Angie's First Case is a 1981 standalone 136-page novel by Encyclopedia Brown and Secret Agents Four author Donald Sobol. Angie Zane is a twelve-year-old Floridan Kid Detective who (aided by her friend Jess) is looking around town for clues about a local group of burglars so that her police officer sister Kit can be the one to arrest them. In the process, she learns that there is more than one mystery in her hometown, though, and that some of them involve some very clever and/or menacing people.
Tropes:
- Action Girl: Kit is an athletic cop who Angie believes could beat up a whole gang of crooks on her own, and the climax proves Angie right.
- City of Adventure: Angie and Jess encounter three different criminal conspiracies (although some of them are associates with each other) and one petty thief in their Florida hometown over just a few days.
- Down in the Dumps: While Mr. Donovan's business is an auto body shop, there are enough discarded car parts scattered everywhere to make it look like a "baby junkyard", an Angry Guard Dog roams the area, and Donovan and his workers are running a chop shop.
- Evil Gloating: The Wolfpack are well known for calling the police after robberies to reveal which house they just robbed and what they stole.
- Fakeout Escape: When Jess and Angie are prisoners of the Wolfpack, they break free of their bonds and Jess pretends to escape out the front door when really he just ducks into the next room to hide there.
- Foreshadowing: The biggest clue to the final mystery of the book is only covered in a couple of sentences. When Angie flees from a pursuer through Mr. Wells's storeroom, the shelves are empty even though a boy she and Jess caught breaking into Mr. Wells' garage told them that Mr. Wells has boxes of stuff like soap, napkins, and lighbulbs here which Angie assumed he didn't have room for at his store. Once Angie realizes that Wells does have room at his store, his hoarding becomes Suspicious Spending and she links Wells to a counterfeitting operation.
- Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: Wolfpack member Heather is a maid temp and uses this job to see which of the rooms she cleans have valuable items to steal, while also listening to house owners talking about when they will be out of town.
- Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: In the climax, Kit knocks two burly criminals unconscious while wearing a sundress and high heels.
- Nephewism: Angie and Kit have spent years living with their aunt since their parents died.
- Non-Action Big Bad: The main villains of two plotlines (burglary ring spy and planner Heather, and counterfeiter Mr. Wells) are never seen in person, while their associates pose bigger threats.
- Punk in the Trunk: One of the Wolfpack members tries to avoid a police search (the cops are looking for two teenaged boys travelling together) by hiding in the trunk of their car.
- Retirony: The Wolfpack are caught right after their final burglary, after which they were going to split up, with their Outlaw Couple leaders making plans to go to Colorado.
- Stout Strength: Jess's gut is repeatedly commented on by his enemies, but he is a fast runner and wins a fistfight.
