The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo

The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo is a live-action series that ran on Nickelodeon from 1996 to 1999. The series is about a girl named Shelby Woo, who lives with her grandfather Mike at his bed and breakfast. The first three seasons take place in Cocoa Beach, Florida. After Season 3, the show was retooled, with Shelby and Mike moving to Boston.

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The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo provides the following tropes:

• Absence of Evidence: In "Fool's Gold", the absence of footprints inside the dive shop helps prove that Mr. Pappas actually staged the robbery.
• Amateur Sleuth: The title character
• Black Best Friend: Cindy in the first three seasons
• Clear My Name: Detective Hineline in "The Hit and Run Case" and Shelby in "The Paul Revere Mystery"
• Cool Old Guy: Mike
• Conviction by Contradiction: Used frequently on the show
• Eureka Moment:Used frequently on the show as well, usually just before The Summation.
• Faking and Entering: Mr. Pappas does this in "Fool's Gold"
• Fiery Coverup: in "The Smoke Screen Case", Dr. Baxindine was burning down houses to hide the fact she was illegally harboring endangered animals inside the houses.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: What's Mr. Miyagi doing working at a bed and breakfast?
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Detective Hineline
• Mystery of the Week: The basic premise of the show.
• Race Lift / Ability Over Appearance: The series was originally going to be called "The Mystery Files of Shelby Wink" and about a Caucasian girl, but Nickelodeon didn't like the pilot they shot with a white actress. Since the casting was open, Irene Ng won the role, and they changed the character to Chinese.
• Reverse Mole: A few of the episodes, such as "Fool's Gold" and "The John Doe Mystery", featured characters who turned out to be this.
• Rule of Three: Each episode usually featured three suspects, one of whom was almost always the culprit.