History Main / KidDetective

* The ''Shirley Holmes'' stories depict the exploits of [[Franchise/SherlockHolmes a certain detective's]] sleuthing teenaged sister. (Not to be confused with the TV series, which they inspired.)

* ''Literature/EnolaHolmes'': Enola is the much younger sister of Franchise/SherlockHolmes. At only 14, she is able to live independently, establish a successful detective business through a lot of misdirection and elude her brothers' best efforts to capture her until they wise up about her.

* Dwight of the [[Literature/OrigamiYoda Origami Yoda series]] carries around an origami finger puppet of [[Franchise/StarWars Yoda]] and [[ConsultingMisterPuppet gives people advice with it]]. Occasionally, he tries to help people without Origami Yoda, and when doing so, goes into Kid Detective mode. He imitates SherlockHolmes and speaks ''in a British accent''.

* ''Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket'' had Baranco, a one-episode character who was the son of the famous Columbo. The entire police force is willing to follow his plans.

* Inspector Tearle appeared in five books in the late 60s and early 70s. He and his sidekicks, his athletic sister Shirley and his best friend "Thumbs" Thorndyke, solved cases from a treehouse headquarters in East Widmarsh, [[FlyoverCountry somewhere in Middle America.]]

* Partially deconstructed with Nickel of ''Literature/NickelPlated''. He's a MinorLivingAlone who has a DarkAndTroubledPast involving child pornography (and it's implied [[spoiler:he may have killed the people responsible]]). He {{catfish|ing}}es {{ephebophile}}s and sends their info to the FBI, and also grows and sells marijuana through a high-school middleman (who has never physically met him) for extra cash. The plot of the novel kicks off when a girl hires him to find her missing sister, and he uncovers a child trafficking ring.

* At least one episode of ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}'' has Nobita becoming Sherlock Nobita and using the Sherlock Holmes Kit to solve a mystery.

* ''Film/KidDetective2020'' is, as the title suggests, about a kid detective who grew into an adult PrivateDetective. Abe is a close approximation of ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown'', who gained famed for minor crimes but unable to do anything signficant as an adult.

* Creator/AlfredHitchcock's ''Literature/TheThreeInvestigators'', long-running multinational book series.

* Also in the late 50s and early 60s, Andy Blair and Willie Perkins appeared in several stories in ''Creator/ElleryQueen 's Mystery Magazine,'' later collected in the Weekly Reader Book Club volume ''Andy & Willie: Super Sleuths.'' Unlike some of their contemporaries, their hometown of Wakanda is located in a specific state -- Indiana -- and, also unlike some contemporaries, their stories work both as mysteries for kids and as sly humor for adults.

* Parodied in [[WebVideo/GameGrumps the Game Grumps novel]] ''Ghost Hunters Adventure Club and the Secret of the Grande Chateau''. The titular club consists of two 18-year-old boys who go by the names of J.J. and Valentine "Val" Watts. These are not their real names, and it is heavily implied that the two of them aren't even related. Also, the two are implied to have been heavily involved with criminal activity in their youth. Their third recruit, an 18-year-old girl named Trudi de la Rosa, is a straighter example.

* The Bloodhound Gang on ''[[Series/ThreeTwoOneContact 3-2-1 Contact]]'' are a whole detective agency of kids.

* Kyoko Kirigiri of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' may be the most extreme application of this trope: as the Ultimate Detective, she's essentially the best in the world for her age-group, and as a requirement of that title, is a professional in her daily life (which can be seen in her prequel novels where she's taking on cases while still in junior high). She also comes from an entire family of lifelong detectives, with her father being the black sheep of the family simply for leaving the business to be Headmaster of Hope’s Peak, the school at the center of the franchise. How competent he was at his job is... debatable. [[spoiler:With the world outside the academy [[ApocalypseHow/{{Class0}} gone to hell with so few people left alive]], she may actually be the best in general by default, although that depends on if her grandfather was killed in Towa City, which is never resolved]].
** Shuichi Saihara from ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' is ''also'' an Ultimate Detective, and in his case received it for solving a murder before the police department could. He is however far more insecure about his skills than her. And unlike Kyoko, who stayed as a sidekick, [[spoiler:he eventually becomes the protagonist in his own right. But the end of the game suggests that he is not actually a detective. [[AmbiguousSituation Maybe]].]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Literature/WhateleyUniverse: a number of students at [[SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy]] are either aspiring detectives (most notably Reach and Spade in Gen 1, and Osmic Ace, Deduce, and Trace of the 'Card Sharps Detective Agency' training team in Gen 2) or spend their time snooping into unusual events for their own reasons (such as the [[Characters/WhateleyUniverseSchoolClubsAndCliques Lit Chix]]). A number of students also end up in situations which call for them to do some investigating, either with or without adult assistance.
** It seems that would-be detectives - and other students such as Hardsell who simply want to join the police force after they graduate - are common enough that the school has multiple classes in criminology, though students looking to be superheroes - or supervillains - make good use of them as well.
[[/folder]]

* ''Film/MysteryTeam'' is a {{Parody}} of this character type. The main characters are 18-year-olds still stuck in their crime-solving days and are [[ManChild Man Children]]. To increase their actual cred, they take on a little girl's case, which involves looking for her parents' murderer.

* Kyouko Kirigiri of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' may be the most extreme application of this trope: as the Ultimate Detective, she's essentially the best in the world for her age-group, and as a requirement of that title, is a professional in her daily life (which can be seen in her prequel novels where she's taking on cases while still in junior high). She also comes from an entire family of lifelong detectives, with her father being the black sheep of the family simply for leaving the business to be Headmaster of Hope’s Peak, the school at the center of the franchise. How competent he was at his job is... debatable. [[spoiler:With the world outside the academy [[ApocalypseHow/{{Class0}} gone to hell with so few people left alive]], she may actually be the best in general by default, although that depends on if her grandfather was killed in Towa City, which is never resolved]].

* ''[[Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona Persona]]'':

''[[WesternAnimation/NoddysToylandAdventures Noddy, Toyland Detective]]'' focuses around the child character Noddy solving mysteries in Toytown.

* Parodied in [[WebVideo/GameGrumps the Game Grumps novel ''Ghost Hunters Adventure Club and the Secret of the Grande Chateau''.]] The titular club consists of two 18-year-old boys who go by the names of J.J. and Valentine "Val" Watts. These are not their real names, and it is heavily implied that the two of them aren't even related. Also, the two are implied to have been heavily involved with criminal activity in their youth. Their third recruit, an 18-year-old girl named Trudi de la Rosa, is a straighter example.

* ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'': Despite the fact that the main characters are constantly referred to as "[[YouMeddlingKids meddling kids]]" and variants thereof by the various villains of the week upon capture, most incarnations of the franchise don't fit the trope since they're teenagers, not children. ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo'', on the other hand, does qualify, featuring [[SpinoffBabies child versions of the characters]].

* Dipper and Mabel became these in the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "Headhunters", when they set out to solve the mystery of who beheaded a wax sculpture of their Grunkle Stan.