History Main / StartToCorpse

* Murders in ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' often occur by the end of the first chapter of a case. For the anime it usually depends on how long the case will be: if it's only one episode, expect a corpse to show up in 7-8 minutes. If it's two episodes or longer, you can expect one to be popping up at the end of an act break.

* This would also be true with horror movies, depending on if we're following the main lead from the start or if we get a scene with some extras getting killed at the start. It's around 20 mins in for many horror movies.

* Given the folksy nature of ''Literature/TheCatWhoSeries'', a defining series in the CozyMystery genre, it's not surprising that many of the books in it have a fairly long start to corpse. Even in the first book of the series, which is the first of only a few out of approximately 25 placed in a marginally grittier setting than the rest, it's page 88 before word comes down of a murder, and the book is only 216 pages long.

* Creator/AgathaChristie wrote many novels which had a long StartToCorpse time. In response to occasionally being criticised for this, she had a character in ''Towards Zero'' deliver a lengthy speech on how a murder is the culmination of a murderer's plot rather than the instigating point, and thus should come as late in the book as possible. The title of ''Death Comes as the End'' also refers to this.

* Creator/AgathaChristie wrote many novels which had a long StartToCorpse time. In response to occasionally being criticised for this, she had a character in ''Towards Zero'' deliver a lengthy speech on how a murder is the culmination of a murderer's plot rather than the instigating point, and thus should come as late in the book as possible.

* Played with in ''{{LightNovel/Gosick}}''. The very first line, twelve seconds into episode 1, is a shaman's proclamation that [[TonightSomeoneDies a man is going to die]]. Thirty seconds later, we get a shot of several corpses. ''Rabbit'' corpses.

* In the ''Franchise/DanganRonpa'' games, the corpse tends to turn up midway through each chapter. The rest of the chapter is then dedicated to figuring out who did it in a class trial. The exception is the final chapter of each game, which instead focuses on exposing the mastermind behind the killing game.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* It varies on ''Literature/TheConditionsOfGreatDetectives'' in some episodes (such as the first) it begins with the police being called to the crime scene. In the hot springs episode it roughly ten-fifteen minutes as Fujii befriended the victim before her death and in another episode, there was a two-five minute scene where Tenkaichi witnessed the murder (the finale had the same time amount).

** ''The Cuckoo's Calling'' opens with the news stories on the death of Lula Landry, but it's believed to be a suicide. Cormoran Strike is hired to investigate it as murder [[spoiler:by the killer.]]
** ''The Silkworm'' opens with what is believed to be a missing persons investigation into the disappearance of the writer Owen Quine, but around the end of the first part of the novel, Strike discovers his brutally murdered body.
** Fairly on in ''Career of Evil'', Robin is sent a severed leg. The body is discovered later.
** In ''Lethal White'', Strike is visited early on by a man named Billy with mental issues who tells him that he witnessed a murder when he was a child. He is later approached by Jasper Chiswell to investigate a blackmail case and it isn't until a fair ways into the book that Chiswell is killed.

* In the ''Franchise/Danganronpa'' games, the corpse tends to turn up midway through each chapter. The rest of the chapter is then dedicated to figuring out who did it in a class trial. The exception is the final chapter of each game, which instead focuses on exposing the mastermind behind the killing game.

* Given the folksy nature of ''Literature/TheCatWhoSeries'', a defining series in the CozyMystery genre, it's not surprising that many of the books in it have a fairly long start to corpse. Even in the first part of the series, which is the first of three placed in a marginally grittier setting than the rest, it's page 88 before word comes down of a murder, and the book is only 216 pages long.

** ''[[Literature/HarryPotter Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets]]'' has its first petrified victim discovered at the end of Chapter 8 (of 18).
** ''[[Literature/HarryPotter Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire]]'' has the shortest StartToCorpse in the series - [[spoiler: POV character Frank Bryce]]] is dead at the end of the first chapter.

* The early drafts of [[Literature/HarryPotter Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone]] had the Potters dispatched quite cavalierly in the first chapter. Then J.K. Rowling's mother died. In the final version, the Potter's deaths are only mentioned, towards the end of chapter 1.
** [[Literature/HarryPotter Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets]] has its first petrified victim discovered at the end of Chapter 8 (of 18).
** [[Literature/HarryPotter Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire]] has the shortest StartToCorpse in the series - [[spoiler: POV character Frank Bryce]]] is dead at the end of the first chapter.

* The early drafts of HarryPotter And The Philosopher's Stone had the Potters dispatched quite cavalierly in the first chapter. Then J.K. Rowling's mother died. In the final version, the Potter's deaths are only mentioned, towards the end of chapter 1.
** HarryPotter And The Chamber Of Secrets has it's first pertified victim discovered at the end of Chapter 8 (of 18).
** HarryPotter And The Goblet Of Fire has the shortest StartToCorpse in the series - [spoiler POV character Frank Bryce] is dead at the end of the first chapter.

* The CharlieChan mystery [[spoiler:''The Black Camel'']] gave us one chapter in the POV of the murder victim [[DecoyProtagonist before she got quickly killed off.]]

* By the fifth page of ''[[http://www.winglesscomic.com/ Wingless]]'' the protagonist is [[http://www.winglesscomic.com/archives/261#comic_title already dead]].

* WebVideo/StuartAshen spoofed this with ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-RCHyWcfIU Quickest Game Overs ever?]]'', in which he showcases some of the games with the quickest Start-to-''Your''-Corpse time.
* So has [=GamesRadar=] in their "[[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmfSJFT9VMRvoLvYIc-pvpsaUU3TmMh8 How Fast Can You Die In...?]]" series.

* Varies on ''Series/MidsomerMurders'', from 30 seconds to around 15 minutes (in rare cases up to about 30 minutes).

A measurement of time which appears to have originated at Website/TelevisionWithoutPity of how long it takes from the start of the episode to the first body turning up. A show such as ''Series/{{CSI}}'' will have a very short Start to Corpse time, with something like ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' occasionally exceeding half an hour of a two-hour program. A similar concept is the Start-To-Cure time, made most famous by ''Series/{{House}}''; although the name is a little misleading, it's a measure of the time it takes from the start of an episode to the first specific treatment that would act as a cure if the unlucky patient indeed had the disease it was a cure to. In mystery novels, this is a page count.

[[folder:Film]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' averaged fifteen to twenty minutes from Start To Corpse because it took that long for the murderer to commit the murder. This applies to both one-and-a-half-hour and two-hour editions.

* The 1970s film version of ''MurderOnTheOrientExpress'' had a Start To Corpse time of less than five minutes because it started with some of the Armstrong tragedy. The TV-movies run closer to a half-hour.

* In a 2-hour episode of ''{{Foyles War}}'' the murder can be as late as 45 minutes into the episode.

* Varies on ''MidsomerMurders'', from 30 seconds to around 15 minutes (in rare cases up to about 30 minutes).

[[folder: Theatre]]

[[folder: Video Games]]
* The video game ''TheLastExpress'' has you encountering the corpse of your dead friend almost immediately after boarding the train. Even better, you are already wanted by the police and [[TheCorpseStopsHere you are the first person to find your friend's body]].
* Yahtzee Croshaw's adventure series ''The VideoGame/ChzoMythos'' developed a modest running gag out of this. While the first episode, 5 Days a Stranger, passed several days before the first body was discovered, subsequent installments reduced the delay ominously until [[spoiler: Trilby's Notes, which began with an exceedingly gruesome murder in the first scene.]]
** Amusingly, his novel, ''Literature/{{Mogworld}}'' has the protagonist die in the prologue.
* WebVideo/StuartAshen spoofed this with ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-RCHyWcfIU Quickest Game Overs ever?]]'', in which he showcases some of the games with the quickest Start-To-''Your''-Corpse time.
** So has [=GamesRadar=] in their "[[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmfSJFT9VMRvoLvYIc-pvpsaUU3TmMh8 How Fast Can You Die In...?]]" series.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', Saki Konishi's corpse is found on a TV antenna 2-3 hours into the start of the game, which is still before gameplay starts properly. Saki herself discovered the reporter Yamano's body in the same manner before that, but it is not shown.
* In most of the cases in the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series, the corpse shows up within the first few minutes of the case. Of course, as attorneys, the main characters of the games usually aren't pulled in until a body shows up and someone gets arrested for the murder.
** Special mention goes to the first case of the first game, in which the corpse is ''the very first thing the player sees''.
** The second case of the second game is a rare exception, where Phoenix actually interacts with the victim for a bit before he gets killed. Naturally, [[AssholeVictim he's a jerk]].