History Main / FairPlayWhodunnit

* ''{{Franchise/Danganronpa}}'' usually follows these rules, as the protagonist is deeply involved in the investigation, and you use evidence discovered during investigation in the trial, so if you're quick on the uptake, you can probably solve most cases before the protagonist does. Rule 5 is somewhat broken in ''2'' and ''V3'', each of which includes one "gaijin" character (Sonia, who's European, and Angie, who's implied to be Polynesian), [[spoiler:but neither ends up being a culprit]].

* As the narrator in ''Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone'' is a how-to-write-crime author, he not only adheres to Knox's commandments throughout the story (using them as the book's epigraph) but spelling out in the prologues exactly what the reader can expect through the book, including the page numbers[[note]]Chapter numbers, in the audiobook[[/note]] where someone dies.

* ''The Oxford Murders'' is very fair. All the rules are followed; but aside from that, not only the reader, but the protagonist himself, is almost constantly bombarded with subtle hints inviting him to understand them for what they are, and realize the truth.

* The InteractiveFiction piece ''Who Shot Gum E. Bear?'' takes place in a literally candy-coated CrapsacchireWorld, where you play as a hard-boiled FilmNoir-style detective trying to figure out who murdered someone. You are free to explore the town and ask questions. The solution is something you can deduce beforehand, taking into account what the characters say and what they're capable of doing.

* The second of three conflicts in ''Comicbook/TrialOfTheAmazons'' revolves around this, although [[ContinuityLockOut to have all the clues one would have to read]] the ''Comicbook/WonderGirlInfiniteFrontier'' series before the "Trial" event, and since [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil DC Comic's marketing arm saw fit to completely undermine the mystery]], one would also have to ignore the titles announced while it was ongoing to fully enjoy it, unless one enjoys {{internal reveals}}.

** ''Spirit of Justice'' more blatantly breaks Rule 2, since half of the game takes place in a country that revolves around the supernatural powers introduced in the previous games. In particular, Rayfa is able to use here channeling powers to show the court what the victim saw in their last moments as 'divination seances', and during case 3, [[InterrogatingTheDead the victim is channeled to testify about his own death]], [[spoiler:which he lies about since he killed himself in order to frame Maya]]. However, all such powers are well-explained for the audience (and Phoenix's) benefit, and their limits are plot points in trials. [[spoiler:The solution to the final puzzle in the game is to ask Queen Ga'ran to use her spirit channeling powers to channel the Holy Mother... which will prove that she ''can't'', and is thus ineligible for the throne by Khura'inese law.]]

* Most ''Series/{{Psych}}'' episodes are fair play, especially since clues are highlighted for the viewer as Shawn sees them, plus the viewer sees the opening flashback which always relates to the story at hand. The exceptions are usually cases where Shawn doesn't figure out who the bad guy is, either, like with Yang and Yin.

** The 2-part Season 6 closer/Season 7 opener "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" Even though the culprit did seem to come out of the blue, the clues were indeed all there, with the mystery even being drummed up as a contest to see who could figure it out. In fact, the culprit was actually properly identified by a fan of the show, legitimately using the clues presented, in the summer between the two episodes. Sadly, he didn't actually win anything. [[note]]The reason the fan didn't win was that the contest was so poorly designed. The way it worked was that of all the entries, the producers would choose a thousand, out of which they would pick whoever sent in the correct answer. Unfortunately, from the thousand that they picked, no one actually had the correct answer. You would assume that they would just start again with another thousand, but the rules specifically stated that the winner had to be out of the ''first'' thousand picked. So, they just chose someone randomly. Of course, this meant that any number of people could have sent in the correct culprit, just were unlucky to not wind up in the final thousand.[[/note]] The writers lampshade this by ending the first part with Dr. Hibbert turning to the viewer and saying "Well, I couldn't possibly solve this mystery...can YOU?" Then the camera pans back and we realize he's actually talking to Chief Wiggum.

* "The Oxford Murders" (no, NOT related to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oxford_Murders_%28novel%29 this one]]) has been termed (citation needed) "the most fair whodunnit of all" -- the author reveals the murderer on the first page in open light -- if you have eyes to see. If you HAVE to be spoilered: [[spoiler:The FIRST page. The poem. Which is not ancient at all, but faked. Which you COULD see simply by the fact that the vain author "signed" it with his name inserted as acrostichon. The victim, a wordplay fan, saw that immediately and was murdered by the author to hide the fake.]]
* For that matter, ''The Oxford Murders'' (the one that IS [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oxford_Murders_%28novel%29 this one]]) is also very fair. All the rules are followed; but aside from that, not only the reader, but the protagonist himself, is almost constantly bombarded with subtle hints inviting him to understand them for what they are, and realize the truth.

* {{Defied|Trope}} in ''LightNovel/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles''. One ''cannot'' use deductive reasoning to solve mysteries involving mages i.e. the "howdunnit", because how each one operates is based on their individual magical abilities, often to the point of suspending natural law itself in different ways. This is why Lord El-Melloi II focuses on figuring out the "whydunnit" of cases instead.

* Subverted in ''An Old-Fashioned Mystery'', by Runa Fairleigh, which is a ''Ten Little Indians''-style satire of old-school detective fiction deliberately written to break ''every single one'' of Knox's Ten Commandments. It ends by revealing the murderer as [[spoiler:the writer.]]

* ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' has the mystery episode "Remote Island Syndrome". The first part of the episode seems to be a regular [[BeachEpisode fun-filled day on a private island]]. That episode secretly contains almost all the clues you need to solve the mystery presented in the second half, although if you don't expect the mystery, you could easily miss them.

* ''Hyouka'':
** A plot point in the student film arc. Several potential endings to the student film are eliminated because the author of the script was known to have written it according to the rules of fair play.

* "A Study in Pink" on BBC's ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' was fair play for the "who" part if not the "how" and "why." The audience knows what all five victims had in common and they are also aware of at least some of Sherlock's thought processes ("Who do we trust, even though we don't know them? Who passes unnoticed wherever they go? Who hunts in the middle of a crowd?"). Viewers had enough information to figure it out before the climax.
* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances": Enough clues are presented for savvy viewers to solve the riddle before the Doctor does.

* The episode "The Amazing Maleeni" of ''Series/TheXFiles'' provides you with all clues needed to solve the mystery. There is at least one unexplained question, befitting the series, but it's not required to solve the mystery.

* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has two murder mystery side quests, and both of these whodunnits are easily of the fair variety:

** The other one, ''One Piercing Note'', was one of the first quests to feature real instrumentation and voice acting. It's a lot more story-heavy than ''Murder Mystery'' and it has a higher death toll. While the supernatural explanation can't be completely ruled out due to the setting, it's pretty obviously the least probable explanation for the murder mystery itself, and the murders are committed through mundane, if not normal, means.

** A slight example: In ''The Many Deaths of the Batman'', Batman seemingly falls off a roof and into a river while chasing a crook, and his body is fished out of Gotham River. Observant readers will note that the first chase sequence clearly has the ''Eiffel Tower'' in the background. Sure enough, Batman's alive and well, just a bit damp.

# [[ScaryMinoritySuspect No Chinaman must figure in the story.]][[note]]This was not a case of racism, despite the ValuesDissonance of the now-offensive but generally obsolete term "Chinaman". This was in fact an admonition ''against'' something considered both racist and clichéd even then: the YellowPeril villains, {{Magical Asian}}s, and {{Inscrutable Oriental}} characters prevalent in dodgy crime fiction at the time, most notably Literature/FuManchu. The modern American equivalent would be a ScaryBlackMan (though those showed up in Knox's time too) or a {{Middle Eastern terrorist|s}}. Regardless of the time period and the ethnicity involved, the point remained: the TokenMinority was automatically either the culprit, or played for the rest of the story as a RedHerring.[[/note]]

Done badly, this can lead to ConvictionByContradiction. Done correctly, and it turns into what Golden Age writer Creator/JohnDicksonCarr called "The Grandest Game in the World." It can also lead to the work having a fair amount of RewatchBonus; particularly if the viewer had missed the clues in the story the first time through.

* ''Manga/TheKindaichiCaseFiles'' shares enough information with the audience to allow you to solve the mystery before TheSummation. The translator involved go to a lot of effort to translate the relevant evidence to English.

** Sometimes you'll need to know various Japanese references, names, and pronunciations to solve the manga mysteries before TheSummation. Unfortunately for ''Detective Conan'', this doesn't translate to the anime, which feels free to [[CluelessMystery hide the evidence from you]]. (Although, especially early, Funimation made more of an attempt to translate culturally-specific info than Viz does with the manga.) The anime is sometimes good about playing fair, and other times shamelessly cheats. It depends on the writer, though the show seems to cheat more nowadays than they did in earlier seasons. Any story based on the manga will still be fair play, though, ''unless'' something crucial is [[CompressedAdaptation cut during the shift from manga to anime]]. The odd thing about ''Detective Conan'' [[MagicRealism is how it follows the second rule]]: The whole MythArc is based on [[FountainOfYouth the protagonists being de-aged by poison]], the devices he constantly uses are blatantly science fictional, and the show shares a setting with ''Manga/MagicKaito'' [[HowUnscientific where some of the events explicitly involve actual MAGIC.]] Yet none of the day-to-day cases involve factors that aren't possible in real-life.

* {{Defied|Trope}} in ''LightNovel/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles''. One ''cannot'' use deductive reasoning to solve mysteries involve mages i.e. the "howdunnit", because how each one operates is based on their individual magical abilities, often to the point of suspending natural law itself in different ways. This is why Lord El-Melloi II focuses on figuring out the "whydunnit" of cases instead.

* In Creator/GrantMorrison's first ComicBook/JusticeLeague arc, all the clues that Batman uses to work out the true identities of the Hyperclan are laid out throughout the comic for the reader. Several fire-based superheroes are mentioned as being absent due to sickness; at one point the Hyperclan all use the same EyeBeams attack despite seemingly having different powers; those powers include shapeshifting and mind control along with the usual strength, toughness, speed and flight; the Hyperclan don't risk investigating the wreckage of a burning Batplane; and even the issue titles are classic SF movies. In retrospect it's obvious that they're [[spoiler:Martians.]] There's even an early scene establishing that [[spoiler:the ComicBook/MartianManhunter is vulnerable to fire]], for any readers who didn't know the character already.
* Roger Stern's run on ''[[ComicBook/SpiderMan Amazing Spider-Man]]'' had several hints as to the Hobgoblin's identity, such as that he was wealthy, upper-class, and was someone who was cunning and ruthless. Although it was revealed that the Hobgoblin did have an identical twin who posed as him whenever he was dressed as the Hobgoblin, there was one tiny hint to this in a single panel. So if someone had found this tiny hint, they likely could have worked out the Hobgoblin's identity, although with various changing writers, the whole thing soon became a confusing mess, which was only really fixed when Stern himself returned to write the ''Hobgoblin Lives!'' miniseries, over ten years after the Hobgoblin's first appearance.
* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in the Franchise/{{Tintin}} story ''[[Recap/TintinTheCastafioreEmerald The Castafiore Emerald]]''. The eponymous emerald is stolen, and the book gives the reader various clues implicating several different suspects. In the end we find out the culprit is [[spoiler:a thieving magpie]]. There is a very minor clue pointing towards the identity of the thief, so technically it's possible to guess who it is, but all the major clues are there just to play with the reader's expectations of this being a FairPlayMystery.

** Set up, but not revealed to be a mystery until the end of issue #18. The crew of the ''Lost Light'' are holed up in a jail cell with an Autobot named Minimus Ambus, a small-time Energon trader who was accused of smuggling dangerous superfuels, only it's heavily implied that's not the whole truth. The psychologist Rung has his suspicions as to what's going on, and finally calls out Ambus in front of the crew. He points out that careful observation of Ambus' behavior throughout the book revealed, among other things, meticulous focus on order and procedure, an utter lack of mirth, and an immense distaste for filth and mess, as well as various quirks of speech tone and vocal pattern. It's possible to spot the same things Rung did, and come to the same conclusion. [[spoiler:Minimus Ambus is in fact ''Ultra Magnus'', stripped of his Ultra Magnus armor and identity, who had gone missing earlier on after being presumed fatally wounded.]]

* Scandinavian ''ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse'' and ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'' magazines frequently features Krimgåter (Crime Riddles), which are single-page mysteries that usually play this as straight as they can, usually either relying on minor background details that most readers would overlook, or on characters letting slip information that helps reveal them. For a rather good example, Mickey and the comissioner pursue a blonde, trenchcoat-wearing criminal into a mall, where he disappears. Keen-eyed readers will notice [[spoiler:that a man with black hair and the same color pants as the criminal is leaving the hair saloon, and that the hairdresser has black dye on his fingers and a trenchcoat lying under one of his chairs]].

** A Donald Duck story in particular has a field day with this: several multi-billionaires, including Scrooge, are gathered together, and all of them are victims of theft, particularly Scrooge having his number one dime taken. A famous detective is on the case, but on Scrooge request Donald tries to solve the case himself before him, trying and failing several times to figure out who did it. In the end, the detective reveals the culprit... a famous international thief, never mentioned or seen before in the story. When Scrooge chastizes Donald for his failure, [[LampshadeHanging he asks how he was supposed to know about the thief]]. However, the rules are then respected when Donald uses clues (or rather, the significant lack of one) that has been evident to the readers through the story to deduce that the number one dime was not, in fact, stolen along with everything else and Scrooge just pretended to be a victim out of convenience.

* ''WebAnimation/TurnaboutStorm'' has the protagonists and viewers share the same level of knowledge of the crime most of the time, which means the audience is given all clues necessary to uncover the truth as the case unravels. Before the final confrontation, all the information necessary to deduce the entirety of the events is given.

* The Japanese film ''The Laughing Policeman'' plays with this trope. Many clues are given from the outset, but many are so subtle at first that the detectives don't notice them at all until towards the end. It also subverts this by having someone [[spoiler:kill the BigBad]] offscreen just as the cops plan to arrest him. This is only to reveal the ''real'' mastermind, the titular Laughing Policeman [[spoiler:who never gets figured out]].

* There's a Literature/LordPeterWimsey mystery where a particular missing item from a painter's setup is an important clue that the painter had been murdered, rather than died accidentally, and the page revealing what it is before TheSummation, in a vaguely clever twist, is removed for "the entertainment of the reader". [[Creator/DorothyLSayers Sayers]] still plays fair, though. There are three or four other scenes between the missing page and the summation which, taken together, can be used to work out what the object was and what happened to it. In fact you can deduce what's missing in the same way that Lord Peter does, from the description of the scene alone, although a (very) basic knowledge of oil painting may be needed.
** A subversion is ''Have His Carcase'', where the solution requires on a very elaborate [[spoiler:(and accidental on the part of the murderer)]] trick involving the time of death. [[spoiler:The victim has a rare condition known as hemophilia, which prevents the blood from clotting, obscuring the ''real'' time of death.]] If the reader is knowledgeable enough in minor trivia, there are enough clues for a [[ViewersAreGeniuses genius]] to figure out what the trick is -- but it requires a very specialized knowledge base that most people simply do not have. For those without the prerequisite knowledge, Lord Peter's [[TheReveal revelation]] seems a bit like an AssPull or DeusExMachina, though the astute reader can generally figure out that ''something'' is hinky, because everyone's alibi is too solid, which is what tips Wimsey off that something is hinky. [[spoiler:One of the things that tips him off to the ''identity'' of the murderer is that that suspect also has a (manufactured) alibi for the ''real'' time of death, once he realizes what that is.]]

* All ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown'' mysteries are deliberately like this... but some of the "solutions" are [[ConvictionByCounterfactualClue less plausible than others]]. The mysteries also subvert the trope: Encyclopedia nearly always reveals the mystery's solution to the reader--but the challenge isn't (usually) to figure out the solution, it's more often [[SpotTheThread to figure out which clue tipped off Encyclopedia]]. The question in most mysteries is generally phrased as ''"How did Encyclopedia know?"'' However, sometimes the books are accidentally unfair, because the clue is a ConvictionByContradiction or (worse) ConvictionByCounterfactualClue.

* The Literature/LordDarcy mysteries are an interesting case, in that they violate Rule 2 (since some of the characters have magical powers) and still manage to play fair with the reader. However, since the universe the stories are set in [[MagicAIsMagicA has consistent magical rules]], Rule 2 could be said to be broken in letter but not in spirit. In some of the stories the whole point is that everyone assumes an impossible murder was done by magic, and Lord Darcy explains how it could have been committed in a perfectly mundane way. Magic is mostly used for forensics. Rule 1 is violated in at least one story, where a character whose point-of-view is followed later turns out to be the murderer.

** ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' does this more often than the others. Excluding the cases where you know who did it from the very beginning about a third of the shows have enough clues to solve it part way though, a couple can almost be deciphered based on the opening.

* ''Series/JonathanCreek'' was well liked among those who enjoy fair play mysteries, since even though the solutions to the various mysteries were always unusual and required lateral thinking, you always got to see everything the heroes saw that allowed them to solve the puzzle, and usually even had them highlight the significance of the clues.

* Japanese live action series ''Furuhata Ninzaburou'', in addition to being a ReverseWhodunnit, also provides additional clues to show the viewer how Furuhata ends up on the trail of the suspect. Like the Ellery Queen example, he would pause just before the final act to address the viewer and give them hints as to why he believes that the chief suspect did it, and what evidence there is to force a confession. The episode guest-starring baseball player Ichiro goes even further than usual, as [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Not-Really-Ichiro]] goes out of his way to ''leave'' a clue at the scene because he believes in fair play.

* The two mystery subquests in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' play completely fair, given that it's up to you to solve them. There are a LOT of [[RedHerring Red Herrings]] to make it look more difficult than it is--especially given the black and white morality of the rest of the game.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' counts. The player is given all the information, and the culprit is someone they know. In the endgame, the player is given a list of all the characters (s)he has met so far, and a set of clues which should narrow it down to one person. They must then select the culprit correctly within three guesses, or be foisted off with a bad ending. Unfortunately, there's 80 hours of dungeon crawling between those vital clues and the event when it becomes crucial to remember them.

* Referenced in ''VideoGame/NitroplusBlasterzHeroinesInfiniteDuel'' by Mora due to the fact that the Another Story broke several rules, with the main one being that [[spoiler:Mugen, the one who set up the whole recreation of an incident that happened before the events of ''VisualNovel/{{Demonbane}}'']] inserted themselves as a detective in the story. [[spoiler:Mugen]] dismisses the complain by saying that rules are made to be broken.

* The May 2018 event storyline in ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', "Murder at the KOGETSUKAN," featured a murder mystery with ten chapters named after each of Knox's commandments. After enough of the story was published to solve the crime, players were asked to submit their guesses of the killer's identity via an online poll prior to the final reveal. How much the story follows the rules are up to debate, with Holmes, Mash and Professor M discussing the fifth rule when one of the suspects (Wǔ) turns out to be a foreigner with borderline supernatural powers, ruling him out as being the killer from that alone.

** The fifth and ninth commandments are broken with your partner, Detective Kim Kitsuragi, who is a descendant of naturalized citizens from a FantasyCounterpartCulture. He plays a central role as a TheStraightMan to your DefectiveDetective, and breaks the ninth commandment by being a heroic and competent detective, though being a ByTheBookCop keeps him from certain insights and logical leaps that can propel the investigation forward.

* In the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' games, since you play as a lawyer whose job is to take clues found during investigation and use those to argue your point, most trials are these. The ones that aren't either give you ''more'' information than Phoenix gets, or involve the player using the first court segments to provide probable cause to investigate something or someone that wasn't part of the investigation previously, allowing them to get more clues for later court days. For example, the presence of case 1-3's murderer is only established at the end of the first court day when you're able to corner Wendy Oldbag into admitting that several people (including the murderer) were present close to the crime scene, a fact which she'd previously concealed at their request and which can't be discovered during the investigation phase.
** It gets ridiculous in the last case of ''[[VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth Ace Attorney Investigations]]''. Edgeworth figures out the culprit and BigBad easily, but cornering the bastard is [[MarathonBoss a marathon]] because the crime took place at an embassy and [[DiplomaticImpunity extraterritorrial rights]] make it incredibly difficult to prove Edgeworth is even within his jurisdiction to catch the BigBad.

** ''Spirit of Justice'' more blatantly breaks Rule 2, since half of the game takes place in a country that revolves around the supernatural powers introduced in the previous games. In particular, Rayfa is able to use here channeling powers to show the court what the victim saw in their last moments as 'divination seances', and during case 3, [[InterrogatingTheDead the victim is channeled to testify about his own death]], [[spoiler:which he lies about, since he killed himself in order to frame Maya]]. However, all such powers are well-explained for the audience (and Phoenix's) benefit, and their limits are plot points in trials. [[spoiler:The solution to the final puzzle in the game is to ask Queen Ga'ran to use her spirit channeling powers to channel the Holy Mother... which will prove that she ''can't'', and is thus ineligible for the throne by Khura'inese law.]]

*** Though by the end of the visual novel [[spoiler:a full answer is never explicitly given, the viewer can still check if their theories are correct by matching it with Willard's answers during Episode 7, where he uses flowery and symbolic language to provide answers to the Who and How of the first four Episodes. Episode 5 and the events in the real world go largely unanswered however, though the latter is arguably never presented as a solvable mystery.]] The [[AdaptationExpansion manga]] [[spoiler:is less coy about the answers, visually depicting the Who, How and Why of every Episode in details in Episode 7 and 8.]]
*** This entire trope is [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] during the Question Arcs. The Anti-Mystery perspective, championed by Beatrice, is that fair-play mystery is inherently unrealistic. Only a fictional detective has a guarantee from [[WordOfGod god]] that the mystery is solvable and all the necessary clues to reach it are attainable. In the real world, there is no such thing. Perhaps testimonies and confessions are simply [[UnreliableNarrator false]]. Perhaps the culprit was meticulous enough to not leave evidence anyway. Perhaps the necessary evidence is never recovered by the detective. To expect a solvable mystery is inherently illogical, as no such guarantee exists for any living breathing detective. [[spoiler:The Answer Arcs [[DeconReconSwitch reconstruct]] all this by saying that because the reader is never really given this guarantee, they must be able to have faith in the writer and tackle the puzzle anyway, because without this baseless belief the mystery cannot be solved. Only with the trust that this question was crafted to be answered can they begin to find that answer. [[ArcWords Without love, the truth cannot be seen]].]]

** Sigma himself is called out on this by Luna, who uses Rule 6 to discount his argument, when he used information from another timeline. [[spoiler:Sigma uses this example as to why he didn't do anything wrong: The two timelines, timeline A and B, both stream from timeline P. Since timeline A and B both run of the same "time", one that came from timeline P, and since he himself can timeline jump, him taking information from timeline A and using it in timeline B isn't breaking any rules. He also goes on to say that if he had taken info from timeline A then gone back to timeline P and used the info to change the branches, then she would have a point. But as he never actually used information he couldn't otherwise know to change the OUTCOME of the timelines, which is the fundamental reason why Rule 6 exists, he's not doing anything wrong.]]

** Rule 8 is broken by [[spoiler:Sigma revealing information that he shouldn't yet know, confusing other characters and having the timelines you go down have moments of Sigma sporadically pulling information from timelines the player most likely hasn't gone down yet. However, Sigma never once knows more than the player. In fact, in many occasions, it's the OTHER WAY AROUND. The game also makes you play down a timeline that Sigma has pulled information from first, before you can see the moment in the other timeline where Sigma states the info he pulled [this is achieved by using "path blocks" that cuts the scene whenever Sigma is about to say something the player shouldn't yet know].]]

* ''{{Franchise/Danganronpa}}'' usually follows these rules, as the protagonist is deeply involved in the investigation, and you use evidence discovered during investigation in the trial, so if you're quick on the uptake, you can probably solve most cases before the protagonist does. Rule 5 is somewhat broken in ''2'' and ''V3'', each of which each include one "gaijin" character (Sonia, who's European, and Angie, who's implied to be Polynesian), [[spoiler:but neither ends up being a culprit]].

* {{Lampshaded}} in the theme song to ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo'', which was, at least in the beginning of its run, quite a bit more fair than the CluelessMystery-type escapades of the previous series. A lot of later episodes became more fair when it came to mysteries, though some would return to the CluelessMystery route (but they would usually at least try to lampshade it).

** The 2-part Season 6 closer/Season 7 opener "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" Even though the culprit did seem to come out of the blue, the clues were indeed all there, with the mystery even being drummed up as a contest to see who could figure it out. In fact, the culprit was actually properly identified by a fan of the show, legitimately using the clues presented, in the summer between the two episodes. Sadly, he didn't actually win anything. [[note]]The reason the fan didn't win was because the contest was so poorly designed. The way it worked was that of all the entries, the producers would choose a thousand, out of which they would pick whoever sent in the correct answer. Unfortunately, from the thousand that they picked, no one actually had the correct answer. You would assume that they would just start again with another thousand, but the rules specifically stated that the winner had to be out of the ''first'' thousand picked. So, they just chose someone randomly. Of course, this meant that any number of people could have sent in the correct culprit, just were unlucky to not wind up in the final thousand.[[/note]] The writers lampshade this by ending the first part with Dr. Hibbert turning to the viewer and saying "Well, I couldn't possibly solve this mystery...can YOU?" Then the camera pans back and we realize he's actually talking to Chief Wiggum.

** In ''Literature/HerculePoirotsChristmas'', Poirot asks the butler what the date was three days ago; the butler walks over to a wall calendar and reads off 'the 22nd'; and the reader is led to conclude that there is something important about the date. However, during TheSummation, Poirot says that the whole point was to find out if the butler had ''bad eyesight''. She also plays fast and loose with the [[spoiler:"no doubles or hitherto unknown twins"]] rules, by dropping [[spoiler:''two'' hitherto unknown illegitimate sons of the victim]] into the plot although [[spoiler:the possibility of their existence was explicitly stated by their father himself]]). The novel is also the subject of controversy as to whether having [[spoiler:a member of the police investigative team that Poirot helps]] being the killer is a violation of the commandments.

The opposite of a CluelessMystery; the puzzle of the story is entirely solvable before TheReveal or TheSummation, if you've spotted the clues, and not just by [[NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognize various methods]] as a reader/viewer. The trick, of course, is having it solvable by the reader/viewer, but still difficult enough that they don't all figure it out long before the actual reveal. To avoid the reader/viewer feeling guilt about enjoying the investigation of a murder, and to avoid disturbingly intense emotion among the characters, the victim is often someone who the reader and the in-universe characters [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole don't particularly mourn]].

Though increasingly rare in modern mystery literature and non-print media, in the "Golden Age" of mystery, novels were almost entirely of this type, though even then some were better about the "fair" part than others. This trend is kept alive largely through its incorporation in "Dinner Theater", where a short mystery play is acted out while the patrons eat, and the audience is invited to solve it before the answer is played out.

* In '' ComicBook/MyLittlePonyMicroSeries '' Issue #1 all the clues that Twilight picked up on revealing Jade's identity are shown to the reader prior to her explanation - though not explained at that time they are shown. A big clue is a smudged cutie mark. However, some of the clues required ''a priori'' knowledge of Jade Singer - like her glasses and love of swing music - which are only brought up in connection to her when Twilight explains them.

** Set up, but not revealed to be a mystery until the end of issue #18. The crew of the ''Lost Light'' are holed up in a jail cell with an Autobot named Minimus Ambus, a small-time Energon trader who was accused of smuggling dangerous superfuels, only it's heavily implied that's not the whole truth. The psychologist Rung has his suspicions as to what's going on, and finally calls out Ambus in front of the crew. He points out that careful observation of Ambus' behavior throughout the book revealed, among other things, meticulous focus on order and procedure, an utter lack of mirth, and an immense distaste for filth and mess, as well as various quirks of speech tone and vocal pattern. It's possible to spot the same things Rung did, and come to the same conclusion. [[spoiler: Minimus Ambus is in fact ''Ultra Magnus'', stripped of his Ultra Magnus armor and identity, who had gone missing earlier on after being presumed fatally wounded.]]

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

* Played with in ''Film/DeepRed''; an early scene actually shows the face of the murderer, but it's done so quickly - and before you know to look for it - that most people never catch on.
* The Japanese film ''The Laughing Policeman'' plays with this trope. Many clues are given from the outset, but many are so subtle at first that the detectives don't notice them at all until towards the end. It also subverts this by having someone [[spoiler: kill the BigBad]] offscreen just as the cops plan to arrest him. This is only to reveal the ''real'' mastermind, the titular Laughing Policeman [[spoiler: who never gets figured out]].

* ''Film/KnivesOut'' is a deliberate revival of the genre that is, in fact, scrupulously fair. The only clue not ''immediately'' revealed to the audience is [[spoiler: the toxicology report that indicates that Harlan had no morphine in his system]], which is still revealed a few minutes later during TheSummation and can be intuited by factors like [[spoiler: Harlan showing no symptoms of a morphine overdose despite him and Marta thinking he's dying rapidly of one, or the fact that it exculpating Marta was the only reason the culprit could have to attempt to destroy it.]]
** On the other hand, [[Film/GlassOnion the sequel]] violates [[spoiler: rule ten by introducing a twin of one of the main suspects without foreshadowing it, and revealing that the twin and the detective were working together the whole time and withholding evidence from the audience]] about halfway through. From that point on, it's rather fair, though it takes incorporating information from before and after the spoilered reveal to solve it.

** ''Literature/TheMurderOfRogerAckroyd'' was intensely controversial at the time (which helped cement Christie's fame) but is now generally recognised as extremely fair. The way Poirot ultimately solves the crime is by reading what Dr. Sheppard wrote down which is ''exactly what the reader is reading''. Which means that an acute reader could actually pick up most of the important clues before Poirot does. The controversy occurs because the novel does violate two of Knox's Commandments ([[spoiler:the First and the Ninth; the Watson-figure of the novel is also the murderer, and he does not write down every thought he had in the journal - he does not actively lie to the reader, but fails to describe what he was doing at the time of the murder in a way that is blatant on a second reading but is easily passed over on the first]]). This does not keep it from being fair, serving as reminder that rigid adherence to Knox's rules is not what makes a good Fair-play Whodunnit.

** A subversion is ''Have His Carcase'', where the solution requires on a very elaborate [[spoiler:(and accidental on the part of the murderer)]] trick involving the time of death. [[spoiler:The victim has a rare condition known as hemophilia, which prevents the blood from clotting, obscuring the ''real'' time of death.]] If the reader is knowledgeable enough in minor trivia, there are enough clues for a [[ViewersAreGeniuses genius]] to figure out what the trick is - but it requires a very specialized knowledge base that most people simply do not have. For those without the prerequisite knowledge, Lord Peter's [[TheReveal revelation]] seems a bit like an AssPull or DeusExMachina, though the astute reader can generally figure out that ''something'' is hinky, because everyone's alibi is too solid, which is what tips Wimsey off that something is hinky. [[spoiler:One of the things that tips him off to the ''identity'' of the murderer is that that suspect also has a (manufactured) alibi for the ''real'' time of death, once he realizes what that is.]]

** On the other hand, if you're ''not'' an acute reader, you might miss the fact that there were any murders other than the one in Raguel's story, namely that [[spoiler: the narrator murdered his female friend and her daughter before encountering Raguel]]. This is not helped by the fact that even the murderer doesn't remember what he did [[spoiler: as Raguel obliterates the memory of it from his mind]]. The comic book adaptation by P. Craig Russell makes it slightly more obvious.

* The Literature/LordDarcy mysteries are an interesting case, in that they violate Rule #2 (since some of the characters have magical powers) and still manage to play fair with the reader. However, since the universe the stories are set in [[MagicAIsMagicA has consistent magical rules]], Rule #2 could be said to be broken in letter but not in spirit. In some of the stories the whole point is that everyone assumes an impossible murder was done by magic, and Lord Darcy explains how it could have been committed in a perfectly mundane way. Magic is mostly used for forensics. Rule #1 is violated in at least one story, where a character whose point-of-view is followed later turns out to be the murderer.
* The ''Literature/HarryPotter'' books are like this; the mystery plot is deliberately littered with {{Red Herring}}s to lead Harry (and the reader, by extension) down the wrong path at first, but an acute reader can pick up on the actual clues and determine the true culprit before Harry does. For example, ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' drops several easily-missable clues about who is the opener of Chamber of Secrets, the most notable being [[spoiler:Ginny crying out about having to go back and get her diary long before it becomes a major plot point - although while we learn that the diary is alive and can communicate with people, we don't actually learn that it can possess people until the denouement.]]

* "The Oxford Murders" (no, NOT related to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oxford_Murders_%28novel%29 this one]]) has been termed (citation needed) "the most fair whodunnit of all" - the author reveals the murderer on the first page in open light - if you have eyes to see. If you HAVE to be spoilered: [[spoiler: The FIRST page. The poem. Which is not ancient at all, but faked. Which you COULD see simply by the fact that the vain author "signed" it with his name inserted as acrostichon. The victim, a wordplay fan, saw that immediately and was murdered by the author to hide the fake.]]

* The ultimate early fair whodunnit might be the German novel "Aljechin's Gambit" by Gerhard Josten, about the still mysterious death of World Chess Champion Aljechin. You probably automatically assume that Aljechin's Gambit refers to a chess opening invented by him. [[spoiler: But (somewhat astonishingly) there is no chess opening with this name. No, it's [[FakingTheDead ''Aljechin's'']] Gambit! The ''title'' already gives it away if you have eyes to look!]]

* The [[Literature/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids ''Copper-Colored Cupids'' series]]' low-stakes mystery story ''[[https://thecrewofthecoppercoloredcupids.wordpress.com/2019/05/23/acquaintanceship-982-and-the-missing-mail-mystery/ Acquaintanceship-982 and the Missing Mail Mystery]]'' doles out all the clues necessary to figure out who stole the mail-bag, why, and even ''where'' is it (when the characters visit [[spoiler: Philatel's office]] very early on, they take note of a "cushion" in a corner that seems somewhat plain compared to the rest of the furniture — later revealed to actually be the mailbag draped in a blanket).

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' actually had quite a few, given that the killers usually revealed themselves by [[INeverSaidItWasPoison saying something only the killer would know or assume]]. Another favored trick of the series was to have a clue pop up early in the episode, such as before the crime itself, but the information that links the clue to the crime be introduced later - rewarding viewers with a sharp memory.

* Applies to multiple episodes of ''Series/VeronicaMars''. In terms of the major arc mysteries, all would theoretically qualify, but the first three rely on last-minute clues that ensure that (while astute viewers might have speculatively guessed the culprits) the viewer can only be ''certain'' who the murderer/rapist is at the same time that Veronica herself is. The fourth arc is the only one where the viewer might beat Veronica to the punch, as the incriminating evidence is scattered quite early and [[spoiler: there's a false resolution halfway through the episode that Veronica falls for. Her EurekaMoment comes not from a new piece of evidence, but from hearing the real killer laying out the 'facts' of how the murders played out; she realises what some viewers will already have picked up on, that the first resolution was a frame job and that only one person could have done that.]]

** There is one vital clue that helps considerably: [[spoiler: The killer left the player a threatening note in their own house while they weren't there, and they didn't break in. The killer must be someone that Dojima and Nanako trust.]]

* One quest in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' plays with this. A precious painting is stolen in Castle Chorrol, and the Countess hires the player to track down the thief; a list of four suspects, all members of the castle's staff, is given. While you can solve the crime just by exploring the estate and finding evidence, astute players can crack the case just by talking to the suspects: [[spoiler: three of the four's alibis mention a big rainstorm on the night of the theft, while the court wizard, the culprit, claims she was making star charts in the courtyard, which wouldn't be possible because of the storm.]] If anything, deducing the mystery that way would point players in the right direction re: hunting for clues, but since it's not necessary, it's perfectly possible to simply ransack everyone's quarters until you find the items you need.

** ''Justice for All'' plays with breaking Rule 2 in its second case, which revolves around a murder that occurred during a spirit channeling session. It's entirely ''plausible'', given what's already been established about spirit channeling, that the spirit Maya channeled did it, since the client, Dr. Turner Grey, was involved in ruining Mimi Miney's life before she died in a car crash, and prosecutor Franziska von Karma bases her case around this happening. Phoenix argues that while spirit channeling is a thing, it wasn't happening during ''this particular murder''. Which, of course, turns out to be the truth. [[spoiler: The killer, a not-really-dead Mimi Miney, knocked Maya out and impersonated her to fake a channeling gone wrong with the help of Maya's evil aunt.]]
** The final case of ''Trials and Tribulations'' does break rule 2, but spirit channeling has been a non-mystery plot point for three games by that point and the player can be expected to be familiar with its rules and limitations. It also plays hard and fast with rule 10 - while the player is told upfront that [[spoiler:Iris and Dahlia]] look alike, and can easily figure out that they're twins, [[spoiler:the latter character turns out to be dead, so a TwinSwitch should have been impossible. It's only by combining these two bits of information that the player can arrive at [[DemonicPossession the solution]]]].
** ''Spirit of Justice'' more blatantly breaks rule 2, since half of the game takes place in a country that revolves around the supernatural powers introduced in the previous games. In particular, Rayfa is able to use here channeling powers to show the court what the victim saw in their last moments as 'divination seances', and during case 3, [[InterrogatingTheDead the victim is channeled to testify about his own death]], [[spoiler: which he lies about, since he killed himself in order to frame Maya]]. However, all such powers are well-explained for the audience (and Phoenix's) benefit, and their limits are plot points in trials. [[spoiler: The solution to the final puzzle in the game is to ask Queen Ga'ran to use her spirit channeling powers to channel the Holy Mother... which will prove that she ''can't'', and is thus ineligible for the throne by Khura'inese law.]]

** Rule 8 is broken by [[spoiler: Sigma revealing information that he shouldn't yet know, confusing other characters and having the timelines you go down have moments of Sigma sporadically pulling information from timelines the player most likely hasn't gone down yet. However, Sigma never once knows more than the player. In fact, in many occasions, it's the OTHER WAY AROUND. The game also makes you play down a timeline that Sigma has pulled information from first, before you can see the moment in the other timeline where Sigma states the info he pulled [this is achieved by using "path blocks" that cuts the scene whenever Sigma is about to say something the player shouldn't yet know].]]

* ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'', the sequel game to ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'', also plays with the rules, especially Rule 1: Zero II is [[spoiler:Q - but the name Q isn't referring to the little robot boy, but the elderly, allegedly disabled man who's been sitting just out of frame the entire game]]. This character's existence is foreshadowed, and really perceptive players can pick up on it, but the game doesn't introduce this character to the audience, making it incredibly difficult to guess who Zero is.
* ''{{Franchise/Danganronpa}}'' usually follows these rules, as the protagonist is deeply involved in the investigation, and you use evidence discovered during investigation in the trial, so if you're quick on the uptake, you can probably solve most cases before the protagonist does. Rule #5 is somewhat broken in ''2'' and ''V3'', each of which each include one "gaijin" character (Sonia, who's European, and Angie, who's implied to be Polynesian), [[spoiler:but neither ends up being a culprit]].
** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' generally follows the decalogue, though it toes Rule 6 as Makoto's good luck is the reason he attended Hope's Peak in the first place, and it occasionally tosses him a bone. [[spoiler: And of course, it ''completely'' breaks Rule 10; the "Junko Enoshima" who got killed early on was actually the unmentioned twin sister of the ''real'' Junko; while the notion that there ''was'' an extra student was introduced early, it was never hinted that the extra was Junko's twin. Junko even complains about how cliche the secret twin trope is when she's explaining what happened.]]
** ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' gleefully breaks Rule #6 to bits with Nagito Komaeda, whose [[BornLucky Ultimate Good Luck]] means that 'wander around and hope to stumble over evidence' is a completely legitimate strategy. Protagonist Hajime Hinata doesn't get these lucky breaks. [[spoiler: Rule 2 is also broken in Case 5, where Nagito's supernatural luck is outright incorporated into his plan to have TheMole unintentionally kill him while leaving it impossible for the survivors to determine who the actual culprit could be.]]
** In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'', the first case brutally breaks [[spoiler:rules 1 and 7. PlayerCharacter Kaede did it, and you switch to controlling the {{Deuteragonist}} Shuichi up to that point once you figure it out. You even get to recount several scenes linking apparently innocuous things Kaede did that link her to the crime.]] The sixth case [[spoiler:is a retrial of the first, in which Shuichi proves that Kaede ''didn't'' do it, retroactively passing the rules after all, though the use of a secret passage from the girls' bathroom to the library toes the edge of Rule 3.]]

*** "Beneath the sea beside the flame" - [[spoiler:Cinnabar Island, a volcano island and the area associated with the Missingno glitch.]]

* In ''Website/{{TED}}'''s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4MpBV4F3qs Human Cannonball]] riddle video, the narrator challenges you to solve both the main riddle (compensating for your cannon's sabotage), and figure out who sabotaged the cannon. The narrator introduces the three suspects- the Clown, the Lion Tamer, and the Ringmaster- beforehand and gives potential motives for each (the clown is in love with the trapezist partnered with the protagonist for the act, the Lion Tamer is jealous of your position as the star attraction, and the Ringmaster wants more money and publicity), but says nothing about which one it actually was; you have to use logic and clues hidden throughout the video to figure it out.
** For the record, [[spoiler: the culprit is the Lion Tamer. One of his shoulder tassels was torn off and can be found in the canon, and he looks noticeably angry when the Human Cannonball manages to survive by solving the riddle. The Ringmaster didn't do it because killing his star attractions isn't worth getting [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity shock value]]. The Clown didn't do it because he isn't going to risk his love's life to sabotage his rival, and he can be seen waiting with gifts for the Trapezist, who would've been severely injured if the Human Cannonball hadn't been able to do his part properly. He ''did'' know about the sabotage, but tried to stop it, as indicated by the splash of the yellow liquid in his squirting flower next to the Lion Tamer.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', one of the main mysteries of the first season is the identity of the person who cursed Eda. It is possible to eliminate and narrow down the suspects and figure out who it is. The main clue is that [[spoiler: she was cursed when she was a child, so it has to be an adult character who knew her as a child.]]
* Done in the ''WesternAnimation/WonderPets'' episode "Save the Puppy" - as the team meets the puppy who has a PottyEmergency, the doggy door can be seen in the backyard door long before they even realize it.

** In ''Literature/HerculePoirotsChristmas'', Poirot asks the butler what the date was three days ago; the butler walks over to a wall calendar and reads off 'the 22nd'; and the reader is led to conclude that there is something important about the date. However, during TheSummation, Poirot says that the whole point was to find out if the butler had ''bad eyesight''. She also plays fast and loose with the [[spoiler:"no doubles or hitherto unknown twins"]] rules, by dropping [[spoiler:''two'' hitherto unknown illegitimate sons of the victim]] into the plot although [[spoiler:the possibility of their existence was explicitly stated by their father himself]]).
** ''Hercule Poirot's Christmas'' is also the subject of controversy as to whether having [[spoiler:a member of the police investigative team that Poirot helps]] being the killer is a violation of the commandments.

** ''Literature/TheMurderOfRogerAckroyd'' was intensely controversial at the time (which helped cement Christie's fame) but is now generally recognised as extremely fair. The way Poirot ultimately solves the crime is by reading what Dr. Sheppard wrote down which is ''exactly what the reader is reading''. Which means that an acute reader could actually pick up most of the important clues before Poirot does. The controversy occurs because the novel does violate two of Knox's Commandments ([[spoiler: the First and the Ninth; the Watson-figure of the novel is also the murderer, and he does not write down every thought he had in the journal - he does not actively lie to the reader, but fails to describe what he was doing at the time of the murder in a way that is blatant on a second reading but is easily passed over on the first]]). This does not keep it from being fair, serving as reminder that rigid adherence to Knox's rules is not what makes a good Fair-play Whodunnit.

* ''{{Franchise/Danganronpa}}'' usually follows these rules, as the protagonist is deeply involved in the investigation, and you use evidence discovered during investigation in the trial, so if you're quick on the uptake, you can probably solve most cases before the protagonist does. Rule #5, of course, is an exception; the game is Japanese and set in Japan, so most characters are of course Japanese themselves. ''2'' and ''v3'' each include one "gaijin" character (Sonia, who's European, and Angie, who's implied to be Polynesian), and they're as much suspects as anyone else. [[spoiler: Though neither ends up being a culprit]].

In 1928, the writer Father Ronald Knox created a "Ten Commandments" of plot devices (''Knox's Decalogue'') that more or less codified the rules of the Fair-play whodunnit:

** Sometimes you'll need to know various Japanese references, names, and pronunciations to solve the manga mysteries before TheSummation.
** Unfortunately for ''Detective Conan'', this doesn't translate to the anime, which feels free to [[CluelessMystery hide the evidence from you]]. (Although, especially early, Funimation made more of an attempt to translate cultural-specific info than Viz does with the manga.)
** The anime is sometimes good about playing fair, and other times shamelessly cheats. It depends on the writer, though the show seems to cheat more nowadays than they did in earlier seasons. Any story based on the manga will still be fair play, though, ''unless'' something crucial is [[CompressedAdaptation cut during the shift from manga to anime]].
** The odd things about ''Detective Conan'' [[MagicRealism is how it follows the second rule]]: The whole MythArc is based on [[FountainOfYouth the protagonists being de-aged by poison]], the devices he constantly uses are blatantly science fictional, and the show shares a setting with ''Manga/MagicKaito'' [[HowUnscientific where some of the events explicitly involve actual MAGIC.]] Yet none of the day-to-day cases involve factors that aren't possible in real-life.