“Encyclopedia Brown and The Case of The Hidden Baloney.”
Which was a sequel to, Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of Malt Liquor.
Of course, there was a less popular third installment, Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of Gonorrhea.
It’s a good thing you didn’t try to read a third one. 
Homer: And, these Hardy Boys books are great, too! This one’s about smugglers!
Bart: They’re all about smugglers.
Homer: No, not this one! “The Smugglers of Pirate Cove”. It’s about pirates.
What a great thread!
I only wish there were some kind of Encyclopdia Brown episode guide that I could look through and re-live all my frustrations. As a kid, I was on a mission to read every single EB book there was (…at my local library). But now that I’m racking my brain, I can barely think of a single one.
Does anyone remember Jupiter Jones? I know I read them as a kid but damn if I can remember anything about them. “The Case of the Stuttering Parrot” is the only title I remember.
Does anybody remember a series about the misadventures of two boys who are given a magical chemistry set by a mysterious old lady? I remember reading it as a kid in the 60’s. They would do things like mix up a potion to make them better at baseball, which it would do, but there were always unexpected results as well. One of the things I remember is that the chemistry set had belonged to the old lady’s son and many of the vials were empty -or nearly so- and they therefore couldn’t mix up a second batch of anything. Yes, I know that that “1960’s” and “magical chemistry set” when used together begs for a drug joke. I’m sure somebody will be along with one directly.
Alfred Hitchcock presents The Three Investigators. I loved these books! Much better than the Hardy Boys. Let’s see, there was Jupiter Jones (the brainy, portly one), Pete Crenshaw (the athletic one) and Bob somebody (the studious one). *The Stuttering Parrot * one was one of the really good stories I thought.
I do remember one that was a rip-off, however. Turned out the mystery hinged on the fact(!) that one character had out-of-body experiences or something like that to explain how he could be seen in more than one place at a given time. Not sure if I have this detail correct, but there was *definitely *acceptance of some paranormal phenomenon rather than a well-deduced and realistic solution.
Wikipedia lists the books but I don’t think there’s a list of each mystery anywhere.
Wow … I’d totally forgotten Jupiter Jones until I read your post. I remember reading some caper with a stolen ruby, and a nasty guy from (I think) India with a sword-cane … good stuff!
Should I be embarrassed to admit I also read Danny Dunn?
I just googled the three investigators and got this site. It’s a good one.
She had a closet full of pink, right? I don’t remember where I got it from, but years later I remember that redheads aren’t supposed to wear pink.
This is the one I came into the thread to mention. It drove me crazy because it implied I don’t know my manners because I’ve never heard of this. Not to mention, the lady (as a man) was sitting facing the door to act as a lookout, not out of habit or anything that implied she’d heard of this either. I have a book of Lateral Thinking Puzzles that are full of mysteries that can’t be solved by the clues therein. Apparently, no one told these writers that the point of quick mysteries is to make the reader feel smart. It’s only in longer mysteries that you want to keep them in the dark.
For some reason, this thread has brought back to mind some story where kids made their own little rollercoaster off the roof of their house. Now that’s going to bug me.
In case a Man Comes Through the Door with a Gun.
Thus illustrating Sobol’s debt to the Baroness Orczy and her Man in the Corner, the first of the great “armchair detectives.”
Not to mention Frank Gruber’s Oliver Quade the Human Encyclopedia, who had the name first.
Sounds like the Great Brain story “The Chute-the-Chute.” Nasty—ends with a kid breaking his leg.
Of course I remember them. Scott Corbett’s series of “Trick” books, which started off with “The Lemonade Trick.” Old lady Mrs. Graymalkin gives Kerby and Fenton her son Felix’s old chemistry set. The chemistry set produces magical-type results.
Those ‘Trick’ books were great, I think I read them all.
The one I remember like that is where EB and his pals visit a famous old historic fort in town, and hear the story of how it was taken over by the bad guys long ago (Indians? British troops? Inebriated Cossacks? I don’t remember) during a rainstorm. EB deduces that the relief party riding to the fort should have known something was amiss because the fort’s flag was still flying in the rain. WTF? Should they expect the troops inside to haul down the flag every time it rained?
I can’t believe how well you guys remember these stories!
Most of them I’ve blissfully forgotten, but there’s one that sticks in my craw all these years later: the solution somehow hinged on the fact that a kid slated to perform in a talent show as a magician was wearing a t-shirt, because magicians need long sleeves to do their tricks. Even as a kid, that one made me say WTF?
And don’t hate on the Great Brain. I loved those books.
Ooo…nearly forgot – don’t miss the Encyclopedia Brown series over at Modern Humorist.
Oh, yes, that’s the sort of EB “clue” I recognize. Encyclopedia Brown made me feel dumb, 'cos I didn’t know that “female cellists never wear short skirts,” etc.