History Literature / TheBrightFallsMysteries

* InfantImmortality: Horrifyingly averted as a pit full of seeming child sacrifices is the start of the story. [[spoiler: The actuality, that they're the abandoned offspring of the local forest goddess she expected her cult to care for, isn't much better.]]

* CrapSaccharineWorld: Bright Falls, Michigan is a picturesque logging town which is full of QuirkyTown citizens. It's also a place which is riddled with crime, hostile spirits, and a good quarter of its population being shapechangers. This is in addition to the fact the setting is an UnmasquedWorld with the possibility of the government trying to kill all supernaturals just a stone's throw away while many supernaturals are genuinely evil but the government doesn't discriminate from normal ones (or who fight evil ones).

* GrandThefMe:

* HighlyConspicuousNinja: Averted. It's explained twice, for humor, that ninjas aren't actually magical super-martial artists but trained infiltrators. [[spoiler: Both Alice and Preacher turn out to be members of the Red Sky group.]]

* ''I Was A Teenage Weredeer''
* ''An American Weredeer in Michigan''

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Jane and Alex both embody GoodIsNotNice as they pretty much tear through a variety of nasty beasties with little care to the brutality in the process. Otherwise, they're quirky and fun {{Adorkable}} geeks.

* BiTheWay: Victoria O'Henry was sleeping with both the men as well as women in her coven.

* EvilIsNotAToy: Jones' plan to control the Goddess of the Forrest wouldn't work. It would end in a Biblical judgement of Bright Falls.

* JerkassGods: This proves to be the case for the Goddess of the Forrest, who is an avatar herself for Gaia.

* InfantImmortality: Horrifyingly averted as a pit full of seeming child sacrifices is the start of the story. [[spoiler: The actuality, that they're the abandoned offspring of the local forrest goddess she expected her cult to care for, isn't much better.]]

* TheAllegedCar: Combined with CoolCar in the fact Jane owns a 2001 green Hummer which belonged to her grandfather and is apparently both indestructible as well as constantly breaking down. It also gets 1 mile to the gallon. She's nicknamed it "The Millennium Falcon."

* MonsterHunter: Larry and Yolanda's profession both before and after The Reveal.
** Lucien and Alex used to be this despite being supernaturals themselves.

Generally, the books all take place in Michigan in a fictional small town called Bright Falls. Jane Doe is a weredeer waitress working for his parents at the Deerlightful Diner. Possessed of the ability to read objects, she uses this power to solve murders and supernatural crimes in her hometown.

''The Bright Falls Mysteries'' is DarkFantasy UrbanFantasy series by Creator/CTPhipps and Michael Suttkus which takes place in TheUnmasquedWorld where supernaturals came out in the 2008 Bailout. It is a AffectionateParody of the genre verging on horror comedy where everyone is a smartass familiar with monster tropes and movies but serious crimes occur.

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[[quoteright:308:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/36284239.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:308: Oh Deer.]]

THE BRIGHT FALLS MYSTERIES are a series of DarkFantasy UrbanFantasy novels by Creator/CTPhipps and Michael Suttkus. They follow the adventures of Jane Doe, [[MeaningfulName an unfortunately named]] weredeer, who lives in the town of Bright Falls, Michigan. Jane Doe is notably a SnarkKnight protagonist in a WorldOfSnark yet the stories themselves are presented in a wholly serious manner. It is an UnmasquedWorld since 2008 where shapechangers are used as stand-ins for minorities while also highlighting how they aren't a perfect match.

Like [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Sunnydale, California]] or [[Series/TwinPeaks Twin Peaks]], it is a place full of all manner of monsters as well as mysteries. It is also set in the same world as the authors ''Literature/StraightOuttaFangton'' series.

Books in the series so far include:

* ''I Was A Teenage Weredeer''
* ''An American Weredeer in Michigan''

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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Series]]
* AbusiveParents: The series has numerous examples of this ranging from the O'Henry family as a whole to shapechanger culture in general. The Timmons family takes it to a whole other level with their attempts at OffingTheOffspring. The Doe family is one of the rare exceptions to the rule.
* {{Adorkable}}: Jane, Emma, Alex, and Munin in just the first book alone. Geekery and kicking ass go together in this world.
* TheAllegedCar: Combined with CoolCar in the fact Jane owns a 2001 green Hummer which belonged to her grandfather and is apparently both indestructible as well as constantly breaking down. It also gets 1 mile to the gallon. She's nicknamed it "The Millennium Falcon."
* AllMythsAreTrue: Jane explains human imagination influences the SpiritWorld and spirits often take the appearance of things from their mythology, be they gods, demons, or monsters. This means if something doesn't exist it's only a matter of time before it becomes real and can potentially enter the world.
* [[AllTheOtherReindeer All The Other Weredeer]]: Jane is a petite awkward snarky young woman in a race which is notable for its superhumanly gorgeous women. Mostly played for laughs.
* AmbiguousDisorder: Alex is stated to be somewhere on the spectrum but what his specific condition is, is anyone's guess.
* {{Animorphism}}: Comes with being a series about a weredeer. In this case, Jane doesn't physically transform into a deer but one minute is a human then the next minute is a deer. She's not sure how it works either and speculates on everything from alternate realities to reality being an illusion.
* {{Antihero}}: Jane is a lot more ruthless and brutal than you'd expect from a woman barely into adulthood and the least threatening of shapechanger races.
* AuthorAppeal: As a Creator/CTPhipps novel, it's all about the snappy one-liners and pop culture references with the occasional bit of social commentary.
* {{Bambification}}: Played with. While stags are shown to be dangerous and deer are the "mystics" of the shapechanger race, Jane herself is a small and adorable human being with a similar look in her deer form. She does, however, headbutt people and trample them in her "bambi" form, though.
* BettyAndVeronica: Jane has this relationship between FBI Agent Alexander Timmons (The Betty) and local crime lord Lucien Lyons (The Veronica). Jane generally leans towards Alex but still has an attraction to the latter.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Jane and Alex both embody GoodIsNotNice as they pretty much tear through a variety of nasty beasties with little care to the brutality in the process. Otherwise, they're quirky and fun {{Adorkable}} geeks.
* BiTheWay: Jane admits to such in the second book after hints in the first.
* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Doe and O'Henry families. The Doe Family loves each other and provides for one another [[spoiler: but the mother is a former evil witch and the son is heavily involved in magical drug trafficking while the eldest daughter works for the local crime lord as a dancer.]] The O'Henry family is an abusive patriarchy where their grandfather abuses each generation of the family and controls them with cash.
* BlackAndGrayMorality: Despite being a Young Adult novel, the characters are dark and morally compromised. Jane is willing to work with criminals, the FBI, and monsters to get worse people.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Jane is a young untrained SnarkKnight psychic weredeer who is, nevertheless, the only person who seems to be able to solve any murders in the town.
** Alex Timmons lives this trope as he's an AmbiguousDisorder FBIAgent KungFuWizard who makes pacts with spirits embodying fictional characters. He owns a functional lightsaber wand and practices [[Series/DoctorWho Venusian Aikido]].
* CoolGuns: The Merlin Gun is forged from Excalibur and contains the soul of an angel.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Marcus O'Henry is one of these as he controls all of the major employers in Bright Falls, Michigan and uses it to financially dominate his family as well as other citizens. He's abusive to his children, murdered business rivals, and [[spoiler: also got his granddaughter killed to try to lay to rest a ghost threatening him.]]
* CrapSaccharineWorld: Bright Falls, Michigan is a picturesque logging town which is full of QuirkyTown citizens. It's also a place which is riddled with crime, hostile spirits, and a good quarter of its population being shapechangers. This is in addition to the fact the setting is an UnmasquedWorld with the possibility of the government trying to kill all supernaturals just a stone's throw away while many supernaturals are genuinely evil but the government doesn't discriminate from normal ones (or who fight evil ones).
* CreepyCrows: These hang around several of the locations in the setting, signifying the presence of spirits.
* CrystalDragonJesus: Combined with an InterfaithSmoothie and you get the religion of shapechangers in Bright Falls, MI. They worship a combination of Celtic deities, the Abrahmic God, and Native American spirits. Given AllMythsAreTrue, this is a perfectly valid religion and works for them.
* DinosaursAreDragons: Played with. It turns out legends of dragons in TheUnmasquedWorld are werecrocodiles who have the power to breathe fire naturally. Some of them also can control their size, becoming huge creatures as well.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: "Varmint Laws" allow anyone who feels threatened by a shapechanger to shoot at them. As such, most shapechangers keep their identities hidden or live in one of the five states where they don't exist.
* EldritchLocation: Bright Falls, Michigan is a place where the SpiritWorld and physical world's barriers are extremely weak.
* MixedAncestry: Jane and her family are a mixed family of Caucasians and Odawa (Ottawa) Native Americans. Notably, Jane pays very little attention to this fact until someone makes a commentary about First Nations peoples.
* PoliceAreUseless: Either from corruption or the fact they're ill-equipped to deal with the supernatural.
* PunnyName: Apparently this is an actual ''power'' of weredeers as they're said to be forced to make them whenever possible. Jane notes it sounds like superstition to her and only makes a few herself but it's a theme in their local businesses like the Deerlightful Dinner.
* PsychicPowers: All shapechangers get one in addition to their ability to shift forms.
* QuirkyTown: Comes with the town being an {{EXPY}} of Series/TwinPeaks.
* SnarkToSnarkCombat: Any conversation between Jane and Lucien tends to turn into this.
* SpiritualSuccessor: Draws heavily from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''Series/TwinPeaks'' according to WordOfGod.
* SpiritWorld: Exists alongside the material world and is affected by human dreams as well as prayers. Spirits interact with human beings regularly but are only able to enter reality through summoning or special places like [[EldritchLocation Bright Falls, Michigan.]] It's stated worlds of fiction are real in this place and characters from them exist within.
* ThemeNaming: A particular problem among weredeer as Jane Doe's parents are Judy and John with many other 'J' names in their family. Weredeer also like deer puns in their businesses with one (jokingly) suggested funeral home name being the Deerly Departed.
* TheVerse: With ''Literature/StraightOuttaFangton''.
* TheUnmasquedWorld: In 2008, vampires came out of hiding to bail the United States out of its financial crisis (implied to have used massive fraud to make this possible) which brought out other supernaturals as a matter of course. While vampires have their own cities to control and live by their own laws, other supernaturals have far less in the way of protections and many states make it legal to kill them if one feels threatened.
* WorldOfSnark: Almost everyone in this setting is a smart ass of one sort or another.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: I Was a Teenage Weredeer]]
* AlphaBitch: A literal example given Victoria O'Henry is a Mean Girl as well as werewolf. [[spoiler: Except not as she turns out to have been possessed during this time.]]
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Emma attempts one to Jane who more or less ignores it due to the fact she doesn't want to endanger their friendship.
* BigBad: The Big Bad Wolf a.k.a The Red Wolf.
* BiTheWay: Victoria O'Henry was sleeping with both the men as well as women in her coven.
* BrokenPedestal: [[spoiler: Jane has this toward her mother when she finds out she's not only an adulterer but a woman who did black magic for the O'Henry family.]]
* ComingOutStory: Parodied with Emma O'Henry who isn't aware Jane has known she was a lesbian since junior high.
* CycleOfRevenge: [[spoiler: The Red Wolf has cursed the town for killing his family, only to have others come after it, and plans for revenge from his followers. Similarly, Lucien Drake wants to avenge the Drake family, which was killed by the O'Henry family for their past enemies.]]
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler: Jane defeats the Big Bad Wolf, who is a local nature god and able to warp reality around himself.]]
* DisproportionateRetribution: The Big Bad Wolf cursed the entire town of Bright Falls [[spoiler: for the death of his children with a mortal woman. Decades ago, they had formed a mob to go after them due to his being a Native American in his avatar and his lover being a respected white woman. The children were accidentally killed during the confrontation only for the Red Wolf to kill the majority of the mob. The Red Wolf goes, Freddy Krueger style, after the survivor's children.]]
* {{Expy}}: Victoria O'Henry is a werewolf version of [[Series/TwinPeaks Laura Palmer.]]
* FaceHeelTurn: The Red Wolf was once a benevolent nature spirit before becoming a demon.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Judy Doe abandoned black magic after murdering most of the Drake family but refusing to kill their youngest son.]]
* HumanSacrifice: What was done to the victims using an enchanted blade.
* IncompatibleOrientation: Averted. Jane admits to being bisexual but has other reasons for not getting with her best friend.
* RevengeBeforeReason: One of the bigger themes of the novel. [[spoiler: Averted with Lucien who abandons his plan for revenge because of his love for Jane.]]
* WillingChanneler: The Red Wolf coven channeled the Red Wolf for power, rewards, as well as the ectasy of the experience.
* WrongfullyAccused: Jeremy Doe is the primary suspect for Victoria's murder. [[spoiler: He's not guilty but he's a lot more involved than Jane assumed.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: An American Weredeer in Michigan]]
* BigBad: John Winston Jones is the leader of the Ultralogists.
* ChurchOfHappyology: The Ultralogists are a thinly disguised version of Scientology, only they have magic.
* CompositeCharacter: John Winston Jones is a combination of L. Ron Hubbard and Timothy Leary.
* EvilIsNotAToy: Jones' plan to control the Goddess of the Forrest wouldn't work. It would end in a Biblical judgement of Bright Falls.
* JerkassGods: This proves to be the case for the Goddess of the Forrest, who is an avatar herself for Gaia.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Robyn Taylor is half-human, half forrest goddess.
* InfantImmortality: Horrifyingly averted as a pit full of seeming child sacrifices is the start of the story. [[spoiler: The actuality, that they're the abandoned offspring of the local forrest goddess she expected her cult to care for, isn't much better.]]
* KickTheSonOfABitch: What happens to [[spoiler: Marcus O'Henry as Jane executes him in prison with magic to keep him from going after her family.]]
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: Marcus O'Henry proves to be responsible for at least some of the problems. So is Alex's father.]]
* MonsterHunter: Larry and Yolanda's profession both before and after The Reveal.
** Lucien and Alex used to be this despite being supernaturals themselves.
* ObliviousToLove: Jane "dated" Lucien for a few weeks without realizing it.
* PlantPerson: Robyn
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: Jane has a minor one of these when she finds out the embodiment of nature she worships as a god is callous and apatheic.
* RelationshipUpgrade: Jane has one of these with [[spoiler: Alex. It's averted with Lucien, who she had one with offscreen, only to break up with him immediately afterward.]]
* VanHelsingHateCrimes: Larry and Yolanda are annoyed (rather than horrified) to find out many supernaturals are decent ordinary people when they've been indiscriminately hunting them.
[[/folder]]

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This series contains the following tropes:

* AuthorAppeal: As a Creator/CTPhipps novel, it's all about the snappy one-liners and pop culture references with the occassional bit of social commentary.

* ''Literature/IWasATeenageWeredeer''

* CloudCookoolander: Alex Timmons qualifies as everything which comes out of his mouth is either a reference to philosophy, spirituality, pop culture, or random facts about his life such as his stint in a mental hospital. Combines with BunnyEarsLawyer as he's still an incredibly effective FBI agent.

* CrapsacharineWorld: Bright Falls, Michigan is a picturesque logging town which is full of QuirkyTown citizens. It's also a place which is riddled with crime, hostile spirits, and a good quarter of its population being shapechangers. This is in addition to the fact the setting is an UnmasquedWorld with the possibility of the government trying to kill all supernaturals just a stone's throw away while many supernaturals are genuinely evil but the government doesn't discriminate from normal ones (or who fight evil ones).

* SpiritWorld: Exists alongside the material world and is affected by human dreams as well as prayers. Spirits interact with human beings regularly but are only able to enter reality through summoning or special places like [[ElditchLocation Bright Falls, Michigan.]] It's stated worlds of fiction are real in this place and characters from them exist within.

* Animorphism: Comes with being a series about a weredeer. In this case, Jane doesn't physically transform into a deer but one minute is a human then the next minute is a deer. She's not sure how it works either and speculates on everything from alternate realities to reality being an illusion.

* Bambification: Played with. While stags are shown to be dangerous and deer are the "mystics" of the shapechanger race, Jane herself is a small and adorable human being with a similar look in her deer form. She does, however, headbutt people and trample them in her "bambi" form, though.