History Literature / TheThreeInvestigators

* HostileWeather: Every once in a while, the dangers of a particular case come not from the villains (or at least not only the villains), but from the weather. In ''Headless Horse'', the constant rains which start about halfway through the book lead to some major floods and mudslides, including one that takes place right as the boys are being chased by the saddle-tramp cowboys (sweeping the latter down the swollen Santa Inez Creek) and even causing the collapse of the dam on the Alvaro ranch. In this case it also acts as a driver of the plot, since the mudslides uncover the cave under Condor Castle [[spoiler:where Don Sebastian and the three deserters killed each other]], and trap the boys themselves inside overnight; the dam collapse in turn reveals the arroyo's identity as a forgotten second branch of the creek, allowing Jupiter to figure out that a seemingly nonsensical diary entry he'd discovered actually revealed [[spoiler:Don Sebastian had hidden the Sword of Cortes on the Cortes statue]]. Another example in ''Shark Reef'' is less plot-significant but much more dangerous, as it involves a hurricane striking while Jupe and Pete are onboard the oil platform, but even this turns out to be somewhat important since the weather both traps the Shark Hunter there as well and reveals the sunken submarine.

*** In ''Monster Mountain'' a visitor's [[IgnorantAboutFire careless cigarette]] sets a campground on fire, which spreads to become a near-firestorm on the eponymous mountain that also endangers all of Sky Village. Ironically, while the villain Havemeyer did his best to help fight the fire (because it threatened his and Anna's inn), it ended up undoing his scheme: [[spoiler:Jupiter, having figured out Anna was an impostor and that the real one was locked in an isolated cabin on the mountain, leads Hans and Konrad to the rescue, and the fire also flushes out the book's resident Bigfoot which, in its fear, helps break down the cabin door]].

** Escalating in danger is the fire that gets set at Amigos Press in ''Magic Circle'', trapping the boys inside during the ActionPrologue. For the most part (and as is usual for Carey) it is played quite realistically, averting HollywoodFire in several ways--there is indeed quite a lot of smoke involved, Jupiter makes a point of checking the door for heat (though he does open it, albeit just for a brief moment), and the boys try crawling beneath the level of the smoke before having to take shelter in an old cellar space under the adobe; though of course the building doesn't collapse until after they are rescued. This is, of course, an example of FieryCoverUp, since the fire was set to destroy the illegal copy of the Bainbridge manuscript, allowing the ConMan villain to make money off it twice by getting Beefy's publishing company to pay for it again, this time the real one.

** Escalating in danger is the fire that gets set at Amigos Press in ''Magic Circle'', trapping the boys inside during the ActionPrologue. For the most part (and as is usual for Carey) it is played quite realistically, averting HollywoodFire in several ways--there is indeed quite a lot of smoke involved, Jupiter makes a point of checking the door for heat (though he does open it, albeit just for a brief moment), and the boys trying crawling beneath the level of the smoke before having to take shelter in an old cellar space under the adobe; though of course the building doesn't collapse until after they are rescued. This is, of course, an example of FieryCoverUp, since the fire was set to destroy the illegal copy of the Bainbridge manuscript, allowing the ConMan villain to make money off it twice by getting Beefy's publishing company to pay for it again, this time the real one.
** The two most dangerous fires of all are those which threatened to turn into full-fledged [[TheGreatFire Great Fires]]. In ''Monster Mountain'' a visitor's [[IgnorantAboutFire careless cigarette]] sets a campground on fire, which spreads to become a near-firestorm on the eponymous mountain that also endangers all of Sky Village. Ironically, while the villain Havemeyer did his best to help fight the fire (because it threatened his and Anna's inn), it ended up undoing his scheme: [[spoiler:Jupiter, having figured out Anna was an impostor and that the real one was locked in an isolated cabin on the mountain, leads Hans and Konrad to the rescue, and the fire also flushes out the book's resident Bigfoot which, in its fear, helps break down the cabin door]]. Meanwhile, the saddle-tramp cowboys of ''Headless Horse'' make a campfire on the Norris Ranch, and thanks to the wind sparks get carried and cause a wildfire that endangers both that ranch and the Alvaro Ranch, requiring numerous characters from both ranches (and of course the county and local fire departments) to work together to douse it. Thankfully their work plus a timely rainstorm helps save the day, but the resultant burned land isn't able to hold water later when the rains don't stop, leading to catastrophic flooding and mudslides. Unfortunately, sparks also seem to get carried to the Alvaro Ranch, destroying both the barn and the hacienda...but this turns out to have been deliberately set by the same saddle-tramp cowboys, who overheard ranch manager Cody [[RhetoricalRequestBlunder complain about wanting to claim the Alvaro Ranch for his boss Mr. Norris]] and [[StopHelpingMe thought this would help]]. Too bad for them this act destroys the Alvaros' antiques they were going to sell to Uncle Titus, thus getting the boys even more invested in the plot, and that [[IdiotBall they accidentally left behind]] a set of keys Cody gave them to [[SignatureItemClue the Norris ranch wagon]].

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: A favorite of the book titles, as in ''Green Ghost, Silver Spider, Crooked Cat, Flaming Footprints, Singing Serpent, Monster Mountain, Dancing Devil, Headless Horse, Deadly Double, Sinister Scarecrow, Purple Pirate, Missing Mermaid, Trail of Terror, Rogues' Reunion, Creep-Show Crooks, Wrecker's Rock, Cranky Collector, Dancing Dinosaur, House of Horrors'' and ''Savage Statue''. By the early '80s, alliterative titles were almost obligatory, before being dropped for the ''Crimebusters'' re-launch.

* GoshDangItToHeck: Goes with the genre, although the UnusualEuphemism used by Aunt Mathilda ("Mercy and goodness and sweetness and light!") stands out. A very notable example however is from ''Green Ghost''--Chief Reynolds to Bob's reporter father, when he asked if he could quote him on having seen the eponymous green ghost: "You know darned well you can't!" On the one hand, this is in front of the boys; on the other hand, it's hard to imagine a police chief, even in a small town, not having saucier language than this. By contrast, as proof of [[CasanovaWannabe how smarmy Farrier is for his putting the moves on Mrs. Dobson]], ''Flaming Footprints'' has a subversion from Aunt Mathilda where she calls him a "silly ass!"

* HiddenInPlainSight: A favorite for solving various mysteries. The silver spider turns out to be [[spoiler:in a spider web with a real spider]], the crooked cat was [[spoiler:in the work basket to be repaired]], the crown of Lapathia of ''Flaming Footprints'' was [[spoiler:in an urn by the front door of the Potter's house]], the diamonds in ''Nervous Lion'' were in [[spoiler:the bars of the cages]] they'd had with them all along, the Phantom Lake turned out to be [[spoiler:the man-made "view down the loch" where the treasure was buried]], the invisible dog (a crystal statue) was hidden [[spoiler:in a swimming pool]], the Cortes Sword of ''Headless Horse'' turned out to be [[spoiler:painted and nailed to the side of the Cortes statue]], and Shozo Yamura's ring in ''Shark Reef'' [[spoiler:is on Pete's hand the whole time, covered in mud]].

* TheRedBaron: The Whisperer, aka Jonathan Rex from ''Terror Castle''. Also, El Diablo of ''Moaning Cave''.

''The Three Investigators'' was a juvenile detective book series written by Creator/RobertArthurJr, originally called "Creator/AlfredHitchcock and the Three Investigators". It centered on a trio of high school boys who live in the fictional town of Rocky Beach, California. They are:

'''[[TheHero Jupiter Jones]]''', '''[[TheLeader First Investigator]]'''. Head of the firm and known for his remarkable powers of observation and deduction, he is stocky, muscular, and a bit roly-poly. He has a round face which often looks stupid but which hides a sharp intelligence. Jupiter has an excellent mind, and he is rather proud of it. He has many good features, but undue modesty is not one of them.

'''[[TheBigGuy Pete Crenshaw]]''', '''[[TheLancer Second Investigator]]'''. Tall and muscular, sturdy and courageous, he excels at athletics. [[CowardlyLion Inclined to nervousness before anything happens]], but a tower of strength in any kind of trouble. He is Jupiter's right-hand man when it comes to trailing suspects and other dangerous activities. Pete's father is a special-effects man who works at one of the movie studios in Hollywood.

'''[[AudienceSurrogate Bob Andrews]]''', '''[[TheSmartGuy Records and Research]]'''. Slight of build, small but wiry. Studious in nature, he is something of a scholarly type with an adventurous spirit. He has great nerve and the courage of a lion. Adept at research, he works part-time at the local library which enables him to hunt up information needed for their investigations. Bob's father is a feature writer for a big newspaper in Los Angeles.

The three boys make an excellent team. Having formed the firm of The Three Investigators, they use their spare time to solve any riddles, enigmas and mysteries that come their way. Their motto is "We Investigate Anything". Headquarters for The Three Investigators is a damaged 30-foot mobile home trailer within the salvage yard run by Jupiter's Uncle Titus and Aunt Mathilda which has been cleverly hidden from view by stacks of junk which surround it. It is accessible only by several secret passages and hidden entrances including their favorite, [[ThemeNaming Tunnel Two]]. Headquarters contains a small laboratory, a dark room, and an office with a desk, typewriter, telephone, tape recorder and reference books. All of their equipment was rebuilt from junk that came into the salvage yard.

* BewareTheNiceOnes:
** Quite often, [[NeverTheObviousSuspect the obviously nasty, resentful, or suspicious character among the suspects in a case is not the hidden villain]], but instead it's the nicest, most unobtrusive, even helpful character the reader thinks is completely trustworthy. Played with however in that also often the mean character still is guilty of ''something'' (whether a lesser crime or some other dark secret), just not for the case at hand.
** Played with in ''Purple Pirate''. [[spoiler:Joshua Evans]] at first seems like the typical sort of nasty character the boys tend to encounter, which makes him seem like the likely villain. Then once he finds out what is going on at the Purple Pirate Lair, he calms down, becomes as friendly and helpful as can be, and does all he can to help them catch the villains. But in the end he turns out to actually be one of the bad guys after all, pitting the boys, Captain Joy, and his former comrades against each other so he can escape with the loot.

Adding to this quasi-realism was the real-life movie director, Alfred Hitchcock, who appeared in the original texts of the first thirty titles. His character provided the introductory and closing remarks in each book and, acting as a mentor, he was occasionally called upon by The Three Investigators during the course of solving a mystery. The real Alfred Hitchcock had little to do with the creation of these books. He was simply paid a handsome percentage for the use of his name and character. This provided brand-name recognition and helped boost sales of the books.

*** There's also the ScamReligion cult in ''Singing Serpent'' and how it affects Aunt Pat.

** One of the strongest examples of the trope is ''Deadly Double'' however, where international politics, kidnapping and blackmail all come into play, Uncle Titus and Aunt Mathilda are put through a very real fears, the author [[ShownTheirWork shows his work]] in how the local, county, state, and federal authorities work together in a kidnapping case, and having the freedom of another country and its indigenous people at stake; Arden does not shy away one bit from revealing the racism and extremism of the villains, or making clear what will happen in Nanda if they succeed, and right up to the last moment it appears they're going to get away across the Mexican border.

* NobodyHereButUsStatues: In ''Invisible Dog'', Jupiter observes a statue of someone later identified as Saint Patrick in the church at Paseo Place. The thing is, the pastor of the church says there's never been a statue of Saint Patrick in the church... but there ''was'' a costume of him being used the Christmas pageant, and Jupiter figures out that the thief in the apartment complex had donned the costume to pose as a statue, hiding in plain sight until the cops left.

* AdultFear:
** Although the boys get in danger a number of times and often worry their families, ''Deadly Double'' has the most sobering and unsettling example of this when Jupiter is kidnapped not once, but twice...and not only Bob and Pete but Worthington, Chief Reynolds, Uncle Titus, and Aunt Mathilda have to worry about international political extremists and whether they will ever see him alive again (because HeKnowsTooMuch). It is handled quite seriously and realistically throughout the book, making it one of the better and more tense entries in the series.
** A brief moment in ''Shrinking House'', when Skinny has been kidnapped [[spoiler:by Marechal]]. Although she at first confronts Maxwell James and Pete, thinking they have something to do with it, Mrs. Norris's worry and fear for her son are played out quite realistically, even as she acknowledges Skinny's failings and what she didn't know about his doings. It's enough to make even the boys feel sorry for him and want to help save him. (It's also the only time we ever meet her in the series, and she is nothing like his father, so the moment is memorable and telling.)
** Regina Stratten in ''Missing Mermaid''. Not only does her little five-year-old boy disappear twice, but the second disappearance involves his trusted canine companion being found dead in a trash bin, followed by days of being hounded by the press while she worries where he might be, who might have him, and why. How close he came to being eliminated by [[spoiler:Clark Burton]] and the fact he was eventually found in the company of a simple-minded vagrant (albeit completely harmless) doesn't help either.

** In ''The Missing Mermaid'', AdultFear is pretty rampant when a five-year-old child vanishes and his beloved pet dog is found dead and stuffed into a dumpster. The boardwalk setting is also surprisingly dark and sleazy at times. The Three investigators witness a drug deal unrelated to the main plot, and an elderly local subtly implies that an associate of their prime suspect is a prostitute.
** One of the strongest examples of the trope is ''Deadly Double'' however, where international politics, kidnapping and blackmail all come into play, Uncle Titus and Aunt Mathilda are put through a very real AdultFear, the author [[ShownTheirWork shows his work]] in how the local, county, state, and federal authorities work together in a kidnapping case, and having the freedom of another country and its indigenous people at stake; Arden does not shy away one bit from revealing the racism and extremism of the villains, or making clear what will happen in Nanda if they succeed, and right up to the last moment it appears they're going to get away across the Mexican border.

* NobodyHereButUsStatues: The burglar in ''Invisible Dog'' actually pulls off this one, disguising himself as a statue of St. Patrick in the neighborhood church using a pageant costume.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** Every once in a while the usual formula of a client coming to the boys or them stumbling upon a case would be subverted--when, for example, [[BusmansHoliday they happened to be traveling outside Rocky Beach or had been invited away/on vacation]] (''Skeleton Island'', ''Moaning Cave'', ''Monster Mountain'', ''Death Trap Mine'', ''Shark Reef'', ''Blazing Cliffs'', ''Wandering Cave Man'', ''Missing Mermaid''), and once they even ended up traveling to another ([[{{Ruritania}} fictional]]) country (''Silver Spider'').
** The early book ''Whispering Mummy'' has an unusual moment where the action and POV switch to Professor Yarborough and his butler Wilkins as a HowWeGotHere to explain the case of Ra-Orkon and how the professor happened to send a letter to Hitchcock which the boys had just read in the previous chapter.
** ''Trail of Terror'' is extremely different from the usual case. Aside from the fact it's about a road trip cross-country where [[MinimalistCast the only consistent characters are the boys, Pete's grandfather, and the villains]], it also involves: Pete's mother being the one to hire the boys (to keep her father out of trouble); a BusmansHoliday writ large; the boys not even believing there ''is'' a case for some time due to chalking everything up to Mr. Peck's paranoia, eccentricity, and possible senility; it being the first time they become involved in something that threatens national security; and the fact that instead of there being a secret villain they have to expose and unmask along the way to stopping a crime/finding a hidden treasure, the villain is known (or at least revealed to be extremely suspicious) from very early on--instead the entire case/book consists of simply trying to prove his villainy, keep him from obtaining the evidence of his crime, and get him arrested, all while being chased by him and his spy contact.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Averted and even subverted for the most part; most of the villains in these stories do not wear black (or have black hair/eyes), and the majority of characters who do turn out to be good guys in the end (Reston in ''Moaning Cave'', the strongman Khan in ''Crooked Cat'', [[spoiler:[=DeGroot=]]] in ''Shrinking House'', Stebbins in ''Phantom Lake''). Some outright invert it ([[spoiler:the Countess and Marechal of ''Shrinking House'' both wear white and have light/silver-colored hair]]; the Yaquali of ''Laughing Shadow ''are dark-skinned and wear white, but turn out to be good guys while [[spoiler:Mr. Harris]] also wears white; the Percivals of ''Dead Man's Riddle'' wear white; [[spoiler:Mr. Burroughs]] of ''Sinister Scarecrow'' wears white while the mysterious watcher wears black). The only times the trope is played straight is with Shaitan and Ariel of ''Singing Serpent'' (and considering they are running a demon-worshipping ScamReligion this is likely an InvokedTrope on their part) and General Kaluk of ''Flaming Footprints'' vs. the Potter (but although Kaluk is harsh and cruel, he ends up being a more complex character than he seems, while the Potter is still holding onto a romanticized view of the past, so this may be a case of the narrative misleading the reader once again as to who is right and wrong). Black-clad El Diablo of ''Moaning Cave'' is a zigzagged example, since depending on POV he was either a good guy (a FolkHero to the Mexican people) or a villain (the American authorities, who were the ones to give him [[TheRedBaron his nickname]] of [[TheDreaded "The Devil"]]), but the one encountered in-story is of course a costume worn by the villain.

** Or at least, everyone except [[spoiler:Letitia and Dr. Woolley]] in ''Sinister Scarecrow''. Notable in that while [[spoiler:Mrs. Chumley and the Burroughs]] were working together to rob the Mosby Museum (at least, [[{{Blackmail}} eventually]]), [[spoiler:Gerhart Malz's forgery plan]] was completely separate and had nothing to do with the scarecrow. [[LampshadeHanging As Hitchcock himself says]], "Rarely did the boys have so many suspects turn out to be guilty!"

** Mr. Won from ''The Mystery of the Green Ghost'' also has shades of this. He is a mysterious [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld 107 years old]] Chinese man who lives the ancient way, is skilled in hypnotism and other arcane knowledge that borders on the supernatural (such as extending his lifespan with the use of the Ghost Pearls). Also, while undoubtedly antagonistic, he is shown to be more honorable than the other villains of the story and upholding a moral code of sorts: he intends to stay true to his word and let the protagonists go free once they bring him the Ghost Pearls he was after, and eventually returns the deed to Verdant Valley despite the Ghost Pearls being destroyed.

* EnlightenedAntagonist: In ''The Mystery of the Invisible Dog'', [[spoiler:Sonny Elmquist]] is a relatively mundane version of the trope. He is a young man who is fascinated with meditation and Hindu spirituality, and who has genuine paranormal powers (namely, he is an astral wanderer: while he is asleep, he can see what happens in different places through his astral body). And though he is not the main villain of the story, he is unscrupulous enough to use his powers to locate and try to steal the titular dog statue in order to fulfill his dream of collecting enough money for a trip to India.

** Also, Newt and Thalia [=McAfee=] of ''Wandering Cave Man''. Not only are they unfairly (and completely without justification) superior toward Eleanor, acting as if she thinks she's above herself just because she wants to go to college (and her aunt had specifically resented her sister, Eleanor's mother, for being beautiful and making something of herself with an education), they are actively robbing her of both the insurance she was owed after her parents' accident and her inheritance in the form of a house in Hollywood and its rent...so she never has enough money to live on and is forced to stay with them, all while being guilted for how much she supposedly costs. As if that isn't enough, the pair are greedy in other ways, charging far too much money for rent on their property when the town is full of tourists for the cave man, and it's very clear in how Newt acts toward Dr. Brandon that he has no respect for anthropology, only wanting to create a sensationalist story so he can bilk all the people who come to see his kitschy tourist trap. It's no wonder Eleanor decides to [[spoiler:help rob and blackmail them]]. [[note]]The unfortunate thing is that while she does manage to obtain her freedom, money, and a place of her own (after giving them an awesome ReasonYouSuckSpeech), and the cave man is temporarily held as evidence by the police, it isn't made clear if the [=McAfees=] will ever truly pay for their crimes. If Brandon has his way, the governor will ensure they can't claim the fossils and he will instead be allowed to study them, keeping them from becoming a money-making scheme, but we don't know for sure, and because she succeeds in getting her money and a place of her own, Eleanor doesn't press charges against them.[[/note]] Bob mentions his mother's wisdom that people like the [=McAfees=] eventually [[LaserGuidedKarma get what's coming to them]] and make themselves miserable, but to a certain extent they do remain {{Karma Houdini}}s. Also, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Newt annoyingly insists on]] [[ItIsPronouncedTroPay correcting people on their name's pronunciation]].

** Skinny Norris, in ''Headless Horse.'' While prior to this his arrogance, nastiness, and superiority would make such an attitude unsurprising (especially for a SpoiledBrat like him, and ''especially'' in California where matters of immigration and ethnic foreigners have always been [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment rather contentious]]), his attitude toward Diego and Pico and his use of an outdated slur [[note]]wetback[[/note]] directed at them does come a little out-of-nowhere, and the fact this appears in the book where he commits his worst villainy and is subsequently PutOnABus for the rest of the series is probably not an accident. May be justified by the influence of ranch manager Cody who, based on his manner of dress and his three saddle-tramp robber friends, is most likely from Texas and thus could have brought such attitudes (and that specific slur) with him.

* EnlightenedAntagonist: In ''Diamond Dog'', [[spoiler:Sonny Elmquist]] is a more down-to-earth version of the trope. He is a young man who is fascinated with meditation and Hindu spirituality, and who has genuine paranormal powers (namely, he is an astral wanderer: while he is asleep, he can see what happens in different places through his astral body). And though he is not the main villain of the story, he is unscrupulous enough to use his powers to locate and try to steal the titular dog statue in order to fulfill his dream of collecting enough money for a trip to India.

The long-standing popularity of the series in Germany has resulted in two live-action movies, ''The Three Investigators and the Secret of Skeleton Island'' and ''The Three Investigators and the Secret of Terror Castle''.

* DarkerAndEdgier: A lot of the books after Arden and Carey took over the series were a lot more serious and had more far-reaching criminal doings. Carey in particular included things such as bloody revolutions, dictators, and villains determined to gain power in either the present or in backstory in both ''Flaming Footprints'' and ''Haunted Mirror'' (and this is taken far more seriously and grimly than Duke Stefan's conspiracy in ''Silver Spider''); there's even a case of terrorist gunrunning in ''Scar-Faced Beggar'' which is put to an end via a fiery boat explosion. There's also the ScamReligion cult in ''Singing Serpent'' and how it affects Aunt Pat; the slew of crimes in ''Invisible Dog'' including extortion, stock speculation, poisoning, bombing, and a fire; the serious results of finding a dead body in ''Death Trap Mine''; and the boys being caught inside a burning building in ''Magic Circle''. Nick West also has the example of the boys almost getting killed by a panther in ''Nervous Lion'', resulting in it being shot in front of them. One of the strongest examples of the trope is ''Deadly Double'' however, where international politics, kidnapping and blackmail all come into play, Uncle Titus and Aunt Mathilda are put through a very real AdultFear, the author [[ShownTheirWork shows his work]] in how the local, county, state, and federal authorities work together in a kidnapping case, and having the freedom of another country and its indigenous people at stake; Arden does not shy away one bit from revealing the racism and extremism of the villains, or making clear what will happen in Nanda if they succeed, and right up to the last moment it appears they're going to get away across the Mexican border.