feature villains who have no qualms about kidnapping kids the main trio's age.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: In ''The Ninth Nugget,'' Thumbs is implied to have lost his thumb in a bear attack that he walked away from otherwise unscratched, but no details are given.

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: At the end of ''The Lucky Lottery'', the three main kids confront their prime suspect over a stolen lottery ticket.
-->'''Ruth Rose''': And ''your'' fingerprints are on the mantel where you stole the Christmas card!
-->'''Dot Calm''': You're crazy, kid. I was wearing glov...

* UncattyResemblance: Grace Lockwood from ''The Falcon's Feathers'' looks very much like a falcon when she reads an issue of ''Falconry Today'' in a picture at the end of Chapter 5.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Partial example. When Ron Roy visited the White House during the Christmas season, he watched the hubbub of the festive preparations and remarked that it seemed that the Christmas season would be the perfect time to steal something from the White House since everyone is so busy that it would take a while for anyone to notice. The plot of ''White House White-Out'' revolves around a plot to kidnap the First Dog [[spoiler: with the real target being the president's [[AdultFear step]][[WouldHurtAChild daughter]]]]

* ActuallyNotAVampire: Dr. A. Cula (aka Jimmy Jett) in ''The Vampire's Vacation''.
* AdultFear: It's somewhat unnerving how often the main trio gets locked in locations by the crooks and were they not able to escape, probably wouldn't be found for hours.
** A more specific example occurs in ''White House White-Out''; the main trio teams up with the President's stepdaughter to rescue the kidnapped First Dog. After they end up stranded in the snow, Dink works out that the stepdaughter was the intended target.
** Similarly to the above example, Sammi, the victim in ''Kidnapped King'' isn't much older than the main trio.

A KidDetective series by Ron Roy about three kids - Josh, Dink and Ruth Rose - who solve mysteries in the town of [[EverytownAmerica Green Lawn, Connecticut]]. Each story has an alliterative title, such as ''The Canary Caper'', ''The Ninth Nugget'', and so on.

* ChekhovsGun: In ''The Jaguar's Jewel'', Dink looks at the case holding the titular jaguar while Ruth Rose feeds the fish, and Josh notices a letter opener. The kids solve the crime by finding the jewel in the fish tank and examine security footage to note when the letter opener changed directions.

* IronicNickname: Lucky O'Leary, so called because he's so unlucky. It manages to be accurate at the end of ''The Bald Bandit'' and zigzags before ultimately being subverted in ''The Lucky Lottery'' where the main trio manages to find his winning lottery ticket.

!''A to Z Mysteries'' contains examples of:

* HappilyAdopted: In between ''The Damp Dungeon'' and ''The White Wolf'', Wallis Wallace met an orphaned foster kid named Abbi who uses a wheelchair due to spina bifida. As the two of them got to know each other better, Wallis decides to adopt her because they both wanted to become a permanent part of each others' lives.

* TheDitherer: Josh's refusal to make up his mind when it comes to his future job. For example, in ''White House Whiteout'' he says that he wants to cook and surf in Hawaii, but in ''New Year's Dragon Dilemma'' he says that he wants to become an artist. Somewhat a JustifiedTrope since [[NeverAllowedToGrowUp he's a pre-teen and thus not expected to have his life together yet.]]

* TheDitherer: Josh's refusal to make up his mind when it comes to his future job. For example, in ''White House Whiteout'' he says that he wants to cook and surf in Hawaii, but in ''New Year's Dragon Dilemma'' he says that he wants to become an artist.

* IronicNickname: Lucky O'Leary, so called because he's so unlucky. It manages to be accurate at the end of ''The Bald Bandit'' and zigzags before ultimately being subverted in ''The Lucky Lottery'' where the main trio manages to find his winning lottery ticket.

** ''The Canary Caper'' revolves around a series of pet kidnappings ultimately solved by the police. Even when the three main kids discover a pattern in the kidnappings, Officer Fallon says they already made the connection. The kids hide outside the home of the thief's next victim, but the police show up before they can even catch the petnapper.
** ''The Quicksand Question" downplays this a bit. The cops never would have found the jeep with the stolen fundraising money if it wasn't for the kids' investigation, but when they find out where the culprit works for a living and show up to confront him, the police are already there to arrest him because they had already run the jeep's license plate to get the thief's identity.

* QuicksandSucks: Averted in "The Quicksand Question" as a case of ShownTheirWork. The kids' investigation into who stole the fundraising money for a bridge so the ducks that live in the river that surrounds Green Lawn can safely cross the nearby road without being run over by cars leads them to a marshy part of the river where an elderly man says that he saw a jeep with the duck bank storing the change for the ducks charge off the road near there. As they're wading in to search for clues, the kids suddenly run into a patch of quicksand that formed in the riverbed recently. Fortunately, Dink remembered to lean back into the water and not struggle in order to not sink in any further, has Josh do the same thing, and Ruth Rose was still on the solid riverbed when she realized that wading in even further would have also gotten her stuck in the quicksand. As a result, she was able to get out of the river and run to the nearby fire department to get help to save her friends. [[spoiler: The incident also ends up solving the case because Josh felt a jeep antenna poking at his leg before he was rescued. Once the fire department fishes the jeep out of the quicksand and the police department finds the fundraising money stored inside the jeep and runs its registration, the culprit is found and arrested. Officer Fallon speculates that the reason why the culprit didn't get caught in the quicksand when he ended up driving the jeep into the river during the theft is that he either managed to jump out of the jeep to the solid riverbed when it got stuck or he just swam from the jeep to the riverbank and never touched the bottom]].

* The Ditherer: Josh's refusal to make up his mind when it comes to his future job. Example- In ''White House Whiteout'' he says that he wants to cook and surf in Hawaii, but in ''New Year's Dragon Dilemma'' he says that he wants to become an artist.