History Main / AlwaysMurder

* OlderThanRadio: The majority of Literature/SherlockHolmes' cases are murders.
** {{Justified}} to some extent in that Holmes takes cases based on how much they interest him, and by a quirk of personal taste the sort of cases that interest him have a high probability of turning into murder on such occasions that they aren't murder to begin with.

* {{Averted}} in ''Film/MysteryTeam''; their case is the first murder they've ever solved. {{Justified}} in that they're "kid" detectives in the vein of Literature/EncyclopediaBrown or TheHardyBoys.

* {{Subverted}} in an episode of ''Series/{{Quincy}}'': The corpse of the man who had apparently been beaten to death in an alley really died of natural causes: he'd had a medical condition which caused convulsions, and he'd beaten himself to death.

* {{Averted}} in ''Film/MysteryTeam''; their case is the first murder they've ever solved. {{Justified}} in that they're "kid" detectives in the vein of EncyclopediaBrown or TheHardyBoys.

** The one case Phoenix took that wasn't a murder [[spoiler:turned out to be a cover for a murder across town]]. Maya {{lampshade|Hanging}}s it:

** In an interesting example, case 2 of ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' starts off with three seemingly unrelated cases (a hit-and-run, a noodle stand theft and a panty theft) before they all come together in--you guessed it--a murder.

** Interestingly, the case that ends up causing [[spoiler:Phoenix to lose his attorney's badge]] was actually suicide.

** Alice is straight out shown to [[spoiler:commit suicide in some paths, while in others she's found dead and the characters assume she was murdered. This in itself is subverted in dialogue, by several people who point out they can't assume she was murdered. In one of the paths, you have to use info from another path where you saw her commit suicide to prove to someone that there's no "murderer". In other paths, she is found without a knife in her stomach, which is different to the weapon she used in other timelines to commit suicide, thus throwing more subvertion into the works.]]
** Luna [[spoiler:never died, due to her being a robot. But you don't learnt his until never the end of one of the paths, with the the other paths treating it like she was murdered. Even the person who "gave her the killing blow" though she killed her.]]
** Akane is probably the most confusing on. Depending on what path you're talking about [[spoiler:she's either murder, or she's not. In the case where she's not murdered, she was SUPPOSED to have been murdered. Or at least, that's what it seems like. But it turns out that, due to "future choices affect the past", she actually was STOPPED from being murdered in the past, due to a certain series of choices leading to her death being erased.]]

* In ''Series/{{Psych}}'', there were a few times when a death was made to look like it was due to an accident or [[ThisBearWasFramed an animal attack]], [[GenreSavvy though Shawn insisted they were murders]], and was always proven right.

** The whole series is a huge lampshading of this trope, seeing as how this is pointed out since the first game. If you present Mia's autopsy report to Gumshoe, Phoenix says how unusual it is for a newbie lawyer to take on two murders in a row.
** Then in ''Rise from the Ashes'', Gumshoe once again lampshades it by pondering why they seem to be no other crime reports apart from murder in this district.
** Indeed, the one case Phoenix took that wasn't a murder [[spoiler:turned out to be a cover for a murder across town]]. Maya {{lampshade|Hanging}}s it:

** In ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'', the third case [[spoiler:starts out as a kidnapping, until someone ends up dead. He turns out to be a kidnapper. Sort of.]]
*** The whole game is AlwaysMurder incarnate. The game takes place over a few days and Edgeworth solves ''four'' murder cases in that timeframe (including two murders in a single day, one of which happens in his own office, no less).

** Not ALL cases involve murders though. For example, 1-3 has a death of a man that seems like a homicide but was actually [[spoiler:manslaughter in self-defense]]. In fact in Rise from the Ashes, its played straight then it subverts itself then [[DoubleSubversion double subverts]] when the death of Neil Marshall is thought to be a murder by Darke but turns out to be [[spoiler: (accidental) manslaughter by Ema made to look like murder that then later turns out to be a set up the real murderer to make the original actual murder look like manslaughter.]] In other words it was a [[spoiler:murder made to look like manslaughter made to look like a murder]].

** Also subverted in ''VisualNovel/ProfessorLaytonVsPhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' in the first case: Espella is accused of several crimes, but not murder. Played straight in every subsequent case, though (as a secondary charge, with [[BurnTheWitch witchcraft]] being the primary concern).

** Hits BusmansHoliday levels in ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]'', where Phoenix travels to a far-off land on personal affairs only to find himself defending murder suspects once he's there (though this is in part due to the fact that the country he's visiting has eliminated the concept of defense attorneys in lieu of spirit communication so he's merely trying to prevent unjust verdicts).
*** The first part of case 5 in ''Spirit of Justice'' is a civil trial, where you play as Apollo Justice against [[HeroAntagonist Phoenix Wright]]. The trial in question is over who claims ownership of a relic that belonged to an archaeologist who apparently died in an accident. Of course, it turns out that he was actually murdered.
*** Also subverted in case [[spoiler:3]]. [[spoiler:The two deaths were caused in self-defense and a suicide, respectively]].

Applied, of course, for RuleOfDrama. What crime can possibly be more vile than taking a life [[TheDeadHaveNames of someone we care about]] ([[UniquenessValue the author will make sure of that]]), the highest asset [[ValuesDissonance in the modern (Western) society]]?

* ''Series/MurderSheWrote'', appropriately to its title, plays this painfully straight in every episode but one. Jessica Fletcher was an [[AmateurSleuth incidental bystander]] for twelve seasons and six TV-movies.

* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in ''Franchise/DanganRonpa]]''. The one making the rules for the DeadlyGame explicitly states that trials are to be held for murders and only murders. Even when a personal treasure of the mastermind is stolen he doesn't act or change the rules (though he does get mighty pissed).

** Subverted in ''VisualNovel/DaiGyakutenSaibanNaruhodouRyuunosukeNoBouken'' in [[spoiler: the second case where the incident was involuntary manslaughter thanks to a set of unfortunate coincidences and misunderstandings. The fourth case also subverts the trope by having the victim merely stabbed in the back but not dead, as well as revealing that it was just an accident.]]

*** The first part of case 5 in ''Spirit of Justice'' is a civil trial, where you play as Apollo Justice against [[HeroAntagonist Phoenix Wright]]. The trial in question is over who claims ownership of a relic. Of course, it ends up with someone being accused of murder, anyway.

* The Literature/NeroWolfe mystery novels always feature murder sooner or later, even the ones that don't start out as murder cases. [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis Narrator and aide Archie Goodwin]] in the books claims that there are many other cases (in one novel, Goodwin ends up on his own and gives a very brief summary of his solo career-it's successful). He only publishes the murder cases.

* ''Series/TheXFiles'' almost always had someone die before they rolled the opening credits, despite the fact that the FBI doesn't usually investigate plain old murder unless it's federal-such as when it occurs in connection to kidnappings across state lines and other things. However, they do consult on serial killings even when they occur within one state, which seems to be like how they get their jurisdiction for the show, called in for unexplained phenomena.

** ''Series/CSINewYork'', on the other hand, has had a few deaths ruled accidents and whatnot.

* ''Series/{{Heartbeat}}'' dealt with other kinds of serious crime too-including abortion in one episode (which was still illegal at the time the series was set).

* On the real-life show ''Series/UnsolvedMysteries,'' this happened quite frequently. A large number of the cases would be introduced by host Robert Stack announcing that a body was found and saying often verbatim, "The police say a suicide, but his family says murder." Though it was often split; sometimes it was obviously a suicide, and the show's producers were simply sympathizing with the family; in others, it was so obviously '''not''' a suicide-you wonder who the police thought they were fooling.

* '''Series/PushingDaisies'', by its very nature. The main character's crime-solving usefulness is mainly predicated on his ability to wake the dead, so other kinds of crime are not relevant. Although not all the deaths were murders.

* ''Series/{{Cold Case}}'' usually plays this trope straight. However, there were at least four deaths ruled as accident ([[spoiler:"Fly Away", "The Boy in the Box", "Yo, Adrian", and "Roller Girl"]]) and at least three others ruled as suicides or as a result of suicides ([[spoiler: "Daniella", "Best Friends", and "Two Weddings"]]), at least one ruled as self defense / justifiable homicide ([[spoiler: "Justice"]]). Heck, one case even had the presumed victim still be alive ([[spoiler:"Fireflies"]]).

* {{Averted}} in ''Series/HettyWainthroppInvestigates'' where, more realistically than ''MurderSheWrote'', the [[LittleOldLadyInvestigates little-old-lady PI]] generally doesn't investigate murders. Sometimes her cases tie into a murder. It is not a murder she's investigating, however, but something related - e.g., {{blackmail}}.

** Hits BusmansHoliday levels in ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice SpiritOfJustice]]'', where Phoenix travels to a far-off land on personal affairs only to find himself defending murder suspects once he's there (though this is in part due to the fact that the country he's visiting has eliminated the concept of defense attorneys in lieu of spirit communication so he's merely trying to prevent unjust verdicts).

** Hits BusmansHoliday levels in ''[[VisualNovel/GyakutenSaiban6 Ace Attorney 6]]'', where Phoenix travels to a far-off land on personal affairs only to find himself defending murder suspects once he's there (though this is in part due to the fact that the country he's visiting has eliminated the concept of defense attorneys in lieu of spirit communication so he's merely trying to prevent unjust verdicts).

** In ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', it's Always RapeAsDrama instead, but often there's a murder too. In fact, there are so many murders on SVU, it's the only show in the franchise to have the Medical Examiner PromotedToOpeningTitles. This is achieved by making the obligatory crime a rape-homicide, have it first be a rape and then tack on a homicide later, have the perp be a rapist who then "graduates" to murder, or just have the murder victim be a kid (Special Victims deals with the child homicides, regardless of whether or not molestation is involved).

*** An aversion happened on the case of a movie star that turned to be autoerotic asphyxiation ([[RippedFromTheHeadlines not long after]] Creator/DavidCarradine died), all for the sake of AnAesop about against First World Problems.

* Happily subverted in ''VideoGame/LANoire''.

** Hits BusmansHoliday levels in ''[[VisualNovel/GyakutenSaiban6 Ace Attorney 6]]'', where Phoenix travels to a far-off land on personal affairs only to find himself defending murder suspects once he's there (though this is in part due to the fact that the country he's visiting has eliminated the concept of defense attorneys so he's merely trying to prevent unjust verdicts).