History Main / FakeMystery

* The thirteenth ''VideoGame/NancyDrew'' game, ''Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon'', opens with Lori, a [[SpoiledBrat spoiled heiress]], inviting various crime-related celebrities--a police detective, a mystery novelist, a paranormal investigator, the Hardy Bots, and Nancy herself--to solve the mystery of what happened to Jake Hurley, the locomotive's original owner who vanished over a century ago. At the beginning of the trip, the train plunges into darkness, and Lori goes missing. The first half of the game is Nancy attempting to figure out what happened to her--as it turns out, she simply pretended to disappear to test the mettle of the various sleuths (and because she [[ItAmusedMe thought it would be funny]]), and Nancy is the first to figure out the truth. [[spoiler: This [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish attitude]] foreshadows the fact that Lori turns out to be the ''actual'' villain of the game.]]

* In one episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'', the title character is homebound with an injury and amuses himself by watching neighbors through his binoculars. [[RearWindowHomage He witnesses a crime]], and goes to elaborate lengths to persuade his pals on the police force to look into the matter. Eventually it's revealed that said pals on the police force set the whole thing up to give him something to do while he recovers.

* A recurring bit in the ''Comicbook/ElongatedMan'' stories in UsefulNotes/{{The Silver Age|Of Comic Books}} ''Comicbook/DetectiveComics'' was that, every year, Sue stages a mystery as a birthday present for Ralph, relying on the fact he never remembers his birthday so he'll think it's real. This continued in ''Comicbook/JusticeLeague Quarterly'' #6 in which she got the whole of Comicbook/JusticeLeagueInternational involved (and when he ''did'' remember it was his birthday, Flash managed to convince him he'd got the day wrong). The last reference to the tradition so far is, sadly, that Sue was preparing one during the events of ''Comicbook/IdentityCrisis'' #1.

Needless to say, the reveal of the prank often serves as the solution to the whodunnit stories, so most examples would be '''unmarked spoilers'''. Although this trope is almost always in play when a normally light-hearted SliceOfLife stories segue to a MysteryEpisode.

** One case story has Vera go to meet the League of Researcher for a secret talk, but things go awry when [[spoiler:one of the Researcher's development plans go missing during the talk, with Vera being suspected as the thief. Vera is determined to clear her name, and find the real thief. With Carlos and Lucas's help, they manage to find a clue left by the real thieves, which turns out to be a letter from Dr. Berry congratulating her for passing the test. It turns out that the missing development was the League's test for Vera to see whether or not she's worthy to join their group.]]

* ''Manga/RonKamonohashiDerangedDetective'': Ron and Toto visit the Blue Academy to investigate a case, and pretend to be teachers while they are there. After his first day of teaching, Toto is called by some of his students, who report that one of their friends is missing, only to find the girl dead in a locked room. Later, it is revealed that the whole thing is just a prank done by the students to mess with their new teacher.

Well, as it turns out, the so-called mystery is a [[AllJustAPrank hoax]]. There is no crime, and the "culprit" (who might have played the role of the case's victim) had staged the crime show to trick the "investigators".

Reasons for the prank vary. The investigators might be (aspiring) detectives, and the prankster thought that this will be a fun game for them to indulge in. Or it might be a test to see how good the investigator really is. Or maybe the culprit wants to do something in secret and needs to distract the detectives for whatever reason. Or they're just tricksters who want to get a good laugh witnessing the deceived scramble about to piece the clues together.

* ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'': During the Culture Festival arc, notes left by a so-called phantom thief start showing up around the school, with various cryptic clues proclaiming his intent to "steal the festival". The riddle-loving Fujiwara spends most of the festival trying to solve the mystery, but Kaguya ultimately figures out that the clues are completely meaningless. The whole thing was set up by Shirogane, solely to keep Fujiwara occupied so there's no chance of her usual SpannerInTheWorks antics during [[spoiler:his GrandRomanticGesture to Kaguya]].

* In ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'''s "Remote Island Syndrome" arc, the SOS Brigade stumbles into a murder case while staying at an island villa belonging to Itsuki's relative. By the end of the episode, it is revealed that the mystery had been staged by Itsuki and the supposed victim in order to entertain their guests, particularly Haruhi.

* ''Manga/SketDance'': In "The Last Day of the President", student council president Agata discovers that his little siter Saaya has been kidnapped, and her kidnappers force him to complete a series of riddles in exchange for her release. Once he solves all the puzzles, he realizes that the whole thing had been orchestrated by the rest of the student council, with Bossun and Saaya's help, in order leave one final "thank you" message before he steps down from the student council.

Occasionally, the hoax may be exploited by an actual bad guy to commit a real crime (or a real crime may happen regardless), which would inevitably lead to complications in the investigation due to the misleading clues.

Needless to say, the reveal of the prank often serves as the solution to the whodunnit stories, so most examples would be '''unmarked spoilers'''.

* ''Manga/DetectiveSchoolQ'': In the "Tragedy of Kirisaki Island" arc, a group of DDS students are brought to a secluded island as a final exam to make it into the top "Q" (qualified) class. The candidates are supposed to revisit a serial murder case that happened on the island 50 years ago, and the ones who demonstrate the best deductive skills in solving the old case will be admitted to the Q class.[[spoiler: However, things go wrong when an intruder snuck onto the island and murdered several students students to repeat that past tragedy. By the end of the case, the five main characters reveal that the murders had been staged by the school staff (the "murdered" students were those who had already failed to qualify for the Q class), and that this was the ''true'' qualifying test for the rest.]]

Reasons for the prank vary. The investigators might be (aspiring) detectives, and the prankster thought that this will be a fun game for them to indulge in. Or maybe the culprit wants to do something in secret and needs to distract the detectives for whatever reason. Or they're just tricksters who want to get a good laugh witnessing the deceived scramble about to piece the clues together.

* ''Manga/CaseClosed'': The ''Special'' SpinOff series has a story where [[ADayInTheLimelight Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi]] must solve a riddle to find some anaesthetic drugs that had been stolen from their dentist, and save Conan and Ai, who has gone missing--presumably captured by the thief--while they're investigating on their own. Once they finally solve the case, the dentist admits that there is no theft--he just made the case up to give the kids a puzzle to work on while he is called to treat a different patient (Kogoro). Conan and Ai had already figured out everything and went to hide elsewhere to not give away the mystery too early.

* ''Series/LeverageRedemption'': In "[[Recap/LeverageRedemptionS1E9TheBucketJob The Bucket Job]]", Team Leverage decides to stage a fake spy mission for a librarian with terminal cancer. Everything goes OffTheRails once a) a real assassin agency gets involved, and b) it turns out that [[spoiler:the librarian was a real spy all along]].

Well, as it turns out, the so-called mystery is a hoax. There is no crime, and the "culprit" (who might have played the role of the case's victim) had staged the crime show to trick the "investigators".

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'': The ''Special'' SpinOff series has a story where [[ADayInTheLimelight Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi]] must solve a riddle to find some anaesthetic drugs that had been stolen from their dentist, and save Conan and Ai, who has gone missing--presumably captured by the thief--while they're investigating on their own. Once they finally solve the case, the dentist admits that there is no theft--he just made the case up to give the kids a puzzle to work on while he is called to treat a different patient (Kogoro). Conan and Ai had already figured out everything and went to hide elsewhere to not give away the mystery too early.

* ''Manga/DetectiveSchoolQ'': In the "Tragedy of Kirisaki Island" arc, a group of DDS students are brought to a secluded island as a final exam to make it into the top "Q" (qualified) class. The candidates are supposed to revisit a serial murder case that happened on the island 50 years ago, and the ones who demonstrate the best deductive skills will be admitted to the Q class.[[spoiler: However, things go wrong when an intruder snuck onto the island and murdered several students students to repeat that past tragedy. By the end of the case, the five main characters reveal that the murders had been staged by the school staff (the "murdered" students were those who had already failed to qualify for the Q class), and that this was the ''true'' qualifying test for the rest.]]

* ''Manga/DetectiveSchoolQ'': In the "Tragedy of Kirisaki Island" arc, a group of DDS students are brought to a secluded island as a final exam to make it into the top "Q" (qualified) class. The candidates are supposed to solve a serial murder case that happened on the island 50 years ago, and the ones who demonstrate the best deductive skills will be admitted to the Q class.[[spoiler: However, things go wrong when an intruder snuck onto the island and murdered several students students to repeat that past tragedy. By the end of the case, the five main characters reveal that the murder has been staged by the school staff (the "murdered" students were those who had already failed to qualify for the Q class), and that this was the ''true'' qualifying test for the rest.]]

* ''Film/TheBigLebowski'': A rich man's wife is kidnapped and receives a ransom note demanding $1 Million in unmarked non-consecutive twenties, and the man hires a local deadbeat to confirm the identity of the kidnappers when the money is handed off, with the possible suspicion that she arranged the 'kidnapping' herself to steal the money from her husband. [[spoiler:The wife was never kidnapped to begin with; she simply left town to visit some friends of hers without telling her husband. Meanwhile the kidnappers, knowing she was out of town, sent the ransom note on their own to try and scam the $1 Million for themselves.]]