Potter: I'm, uh, Mannix.

Joe Mannix is the title character in the TV show of the same name. Originally a private security firm operative, he goes solo in his second of seven season and has an extremely violent career taking on bad guys.

Tom Case: Bucket. Inspector Bucket.

Inspector Bucket is the first English fictional detective, created by Charles Dickens in his 1952-1953 novel Bleak House.

Eliot: Why'd you have to dress me up like Howdy Doody?

Howdy Doody is a freckle-faced boy marionette dressed as a cowboy who was the main star of the show named after him.

Sophie: Actually, Charlie Siringo was a real-life cowboy and a Pinkerton detective.

Siringo (1855-1982) was a lawman and undercover operative who worked for the Pinkerton Agency. He was instrumental in bringing down the Butch Cassidy's Train Robbers Syndicate, but was forced to write fictional tales of his exploits when the PInkerton Agency refused to give him permission to right about his own adventures on behalf of the company.

Alec: Why in the world would I pick Encyclopedia Brown as my character?

Encyclopedia Brown is the teenage hero of a series of short stories by Donald J. Sobol. In each, the boy detective solves a neighborhood mystery. Each one is solvable by the reader, and often is based on some misstatement by the guilty party that leads Encyclopedia (and the reader) to the proper solution.

Sophie: You're the Hardy Boys and Parker is Nancy Drew.

Frank and Joe are the Hardy Boys, teenage detectives who starred in a series of novels written by Leslie McFarlane under the pen name Franklin W. Dixon. Nancy Drew is another teenage detective created by Mildred Wirt Benson under the pen name Carolyn Keene.

Sophie: Irene Adler. Only woman smarter than Sherlock Holmes.

Irene Adler is the antagonist in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "A Scandal in Bohemia." She outwits Sherlock Holmes and is considered "the" one woman in his life, although it is a matter of respect rather than romance. Although Sophie doesn't mention it, Adler is a legitimate fictional detective, appearing in a series of novels by Carole Nelson Douglas.

Nate: Ellery Queen. World's greatest detective.

Ellery Queen is a mystery writer solves crimes, typically murders, either independently or to aid the NYPD and his father, Inspector Richard Queen. First published in 1928 by cousins Daniel Nathan and Manford Lepofsky (using the alias "Ellery Queen"), Ellery has starred in TV, movies, radio, and comic books. Unfortunately, most of the books are no longer available as of this writing.

Parker: This place reminds me of my first grab, some lady's house in the Philippines. It was like a palace, she had all these shoes.

Parker is implying that she broke into the home of Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Republic of the Philippines, and often remembered for her vast collection of shoes.