History Main / AlwaysMurder

** ''Gyakuten Kenji 2/Ace Attorney Investigations 2'' has a case where Edgeworth and a friend go to a location to discuss [[spoiler:a murder case that took place there 18 years prior. They wind up getting caught in a poison gas attack (that doesn't kill anyone) and then discover the body from the past case during the resulting investigation (it had been lost at the time)]]. This results in Edgeworth solving [[spoiler:both the poison gas case and the 18-year old murder case simultaneously (because everyone still alive from the past case is also at the site that day, including the person who really killed the victim)]].
** The case that ends up causing [[spoiler:Phoenix to lose his attorney's badge]] was [[spoiler:actually suicide]].
** 1-3 has a death of a man that seems like a homicide but was actually [[spoiler:manslaughter in self-defense]].
** In "Rise from the Ashes", it's [[spoiler:played straight then it subverts itself then [[DoubleSubversion double subverts]] itself]] 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]].
** [[spoiler:Subverted]] in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'' during the [[spoiler:DLC case involving defending an Orca and eventually her trainer. It turns out the victim wasn't murdered at all, his death was entirely accidental, and the "culprit" actually tried to ''save'' him. The culprit ''did'' attempt to kill the ''orca'', however, but then decided framing her for murder was just as good]].

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

*** Played with during the third case as [[spoiler:the "murder" Phoenix is investigating is actually a complicated suicide that was designed to shift blame away from his wife, who would have been tried and convicted of capital murder for a self-defense killing she committed against someone who was very likely going to kill her. The Pool of Souls prevents her from getting a fair trial as she would be instantly portrayed as guilty with no one willing to defend her, so her husband contrived his own suicide in a bid to throw suspicion off her and pin his and the actual victim's deaths on a family friend]].

* Generally averted in ''VideoGame/LANoire''. While cases tend to open with murder or attempted murder, several don't, such as when you deal with a rash of car thefts. In the cases that do have murders, the investigation [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot often winds up revealing bigger crimes]], such as pornography rings, drug trade, corporate espionage, and [[spoiler:a massive real-estate conspiracy]].

* This is discussed in an episode of ''Anime/LuckyStar'', the characters out loud wondering why detectives on TV always keep finding murders to investigate. Series lampshaded by this scene includes...
* Most cases the title character of ''Manga/CaseClosed'' has to solve feature one or more murders. You'd think people would worry about [[ThereAreNoTherapists how desensitized Conan and Ran]] must be.

->''"Murder isn't the only crime in the world, it just seems that way around ''us''."''

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

* ''ComicBook/SinCity'' stories always involve murders... usually a lot of `em.

If the main characters are specifically homicide detectives, this trope is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as long as the series sticks to the first variant. In any other case, however... there may not be honor among thieves, but they don't bump each other off ''that'' often.

-->''"[[FirstPersonSmartass Hmph...]] [[LampshadeHanging Surprise surprise...]]"''

* In ''Series/{{Monk}}'' it is {{justified}} in that Monk is both an ex-Homicide detective and private consultant the San Francisco Police Department call in for more...interesting cases.

*** Another good case of this is "Mr. Monk Goes to a Rock Concert." Monk and Natalie accompany Captain Stottlemeyer to a music festival to search for his son. Monk comes along because of [[AmbiguousSyntax a misinterpretation]] of the words "rock show," leaving him stuck in the middle of a WildTeenParty in the parking lot. While searching for a payphone, he accidentally walks into a port-a-potty. Natalie finds him when he comes out. Then, as Monk and Natalie are walking away, a roadie's body falls out of another port-a-potty right at their feet.

* 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 that you wonder who the police thought they were fooling.

** ''Highly'' downplayed in the episode [[spoiler: Blue Herrings]]. Given the show, you are primed to expect the deaths to be murders [[spoiler: despite the setting being a retirement home, somewhere where death of natural causes is not uncommon]]... but in the end, only ''one'' of the deaths in the episode was murder in a legal sense, and it was so heavily slanted as a MercyKill that it doesn't exactly feel like a murder.

* ''Manga/TheKindaichiCaseFiles'', which can have even more deaths per case than ''Manga/DetectiveConan''.

* Because ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' suffers from this rather--though there's a suicide or so, and plenty of non-murder episodes with the Shounen Tantei, like in Season One they deal with gold smuggling, a hostage situation, an assassination plot, and a case of mistaken identity--fanfic tends to decide he has a supernatural power to attract murder or be attracted to it, though the supposed methods vary. More common when the writer is engaged in an extensive crossover with [[PhantomThief Magic Kaitou]], which has actual supernatural elements much better attested, even if Kid never uses such things himself.

* Most cases the title character of ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' has to solve feature one or more murders. You'd think people would worry about [[ThereAreNoTherapists how desensitized Conan and Ran]] must be.

* ''Series/MurderSheWrote'', appropriately to its title, plays this painfully straight in all but five episodes (two were suicides made to look like murders, three were cases of self-defense). Jessica Fletcher was an [[AmateurSleuth incidental bystander]] for twelve seasons and six TV-movies.

* The online game ''Sleuth'' has you create and play a private detective. Apparently though, the only crime you ever investigate is murder. Every case is a murder, with nary a blackmailing or kidnapping or burglary or stakeout to catch a cheating spouse in sight.

* In an [[{{averted}} aversion]], the majority of Literature/SherlockHolmes' cases do not involve murders.

* In an [[{{averted}} aversion]], the majority of Literature/SherlockHolmes' do not involve murders.

*** Another particularly forced example is "Shadow", which features a generic double homicide. SVU is only called in because it looks like a ''might'' be a murder-suicide, which being "domestic violence" (the victims are a husband and wife) supposedly falls under SVU jurisdiction. Once it's clear the crime was double homicide SVU is kept on the case anyway, because "the Gillettes ''were'' Special Victims". This makes no sense because, even within the universe of the show, the NYPD has Major Case to handle crimes like this, especially once the prime suspect turns out to have been involved in a major fraud she was already under investigation for. The episode even introduced a SpecialGuest character (Det. Asok Ramsey from Special Frauds, played by Creator/NaveenAndrews) rather than feature a CrossOver with CI characters (who never crossed over onto any other ''Law & Order'' show while it was still running, though Kathryn Erbe did appear as Eames on SVU after it had been cancelled).

** [[spoiler: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 averts the trope by having the victim merely stabbed in the back but not dead, as well as revealing that it was just an accident.]]

** [[spoiler:Subverted]] in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'' during the [[spoiler:DLC case involving defending an Orca and eventually her trainer. It turns out the victim wasn't murdered at all, his death was entirely accidental, and the "culprit" actually tried to ''save'' him. The culprit ''did'' attempted to kill the ''orca'', however, but then decided framing her for murder was just as good]].

** [[spoiler:Subverted]] in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'' during the [[spoiler:DLC case involving defending an Orca and eventually her trainer. It turns out the victim ''wasn't'' murdered at all and the suspect actually tried to save him from falling to his death. It was all just a freak accident. Of course, there is still an attempted killing. Of the Orca that is]],

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

* {{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 Literature/TheHardyBoys.

Generally, the vast majority of episodes will be about a killing straight through, from beginning to end. It'll either be a straight up murder or perhaps a burglary gone wrong, but by the time our heroes are on the scene, there's a dead body and someone out there to answer for that. But that's not all. In the other episodes, when the show will start out investigate a missing person or a heist or something, someone will inevitably end up dead halfway through, killed by one of the perpetrators of the original crime (or the victim, or the detective, or the witness's twin brother's sister-in-law, etc.). It's a law of nature.

Note that this trope only requires a crime that is investigated ''as'' a murder shows up. In many cases it's NeverSuicide as well, but this trope still applies if what looks like a murder turns out to be [[SuicideNotMurder suicide]] or an [[SuicideNotAccident accident]].

** The fandom makes much of Conan's evident ability to attract violent death to his immediate surroundings. FanNickname {{Shinigami}}-kun. Meanwhile the first episode of the ''actual'' show purposely drew attention to the psychopathic level of glee seventeen-year-old Shinichi took in working out the method and motive for the messy instant beheading that happened on the roller-coaster behind him. Being a kid again and having to avoid the showing off that has been his whole life seems to render him slowly more human. Although his desensitization remains extreme.

* ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorneyCase5TurnaboutSubstitution'' provides an interesting example. You know full well before you start playing that someone ''will'' end up dead, since this is an Franchise/AceAttorney fangame. During the first day of the trial, you sucessfully prove that [[spoiler:[[HisNameReallyIsBarkeep Judge Chambers]] did not kill Robert Enlemeyer and that Enlemeyer is still alive.]] It looks like nobody's dead after all... until [[spoiler:Judge Chambers is killed by his own car near his brother's grave.]] The second day of the trial has you defending a (supposed) serial killer of [[spoiler:Chambers's]] death.

** Because Holmes isn't the police, he only gets cases after they've broken; they don't typically break in front of him in the style of latter detective novels. 'Copper Beeches' is notable for being such a mysterious mystery that ''not one part of it makes the slightest sense'' at the time it is presented to him, and it turns out to involve very bad parenting, star-crossed lovers, and dopplegangers.

* ''Literature/AgatonSax'': This series inverts the trope. Since it's a children's series, there are no murders, or even suspected cases of murder.

*** One of the most forced examples is "Parts", where they find a severed head in a junkyard and call the SVU because they think that it has traces of semen. At the end of the day, they find that the victim died in an accident, there was no sex-related crime and her body was dismembered by an organ trafficking ring. The episode turns then in a VerySpecialEpisode about people who need an organ transplant but can't pay for it.

* ''Series/{{CSI}}'': After 8 seasons and counting, this trope has only been {{averted}} a minuscule number of times, mostly in the early seasons; in the episode "Suckers," the ColdOpen shows us a dead body in a pool, but we soon find out that it's just a lifeguard training dummy used to distract hotel security from an antique theft (as usual for the series, the [[TwoLinesNoWaiting B Plot]] was a straight up murder). Another early season episode featured what appeared to be a murder victim found in a dumpster but after several false leads was revealed to be a complete accident.

** And they {{subverted}} it entirely in at least one episode of season 2, "Black Water." They find the body of a Navy officer who disappeared two years ago because of a car crash, and in the end it turns out [[spoiler:that it really was an accident, and the wreckage was tampered with to make it look like it had been a murder by a private investigator wanting to cash in on a reward for finding the officer's killer]].
* ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}'' managed to avoid this trope by rotating Joe Friday and his various partners through all divisions of the LAPD. As a result they proved it was possible to craft a compelling half-hour of television about a hunt for a shoplifter.
** ''Series/AdamTwelve'', a ''Dragnet'' spin off, also managed to avoid this trope in showing the average working day of two regular cops. Of course, when they didn't avoid it, as in the famous episode ''Requiem For A Pig'', it really hits home.

** A late season episode "The Lost in the Found" has a prep school student's remains being found in a park. While the initial signs point to a murder, it turns out [[spoiler: the girl actually committed suicide in a very complex way that would've made it look like her bullies had killed her, which would've led to their arrests.]]

* Usually {{averted}} on ''Series/BrooklynNineNine''. The detectives get a murder from time to time but most of the cases are crimes like robbery, missing persons or even purse snatching and vandalism. This is {{played with}} in one episode where the detective quickly decides that the death was caused by natural causes and then slacks off while he waits for a confirmation from the medical examiner. When it turns out that the man was poisoned, the detective is quite embarrassed. However, once cause of death is established, the case is easily solved since [[spoiler: all the evidence points to the wife and she immediately confesses when confronted]].
* 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]], though Shawn insisted they were murders, and was always proven right.
* In one arc of ''Forensic Heroes'', instead of the typical murder case that the Forensic unit handle they had to deal with a famous celebrity who had recently been assaulted and found unconscious and it all points to the entertainment industry looking to destroy her career. [[spoiler: It turns out she had reneged on an offer to help donate bone marrow to a girl, her mother was upset by that, and the ensuing chase found her unconscious. There was no murder but the celebrity had to finally face the fallout of her actions.]]

* Averted in ''Series/CriminalMinds'', as even though most of the BAU's cases involve serial killers, they've also dealt with kidnappings, rapists and non-fatal arsonists in their time.
* Lampshaded in an episode of ''Series/{{Forever}}'' where a character who has been given odds that Henry Morgan will rule a death to be murder says that it's a sucker bet, because Henry always says that it's murder. Nonetheless, it was subverted in at least two episodes: [[spoiler: in one episode a suicide unintentionally appeared to be a murder, and in another the partially dismembered 'victim' was not actually dead -- and had in fact masterminded the entire event.]]

** 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.

** In "Rise from the Ashes", it's [[spoiler:played straight then it subverts itself then [[DoubleSubversion double subverts]] itself]] 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]].
** [[spoiler:Subverted]] in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'' during the [[spoiler:DLC case involving defending an Orca and eventually her trainer. It turns out the victim ''wasn't'' murdered at all and the suspect actually tried to save him from falling to his death. It was all just freak accident. Of course, there is still an attempted killing. Of the Orca that is]],

* In the ''VideoGame/LauraBow'' games, various people commit various crimes which always end in murder.

** This is concerning mainly [[spoiler:Alice and Luna's "murders" but can also be applied to the murder of Akane]] and most of the twisty nature of this trope comes down the the way the plot is presented.

* Add ''Series/DeathInParadise'' to the list of of shows that doesn't even pretend and puts their Always Murder status right in the title. The victim dies in the ColdOpen, the detectives show up after the opening title music, and they investigate from there.
** There ''was'' one case where whether it was murder depends on the letter of the law. [[spoiler: The death was a suicide attempted to seem as if it was a robbery gone wrong (so the life insurance still applied), but was deliberately caused by another person -- the victim's doctor, who had lied that the victim had a terminal illness specifically so that he would commit suicide, even helping a bit with the 'make it seem as if it was a robbery gone wrong' part to encourage it further.]].

** ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' makes a point of taking place in the Major Case Squad at police headquarters rather than the precinct homicide squad of the original show, but the crime is still Always Murder. In reality, the Major Case Squad investigates kidnapping and theft, not homicide, but apparently that wasn't compelling enough for Dick Wolf.
** The precincts or the Chief of Detectives usually bring Major Case in on the case. It's true that Major Case generally investigates theft & kidnapping, but the Chief of Detectives may assign cases to any unit. Sometimes the murders are connected to crimes within the purview of MCS. And the MCS ''does'' normally handle cases involving the murder of an NYPD officer. There is no homicide in "Homo Homini Lupus" (unless you count [[spoiler: Eames shooting a perp]]) and in "Folie a Deux" [[spoiler: the police investigate an alleged kidnapping that only later turns out to be a homicide (by negligence)]], so it's not Always Murder (merely almost Always Murder).

** ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' makes a point of taking place in the Major Case Squad at police headquarters rather than the precinct homicide squad of the original show, but the crime is still AlwaysMurder. In reality, the Major Case Squad investigates kidnapping and theft, not homicide, but apparently that wasn't compelling enough for Dick Wolf.
** The precincts or the Chief of Detectives usually bring Major Case in on the case. It's true that Major Case generally investigates theft & kidnapping, but the Chief of Detectives may assign cases to any unit. Sometimes the murders are connected to crimes within the purview of MCS. And the MCS ''does'' normally handle cases involving the murder of an NYPD officer. There is no homicide in "Homo Homini Lupus" (unless you count [[spoiler: Eames shooting a perp]]) and in "Folie a Deux" [[spoiler: the police investigate an alleged kidnapping that only later turns out to be a homicide (by negligence)]], so it's not AlwaysMurder (merely almost AlwaysMurder).

* Add ''Series/DeathInParadise'' to the list of of shows that doesn't even pretend and puts their AlwaysMurder status right in the title. The victim dies in the ColdOpen, the detectives show up after the opening title music, and they investigate from there.

*** The whole game is AlwaysMurder incarnate. The game takes place over [[ExtremelyShortTimespan three 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).

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

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', a series where most deaths have supernatural causes, this is {{averted}} in "The Body" where [[spoiler:Buffy's mother]] dies from natural causes. Xander suspected Glory was behind it, but this was disregarded because if Glory was behind it she would have made sure they knew it.

* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] and [[InvokedTrope invoked]] in ''Franchise/DanganRonpa''. [[BigBad Monokuma]], the one making the rules for the DeadlyGame, explicitly states that trials are to be held for murders and only murders. Even when, in the [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc first game]], a personal treasure of the mastermind is stolen, he doesn't act or change the rules (though he does get mighty pissed). [[spoiler:It ''is'', however, [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in the fourth case, where it turns out that the victim killed themselves in direct defiance of the aforementioned DeadlyGame]].

* The Literature/NeroWolfe mystery novels always feature murder sooner or later, even the ones that don't start out as murder cases. [[DirectLineToTheAuthor 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. Subverted in at least one novel, however: [[spoiler: In ''Literature/TheLeagueOfFrightenedMen, only one of the three deaths turns out to be a murder (the other two are an accident and an actual suicide), and even the murder wasn't committed by the person everyone thinks did it.]]