History Main / DetectivePatsy

* ''WhoCensoredRogerRabbit'': [[spoiler: Roger hire Eddie Valiant to investigate his boss - so that Roger would have someone to frame when he killed his boss. In the final chapter Eddie admits that the plan ''would have worked'' were it not for two complications that Roger had no way of seeing coming.]]

* In the movie ''Film/AceVentura: When Nature Calls'', Ace is hired by an Englishman trying to harvest bat guano for fertilizer, who has to start a genocidal war between local African tribes to get it. Ace was hired as a means of establishing for the public that he had done everything he could to ''prevent'' the war. When Ace unexpectedly figures out who is behind the scheme to wipe out the innocent tribe, the Englishman decides to change his plans and set Ace up as a patsy for the whole thing.
* The 1987 thriller ''NoWayOut'' subverts this: Commander Tom Farrell, the man that Defense Secretary David Brice and his aide Scott Pritchard hire to investigate a murder that they are [[WitchHunt attempting to blame]] on a [[RedHerringMole Soviet mole]] ''is'' the [[HiredToHuntYourself person they are trying to frame]] and knows that Brice is the one actually guilty of the murder.

* Happens to young and unexperienced Bert Kling in Literature/EightySeventhPrecinct novel ''The Muggler''.

* In the movie ''Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls'', Ace is hired by an Englishman trying to harvest bat guano for fertilizer, who has to start a genocidal war between local African tribes to get it. Ace was hired as a means of establishing for the public that he had done everything he could to ''prevent'' the war. When Ace unexpectedly figures out who is behind the scheme to wipe out the innocent tribe, the Englishman decides to change his plans and set Ace up as a patsy for the whole thing.

* Taken to the extreme in SinCity where Eva Lord hires private eye Dwight [=McCarthy=] to get evidence on her supposedly abusive husband who may be plotting to kill her. [[spoiler: It ends up being a setup; she manipulates Dwight into killing her husband himself.]]

* ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'' had a ''lawyer'' patsy : [[spoiler: in case 2 of ''Apollo Justice'', the title character is hired by the guilty party to help the innocent defendant, because the flyers for Apollo's practice made him seem likely to be incompetent]].

** To be fair, in this case [[spoiler: Superman was under [[StarfishAlien Starro's]] MindControl]].

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''DarkJustice'': a not-so-bright gigolo and his girlfriend hire a female detective to solve the murder of the rich woman he was living off. The detective easily proves it was these two who did the deed, and asks why she was hired. The gigolo says he thought no-one would suspect him if he did.

The perp hires a detective to solve the crime, in order to throw suspicion off himself. Typically, the detective in question is a DefectiveDetective, to minimize the odds of him actually working it out.

* Amateur AdventureGame example: the AGS adventure game [[spoiler:Murder in a Wheel]] features a freelance detective who [[spoiler:has to solve the murder of a pet hamster only to find himself in this situation.]]

* ''ScoobyDoo'' featured this something like every second episode, and so did the movie.

* In DetectiveConan, a case that had both Conan and Heiji working together in Osaka had [[spoiler: the detective who was helping them and Kogoro to catch a serial killer... as the killer himself. The victims were the people who caused the death of his father, 25 years ago; he specifically [[ThePlan became a policeman to find them, make them spit the truth out, and then kill them in a way that would both baffle the whole Osaka police corps ''and'' let him blame someone else for it]].]]

This is an archetypal trope, as even SherlockHolmes was abused like this.

* UrExample is probably the Sherlock Holmes story ''The Adventure of the Retired Colourman''. A quote from the end of the story:
--> "You certainly seem to have met every difficulty," said the inspector. "Of course, he was bound to call us in, but why he should have gone to you I can't understand."
--> "Pure swank!" Holmes answered. "He felt so clever and so sure of himself that he imagined no one could touch him. He could say to any suspicious neighbour, 'Look at the steps I have taken. I have consulted not only the police but even Sherlock Holmes.'"

* NeroWolfe once required a client to sign a statement promising to pay in full, even if he turned out to be the guilty one. It turned out to be a good precaution.

* Happens to Jake Gittes at the start of ''{{Chinatown}}''.

* In ''{{Sledge Hammer}}'': the episode "Play It Again, Sledge" has a women hire Sledge as private investigator, to make him an eyewitness of her "self-defence" murder.
* ColdCase had an interesting variation: A professor was accused, but never proven guilty, of the murder of one of his female students. Because of this he was discredited and fired by the university. He went to the team to have them reopen the case, only for them to figure out ''was'' him all along, and this time they gathered enough evidence to arrest and convict him. [[WhatAnIdiot Oops.]]

* The novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit'' had Roger hire Eddie Valiant to investigate his boss - so that Roger would have someone to frame when he killed his boss. In the final chapter Eddie admits that the plan ''would have worked'' were it not for two complications that Roger had no way of seeing coming.

-->--''Series/{{Monk}}''

* ''{{Monk}}'' had this once: [[spoiler: a woman who killed her husband hired a man to impersonate him and pretend he was a leper, guessing rightly that the germophobic Monk wouldn't want to come too close.]]

* Film example: [[spoiler: ''{{Film/Vertigo}}'']]
* Another classic: [[spoiler: ''Film/TheMalteseFalcon'']]

* [[spoiler: ''TheBigLebowski''. PlayedWith in that while The Dude discovers the titular Big Lebowski's EvilPlan, there is effectively nothing he can do about it.]]

* Randall Banticoff does this to Luke Cage in ''Luke Cage Noir'', hiring Cage to investigate his wife's murder while arranging for him to take the rap for the crime - and die before a trial could potentially expose it as a frame job.

* In ''{{Sledge Hammer}}'': the episode "Play It Again, Sledge" has a women hire Sledge as private investigator, to make him an eyewitness of her "selfe-defence" murder.

* In [[spoiler: ''[[AudioPlay/StrikersSoundStageX]]'']] of the ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' franchise, [[spoiler:Teana]] found herself in this role, as she eventually found out that the perp who was behind the killings of the case she was investigating was [[spoiler:Runessa, her assistant who had been part of the case since day one and who regarded the [[HoistByHisOwnPetard already dead]] [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic fanatic Toredia]] as a mentor and father figure]].

* In [[spoiler: ''[[AllThereInTheManual StrikerS Sound Stage X]]'']] of ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', [[spoiler:Teana]] found herself in this role, as she eventually found out that the perp who was behind the killings of the case she was investigating was [[spoiler:Runessa, her assistant who had been part of the case since day one and who regarded the [[HoistByHisOwnPetard already dead]] [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic fanatic Toredia]] as a mentor and father figure]].

* In ''VideoGame/JackOrlando'', it looks like [[spoiler:the Inspector]] is doing Orlando a favour in letting him try to [[ClearMyName prove his own innocence]], but since [[spoiler:the Inspector is actually in on the crime]], he isn't intending Orlando to get anywhere. Part way through the game, Orlando gets in trouble again and is told to wait for the Inspector - if he does, [[spoiler:the Inspector decides that he's making too much progress and locks him up, resulting in a NonstandardGameOver]].