Ripley's Bureau of Investigation is a series of children's fiction books published by Ripley Publishing in the United States and distributed by Random House in the United Kingdom and Icewater Press in Australia. [1] [2] [3] It consists of eight published books. Two later books in the series, Danger Underground and Haunted Hotel, remained unpublished until they recently appeared exclusively on the children's reading app, Pickatale. [4] The series was intended to have twelve books in total, but it discontinued, likely due to low sales.
The series follows seven extraordinary pupils at the fictional 'Ripley High', based on "Ripley's Believe it or Not!" founder Robert Ripley's real-life mansion on a private island in Long Island Sound on the East Coast of the United States. In the books Robert Ripley is represented by a supercomputer. [5] The chosen pupils, each with unique powers and skills, form the Ripley's Bureau of Investigation, tasked with investigating unusual stories and facts around the world. [6]
The "Department of Unbelievable Lies" are mysterious villains in the RBI stories who work against the RBI agents. [7]
Agent | Age | Nationality | Powers |
---|---|---|---|
Alek Filipov | 15 | Russian | Gymnast, incredibly strong and flexible. [8] |
Kobe Shakur | 15 | Kenyan | Physical endurance and tracking skills, as well as telepathic abilities. [8] |
Kate Jones | 14 | English | Photographic memory and can learn languages in minutes. [8] |
Max Johnson | 14 | American | Technology genius, creates robots and hacks computers. [8] |
Li Yong | 15 | Chinese | Musical genius, expert hearing, can identify and imitate any sound. [8] |
Jack Stevens | 14 | Australian | Able to communicate with animals. [8] |
Zia Mendoza | 13 | Venezuelan | Ability to conduct high levels of electricity, may be able to influence the weather. [8] |
Other regular characters include the teachers Mr Cain and Dr Maxwell, who assist the RBI in their missions. [9]
Title | Subject | Agents Involved |
---|---|---|
Book 1 A Scaly Tale | Creature in the swamps of the Florida Everglades | Kobe, Jack, Zia [8] |
Book 2 The Dragon's Triangle | Reports of a dragon off the coast of Japan | Max, Alek, Zia [10] |
Book 3 Running Wild | Feral child in the mountains of China | Jack, Kate, Kobe [11] |
Book 4 Secrets of the Deep | Search for an underwater city in the Mediterranean [7] | Kate, Li, Alek |
Book 5 Wings of Fear | Unidentified flying object over London | Max, Jack, Li [12] |
Book 6 Sub-Zero Survival | Hunt for an artifact left by Robert Ripley in the ice of Antarctica | Alek, Kate, Max [13] |
Book 7 Shock Horror | Investigating mysterious blackouts and exploding trees in Canada | Zia, Li, Max |
Book 8 Lost Island | Tracking down a furry two-trunked elephant and an island filled with unbelievable animals on an island in East Africa | Jack, Li, Kobe |
Book 9 Danger Underground (unpublished, ebook) | Mysterious explosion at an isolated gas station in the Australian Outback | Zia, Alek, Jack, Kobe [4] |
Book 10 Haunted Hotel (unpublished, ebook) | Ghostly happenings at Castle Warden in Florida | Max, Kate, Li [4] |
Ed Greenwood is a Canadian fantasy writer and the original creator of the Forgotten Realms game world. He began writing articles about the Forgotten Realms for Dragon magazine beginning in 1979, and subsequently sold the rights to the setting to TSR, the creators of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, in 1986. He has written many Forgotten Realms novels, as well as numerous articles and D&D game supplement books.
James A. Owen is an American comic book illustrator, publisher and writer. He is known for his creator-owned comic book series Starchild and as the author of The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica novel series, that began with Here, There Be Dragons in 2006.
Elizabeth Dawson Baker is an American children's novelist who made her international debut in 2002 with The Frog Princess which was a Texas Lone Star Reading List Book, A Book Sense Children's Pick, a Florida's Sunshine State Readers List pick and a 2006 Sasquatch Book Award nominee. The Frog Princess has also inspired a series of eight additional books based on it. The Frog Princess inspired the 2009 Disney film The Princess and the Frog.
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine, with funding from Grosset & Dunlap and Curtis Publishing Company. It has since been purchased several times by companies including National General, Carl Lindner's American Financial and, most recently, Bertelsmann, which in 1986 purchased what had grown to become the Bantam Doubleday Dell publishing group. Bertelsmann purchased Random House in 1998, and in 1999 merged the Bantam and Dell imprints to become the Bantam Dell publishing imprint. In 2010, the Bantam Dell division was consolidated with Ballantine Books to form the Ballantine Bantam Dell group within Random House. By no later than February 2015, Bantam Books had re-emerged as a stand-alone imprint within Random House; as of 2023, it continues to publish as the Bantam imprint, again grouped in a renamed Ballantine division within Random House.
Rose Estes is the author of many fantasy and science fiction books, including full-length novels and multiple choice gamebooks.
Robert Whitaker is an American journalist and author, writing primarily about medicine, science, and history. He is the author of five books, three of which cover the history or practice of modern psychiatry. He has won numerous awards for science writing, and in 1998 he was part of a team writing for the Boston Globe that was shortlisted for the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for a series of articles questioning the ethics of psychiatric research in which unsuspecting patients were given drugs expected to heighten their psychosis. He is the founder and publisher of Mad in America, a webzine critical of the modern psychiatric establishment.
Laura Anne Gilman is an American fantasy author.
The Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game has been adapted into many related products, including magazines, films and video games.
Nathan David Wilson is an American author of young adult fiction.
Tui Tamara Sutherland is an American children's book author who has written more than 60 books under her own name and under several pen names. In 2009, she won $46,200 over three games on Jeopardy! She is best known for writing the Wings of Fire series of epic dragon fantasy novels. Sutherland's books have sold over 15 million copies.
Robin Wayne Bailey is an American writer of speculative fiction, both fantasy and science fiction. He is a founder of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame (1996) and a past president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
Mary Robinette Kowal is an American author and puppeteer. Originally a puppeteer by primary trade after receiving a bachelor's degree in art education, she became art director for science fiction magazines and by 2010 was also authoring her first full-length published novels. The majority of her work is characterized by science fiction themes, such as interplanetary travel; a common element present in many of her novels is historical or alternate history fantasy, such as in her Glamourist Histories and Lady Astronaut books.
This is a list of books by Mercedes Lackey, arranged by collection.
Kelli Stanley is an American author of mystery-thrillers. The majority of her published fiction is written in the genres of historical crime fiction and noir. Her best known work, the Miranda Corbie series, is set in San Francisco, her adoptive hometown.
Ripley Publishing is a publisher based in Orlando, Florida. The company was set up in 2008 by Ripley Entertainment, owner of the Ripley's Believe It or Not! brand of museums, cartoons, television shows and books. The company publishes the New York Times bestselling Ripley's Believe It or Not! Annual and a range of other Believe It or Not! titles.
Dungeons & Dragons is a series of comic books published by IDW Publishing, under the license from Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, based on the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. Since 2010, IDW Publishing has released two Dungeons & Dragons ongoing series, twelve Dungeons & Dragons limited series, three crossover series and an annual.
Yoon Ha Lee is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, known for his Machineries of Empire space opera novels and his short fiction. His first novel, Ninefox Gambit, received the 2017 Locus Award for Best First Novel.
Ying Chang Compestine is a Chinese American author, speaker, television host and chef. She has written over twenty-five books including Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party (novel), based on her life growing up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution., and a middle grade novel, Morning Sun in Wuhan, set in Wuhan, China.