Bugs Meaney, Sally (what was her last name?), God! I used to love these books. I ought to start rebuying them just for the heck of it. They were always fun. Encyclopedia Brown should be a hero for nitpickers the world over. After all, that's how he solved crime, by spotting nits in Bugs Meaney's alibis.
Hey, good point. If the Internet had been in existence then, Encyclopedia would probably have spent a lot of time at NitCentral. Either that or a Bill Gates-esque juvenile computer tycoon.
At any rate, he sure was a hero of mine. I mean, here was a smart kid with a head stuffed full of trivia...and nobody called him 'nerd'! In fact, kids and adults alike gave him the utmost respect for his ability. For a twelve-year-old who did get called a nerd on a regular basis, this was a revelation.
Donald Sobol also tried his hand at a few non-Encyclopedia kids' stories, notably one about a bunch of teenage boys playing spy - whose title is frustratingly forgotten. All I can remember is a bad guy who was trying to combine gulls with Irish setters, "but alas, he produced only gutters..."
Just to satisfy Benn's incomplete memory...Encyclopedia's partner was Sally Kimball.
Thanks Desmond. It's been 20 years or more since I've read any of those books.
I just finished reading a hilarious parody Encyclopedia Brown. You can find it at http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/people/Phd/Noel.Rappin/GravityWeb/encyclopediabrownboydetect.html
Incidentally, Encyclopedia Brown's first name was Leroy. Hard to believe he only charged, what? a quarter a case?
IIRC, the fee thing was a minor running gag. On the Brown Detective Agency sign, it was "25 cents per day plus expenses", meant to evoke Professional Grownup Detectives. But given that Encyclopedia's cases inevitably last all of, what? an hour? and he and Sally provide their own bikes, he never quite made it to that fifty-cent plateau. (Philip Marlowe probably coulda related.)
Meanwhile...Yep, Leroy Brown. I have always wondered if this is where Jim Croce got his inspiration. 
Of course, something else I have always wondered is just how common a name 'Leroy' is among your average white American suburban population. Maybe it was a 70's thing.
As I recall, there was also a tv series based on these books....
My favorite, first recalled series!
Encyclopedia Brown's Running Gags
The first story in a book always featured Leroy aiding his father, the ever-pressing but terminally clueless Chief of Police.
The second story features Leroy stopping Bugs Meaney and his Tigers, which had a fairly consistent membership which eludes me at this time.
The third story features Leroy and Sally being framed by Bugs Meaney and his Tigers.
Another story would always have Wilbur, this big kid that tried to con really really really dumb kids into buying useless stuff.