# Remember "Encylopedia Brown?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 19, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588 "2003-01-19T04:06:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/1 "2003-01-19T04:06:10Z")
I stumbled upon this site during an unrelated google search. For some updated stories, click [here](http://www.modernhumorist.com/mh/0005/encyc_mp3/encycmp3_2.cfm). ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/2 "2003-01-19T04:15:22Z")
Damn, I wasn’t able to solve. Great modern day update though. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/3 "2003-01-19T05:18:21Z")
That was pretty cool, thanks. I think I have just about all of the Encyclopedia brown books at my parents home. I could never solve them and it always used to frustrate me that my father always could. I did solve this one, it was a bit of a guess though I must admit. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/4 "2003-01-19T05:45:50Z")
I remember those! I could never solve them, but once I checked the answer, I never forgot it, so the books were boring because I always knew the answer when I was reading them, after that first time. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/5 "2003-01-19T06:00:21Z")
Oh man… those are insane. I read them all, and now I wish I knew where _my_ Encyclopedia Brown books went to. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/6 "2003-01-19T06:12:52Z")
Did you know Sally Kimble went on to star in the movie _Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!_? ---
**Author:** ![Christina25](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8edcca/32.png) [@Christina25](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Christina25)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/7 "2003-01-19T06:59:15Z")
God I loved those books _yippee_ ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/8 "2003-01-19T07:38:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dr\_Paprika \* > \*\*Did you know Sally Kimble went on to star in the movie _Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!_? \*\* Did she change her name to Tura Satana? ---
**Author:** ![Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/53a042/32.png) [@Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vinnie_Virginslayer)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/9 "2003-01-19T08:17:16Z")
Bugs Meany was my personal hero when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![HerMajestyLorna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7cd45c/32.png) [@HerMajestyLorna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HerMajestyLorna)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/10 "2003-01-19T15:55:41Z")
Oh man, how I loved those books. I used to read them time and time again…good stuff. This one is a funny modern version… ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/11 "2003-01-19T16:03:31Z")
The absurdist folks at Modern Humorist have taken a stab at Idaville’s smartest boy detective more than once. [Follow him as he solves](http://www.modernhumorist.com/mh/by/eb/) the mysteries of current events such as the JonBenet murder and the 2000 election. ---
**Author:** ![Heloise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e36b37/32.png) [@Heloise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heloise)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/12 "2003-01-19T17:58:13Z")
I flew through those books as a kid. I loved them! It’s funny you mention the books, because I just thought about them recently and haven’t for quite a while before that. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/13 "2003-01-19T19:14:12Z")
I loved the Encyclopedia Brown books as a kid! Has anyone seen _About Schmidt_ yet? There’s a cute little E.B. reference in it… ---
**Author:** ![LWL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@LWL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LWL)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/14 "2003-01-20T01:12:30Z")
Anybody remember a similar series by the same author (Donald J. Sobol) called **Two Minute Mysteries**? It was essentially a more “grown-up” version of Encyclopedia Brown. Many of the cases were murders, a crime I don’t recall ever happening in the EB books. Also, as befitting the series’ title, each case was only two pages long, with the solution printed upside-down on the second page. The series was a fun read (although if I remember correctly, many of the cases were similar to Encyclopedia Brown cases), with its own set of quirky characters that the hero kept running into. I could have also sworn that I’ve seen at least one other mystery series not by Donald J. Sobol that followed a similar format (mystery with solution in back of book). Does anybody remember any other EB-like series? ---
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/15 "2003-01-20T01:38:48Z")
Isaac Asimov put out at least one book called The Union Club Mysteries, which was in the same format as Two Minute Mysteries, with the answers at the back of the book. Out of about 37 mysteries, I was able to solve 1. ---
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/16 "2003-01-20T01:43:07Z")
Encyclopedia Brown was an addiction when I was in grades 3 - 5. I LOVED those books. I would have been an avid reader regardless, but those books were paperback crack for me. Scholastic Book Club always got my parents hard-earned dough when there was an EB book in the offing. ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/17 "2003-01-20T01:43:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LWL \* > \*\*Does anybody remember any other EB-like series? \*\* In elementary school, I plowed through the entire series of mystery books, which I can’t remember the title of, but was something along the lines of “Alfred Hitchcock presents…” It followed a group of teenagers who lived in a town (I believe called Titusville), who solved mysteries from their headquarters in one of the kid detective’s uncle’s junkyard. They were bright yellow hardcover books, but not as short as EB mysteries. Each case was much longer, IIRC. These were what I moved on to after I’d outgrown Encyclopedia Brown. Anybody know what the title of the series was? ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/18 "2003-01-20T01:44:59Z")
And if you like the Union Club Mysteries, you’ll also like Asimov’s Black Widowers stories – sort of like Encyclopedia Brown for well-educated grown-ups. Asimov completed five Black Widowers anthologies of a dozen stories each before he died, and there may well have been a few more published elsewhere. I should mention that Ellery Queen also did several short-short collections, which of course will be out of print. I must start an Encyclopedia Brown collection one of these days – I adored them when I was a kid! ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/19 "2003-01-20T01:47:19Z")
Forgot to mention – Mr. S was a fan of “Brains Benton,” a predecessor to EB whose stories were full-length books rather than short stories. Does that ring a bell with anyone? ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588/20 "2003-01-20T01:51:33Z")
Okay, I just searched Amazon and found the series was titled “The Three Investigators”; they were edited by Hitchcock, beginning in the mid-1960s (though I wasn’t reading them until the mid-1980s). The yellow hardbacks have been replaced by paperbacks now, apparently. And there were at least a dozen in the series. From Amazon: > [@](#): > > Originally published in hardcover beginning in 1964, these classicmystery/adventure stories feature three boys–Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews–who establish a detective firm with the motto “We Investigate Anything!” . Highly recommended for the young’uns, at least from what I remember! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-encylopedia-brown/149588.md?page=2)