History Main / TenLittleMurderVictims

* ''WebAnimation/BabushkaTheMovie'' is a FanAnimation of a well known round of ''VideoGame/AmongUs'', and like any ''Among Us'' game features Imposters trying to slaughter the crew of a spaceship without being caught or exposed.

* Web Reality show ''WebVideo/EscapeTheNight'' had this in its premise, especially in its first season. Surprisingly, it's a surreal version of F and K, as although the first episode tells the contestant's that it's the house/AncientEvil responsible, [[spoiler: In episode 2, they find a note stating "One among you is in league with the evil". Who is it among the main cast? None of them, but Arthur, Head of Staff and NPC Character. This leads to a lot of the early deaths being out of paranoia, due to the VotedOffTheIsland mechanic, such as Justine and [=GloZell.=]]]

* A: One person will seem to actively hinder the investigation. He'll [[TheRadioDiesFirst drop the radio, breaking it]] just before a description of TheMole is broadcast. He'll have a panic attack at a critical moment, endangering the group. He'll be suspiciously uninformed about whatever his job is supposed to be. This person is ''never'' TheMole. [[RedHerringMole He's just an idiot.]] (See HanlonsRazor.)

* E: There's a ''second'' mole--perhaps even one that [[RightHandVersusLeftHand the first mole doesn't know about]].

* I: ''No one'' is TheMole: for whatever reason, [[ApopheniaPlot everyone's paranoia has spiraled completely out of control]], causing them to attack each other on otherwise flimsy pretexts or misinterpreted accidents. Or the host, with the help of his staff and/or associates, faked it all to "entertain" his guest.

* K: No one is TheMole; the plot fits the DwindlingParty twist, wherein the villain is someone else who simply kills most of the main characters, one by one and usually in an extremely brutal and sometimes grotesque manner. Perhaps the villain is a demented, deeply troubled individual, or is a stalker who enjoys killing; maybe he is a crime lord who fears being caught (and his method(s) of murder and carrying the killings out is used to put fear in others and/or intimidate the authorities)...or he is simply the face of evil (who also hopes to intimidate the heroes and scare off the authorities). Once the original gang is whittled down to just two or (at most) three, the villain is finally defeated; either the bad guy is killed, usually by falling into one of his own traps or another character--often but not always one thought to be dead--arriving to defeat him, the remaining protagonists are able to beat down the villain and subdue him until the authorities arrive to arrest him; or (most commonly on TV crime/action shows) the title character arriving JustInTime before the villain kills the last remaining members of the group.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' took on this one in "And Then There Were Fewer". [[spoiler:It was [[TabletopGame/{{Clue}} Diane Simmons in the dining room, the living room, the upstairs hallway, and an upstairs balcony]] with, respectively, the gun, the knife, and the Golden Globe]].

* A: One person will seem to actively hinder the investigation. He'll [[TheRadioDiesFirst drop the radio, breaking it]] just before a description of TheMole is broadcast. He'll have a panic attack at a critical moment endangering the group. He'll be suspiciously uninformed about whatever his job is supposed to be. This person is ''never'' TheMole. [[RedHerringMole He's just an idiot.]] (See HanlonsRazor.)

* G: None of ''them'' are TheMole: the hero has been hypnotized to act as mole [[ManchurianAgent without even his own knowledge]], or is simply an UnreliableNarrator.

A group of people are invited to attend a get-together, usually held at an OldDarkHouse often in the middle of the countryside or (more recently) on someone's [[IslandBase private island]], by a mysterious and/or eccentric host. Suddenly one of the guests (or even the host) is murdered and [[ClosedCircle circumstances]] [[DiabolusExMachina prevent the others from leaving]], usually a heavy storm or a cut bridge, or even both.

* ''The Decagon House Murders'' by Yukito Ayatsuji acknowledges Christie's influence in the text. Seven members of a university mystery literature club visit an island where a gruesome massacre took place some time before, and start being killed off themselves. Two of the club's other members, not aware of the danger their friends are in, investigate the prior murder on the mainland. It turns out that [[spoiler: one of the club members is moving back and forth between the island and the mainland to give himself an alibi, and has let everyone else think only ''six'' people went to the island]].

* One ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' episode (Called "And Then There Were [[ShoutOut Shawn]]") features this plot, with the characters stuck in detention (caused by a quarrel between the main characters) and soon being killed by a mysterious murderer within the school, ([[ShoutOut including one by the name of Kenny]]. [[spoiler: In the end, Shawn rips off the mask of the killer to reveal [[KarmicTwistEnding that it was him under the mask all along.]] Then it's revealed that [[AllJustADream it was all just a dream had by Shawn.]] ]]

* Parodied in the board game ''TabletopGame/KillDoctorLucky'', by Cheapass games, the objective of which is to be the first to bump off the good Doctor. The players all despise Doctor Lucky and have been invited to his country mansion for the weekend. In the words of the game "There's a howling storm outside, it's midnight, and someone just shut off the lights..."

* Parodied in the board game ''KillDoctorLucky'', by Cheapass games, the objective of which is to be the first to bump off the good Doctor. The players all despise Doctor Lucky and have been invited to his country mansion for the weekend. In the words of the game "There's a howling storm outside, it's midnight, and someone just shut off the lights..."

* The TropeCodifier: Agatha Christie's ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'', a.k.a. ''10 Little Indians''. Ten people are invited to an island retreat, where they hear a recording by someone calling themselves 'U.N. Owen', who accuses each of them of having gotten away with murder. They then start dying off in accordance with the rhyme.

* In the Lone Island Syndrome episodes of the ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' anime, the SOS Brigade goes on a club field trip to an island mansion specifically set up to stage a murder mystery like this, in order to stop Haruhi from generating one herself (though it's left ambiguous at the end whether or not she's already created an external killer).

* In the Lone Island Syndrome episodes of ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' the SOS Brigade goes on a club field trip to an island mansion specifically set up to stage a murder mystery like this, in order to stop Haruhi from generating one herself (though it's left ambiguous at the end whether or not she's already created an external killer).

* Happens to the Club of Heroes in "[[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman The Black Glove]]" arc in ''Franchise/{{Batman}}''.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'' fanfic [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/278242 Deth by Murder]], Nathan desires to have a murder mystery dinner, and Offdensen takes the opportunity to 'clean house', as it were, by eliminating people that were threats to Dethklok, such as Damien Cornickelson (who had tried to force Dethklok into a byzantine contract that only benefitted him), Pickles's brother Seth (a constant thorn in Pickles's side since Pickles was TheUnfavorite of his family, and also embezzled from Dethklok), and Dr. Twinkletits (fradulent psychology degree and disrespected Dethklok). Notably, both Dr. Rockso and Dick Knubbler were GenreSavvy enough to realize this would happen, with Rockso fighting the Klokateers on going, and Knubbler preparing a dossier explaining why he should be spared. [[spoiler:Offdensen had no intention of killing Knubbler, and had invited him to keep Murderface company when Murderface inevitably had a hissy fit. As for Rockso, he accuses Offdensen of the murders, and Nathan, not wanting him to go to jail, accuses Rockso instead of the murders. Luckily, Nathan found plausible enough motives to pin it on Rockso and a Klokateer planted evidence on him that 'proved' it, and Rockso is dragged away to be arrested.]] Skwisgaar still thinks TheButlerDidIt, though.

* The TV movie ''Film/{{Lifepod}}'' is ''Film/{{Lifeboat}} RecycledInSpace, but otherwise follows the plot of an unseen killer and everyone stuck on board the eponymous EscapePod as suspects.

* ''VideoGame/AmongUs'' is this trope RecycledInSpace. One or two alien Imposters versus a crew of astronauts.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' has a rather unique take on this. Once the core Six of Season One's cast is established, one of the villains hints to the team lead (Aqualad) that there is a mole on the team. It's quickly narrowed down to the three newest members (Superboy, Miss Martian, and Artemis) and the audience has suspicions for all three and each are given episodes that further hint to their culpability (Superboy was programmed by Cadmus which was tied to the supervillain group The Light from the get-go and was later given an improvement by Luthor, Miss Martian had some moments where she shied away from being open with something about her life on mars with the team, and its later revealed that she is a white Martian and The Light has known this for some time, and Artemis is claimed to be Green Arrow's niece but doesn't live remotely near him to be a sidekick and was seen as Speedy/Red Arrow's replacement, and later revealed to be the daughter to the Light's chief enforcer and the handler for the mole). Subverted when [[spoiler: they all three realize that the Light is calling them to set up an ambush and reveal to the team that they had been compromised, allowing the team to set up the Light members]]. {{Double Subver|sion}}ted when [[spoiler: The real mole turned out to be Red Arrow/Speedy, who was a Cadmus clone and programmed to be a ManchurianCandidate who was trying to get into the Justice League, not the team and was giving away the team info that his pals on the team had been telling him with the hope of trying to convince him to join.]]

* In ''Film/BreakheartPass'', someone starts killing off the passengers and crew of a train carrying desperately needed medical supplies to an [[BleakBorderBase isolated fort. [[spoiler:There is more than one killer. A gang of conspirators is taking out anyone who gets close to finding out what the train is really carrying.]]

* In ''Film/BreakheartPass'', someone starts killing off the passengers and crew of a train carrying desperately needed medical supplies to an isolated fort. [[spoiler:There is more than one killer. A gang of conspirators is taking out anyone who gets close to finding out what the train is really carrying.]]

A group of people are invited to attend a get-together, usually held at an OldDarkHouse often in the middle of the lush countryside or (more recently) on someone's [[IslandBase private island]], by a mysterious and/or eccentric host. Suddenly one of the guests (or even the host) is murdered and [[ClosedCircle circumstances]] [[DiabolusExMachina prevent the others from leaving]], usually a heavy storm or a cut bridge, or even both.

* In a chapter of ''Manga/FrankenFran'', Fran is invited by former patients for a party in a remote location. Soon, they are attacked one by one--hopefully, Fran can save them. [[{{Gorn}} This being]] ''Franken]] Fran'', the truth is far more disturbing than expected. [[spoiler:The victims are doing it to themselves because they get off on Fran operating on them. Even Fran finds this disturbing.]]

* Moto Hagio's ''Manga/TheyWereEleven'' has this happening during a survival test where ten students are stranded on a derelict spaceship...so why are there eleven of them? Everyone knows that one of them shouldn't be there as accidents keep happening, and the hero has the additional problem of fitting the "competent and helpful" rule of Mole detection above--as the other students begin to notice. [[spoiler:EverybodyLives. The extra examinee was an instructor sent in as TheMole to cause trouble and force the group to quit the test, as a SecretTestOfCharacter for all of them; things got out of his control. The hero's suspicious knowledge of the ship was because he was unknowingly a survivor of the disaster that originally destroyed it]].

* ''Side:Future'' of ''AAnime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'' features a DeadlyGame as a major part of its plot. 16 people are locked inside a building and are injected with a potent sleeping drug every two hours. While everyone is asleep, TheMole gets to wake up early and kill whoever they want. If a "sleeping phase" passes without the mole killing anyone, then the game ends and everyone who's still alive can leave. It turns out that the mole is [[spoiler:nobody! After everyone is put to sleep, whoever happens to be closest to one of the monitors on the walls is woken up and shown a video that brainwashes them into committing suicide]].

* ''Side:Future'' of ''Anime/Danganronpa3'' features a DeadlyGame as a major part of its plot. 16 people are locked inside a building and are injected with a potent sleeping drug every two hours. While everyone is asleep, TheMole gets to wake up early and kill whoever they want. If a "sleeping phase" passes without the mole killing anyone, then the game ends and everyone who's still alive can leave. It turns out that the mole is [[spoiler:nobody! After everyone is put to sleep, whoever happens to be closest to one of the monitors on the walls is woken up and shown a video that brainwashes them into committing suicide]].
* The manga ''Manga/{{Doubt}}'' was a version of this, but with [[spoiler:hypnosis--the real killer hypnotizes another and has her confess, then escapes]].
** The sequel/spinoff, ''Manga/{{Judge}}'', does this as well.
* In a chapter of ''Manga/FrankenFran'', Fran is invited by former patients for a party in a remote location. Soon, they are attacked one by one--hopefully, Fran can save them. This being ''[[{{Gorn}} Franken]] Fran'', the truth is far more disturbing than expected. [[spoiler:Even Fran finds it disturbing]].
** The answer? [[spoiler:The victims are doing it to themselves because they get off on Fran operating on them]].

Often the ''modus operandi'' in a ReunionRevenge. Occasionally a FinalGirl or other survivor(s) may be spared, but if the writers are really bloodthirsty, it only ends when they KillEmAll (or, if you're at the beginning of the series, EverybodysDeadDave); if they're feeling devious, they may also throw in a few instances of SuspectExistenceFailure. Newer installments may have this combined with/be the byproduct of a DeadlyGame Or a HuntingTheMostDangerousGame Scenario. The actual ''game'' version of this setup, where it's one or some killers against everyone else, is SocialDeductionGame. Don't be surprised if a MexicanStandoff or two pop up, especially for the finale.

** "WesternAnimation/TheCaseOfTheStutteringPig", starring Porky Pig. On a dark and stormy night in a large, spooky mansion, Porky's rich uncle has announced his will through his attorney, Goodwill, that he, Petunia, and his four brothers (Patrick, Percy, Portis, Peter) will inherit the fortune...but if they're all dead when the uncle dies, Goodwill gets the money. After Porky, Petunia, and his siblings leave, Goodwill reveals to the audience his true self as a money-hungry fiend who intends to kill all six pigs and inherit the money; he drinks Hyde formula and transforms himself into a monster. Later on, Goodwill kidnaps Porky's brothers one by one and then Petunia as they're walking through the mansion. Eventually, Porky finds Petunia and his siblings tied up in stocks in Goodwill's laboratory, and the main protagonist frees them...only for the fiend to break in and eventually corner everyone and kill them. Before that happens, a chair suddenly is thrown out of nowhere and knocks Goodwill silly, allowing the pig sextet to get the upper hand and subdue the monster in the stocks where Goodwill had restrained them earlier. Just before the iris-out--and presumably just before the police arrive to take Goodwill into custody for fraud and conspiracy to commit murder--the pigs wonder where the sudden assist came from. An off-camera voice shouts out "ME!" When the shocked monster asks for an explanation, the voice replies, "I'm the guy in the third row, ya big sourpuss!!!" The ultimate hero, it turns out, was one that Goodwill (shortly after turning into his monster alter-ego and revealing his diabolical plan) had specifically tried to intimidate earlier.

** ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' goes a step further by having the mastermind reveal ''from the start'' that one of the sixteen students is a "traitor". [[spoiler:However, this "traitor" is not a murderer but an observer sent to ''help'' the students. Furthermore, the knowledge of this "traitor"'s presence does not drive anyone to murder out of paranoia: the victim of Chapter 5 does take lengths to flush out the traitor, but it is decidedly not "murder out of paranoia". In fact, his goal is actually to ''kill everyone but the traitor''.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' has fun with this trope. During the 'Whodunit?' quest, this sort of plot is set up where 6 people, including the PlayerCharacter, are all invited to a mansion, told it's a competition for treasure, and that they will be locked in until somebody finds it. Then people start dying. The amusing part? [[spoiler: It's a mission for the Dark Brotherhood, AKA the Assassins guild; '''''YOU''''' are the murderer, hired by the mansion's owner to help him get revenge on the other 5 "guests". To further incentivize you to play along with this trope, you get a bonus if you kill them all without anyone discovering who you are (save for the last victim, of course); offering numerous ways to for a player to indulge in their inner ManipulativeBastard. For extra giggles you also have the key to the mansion.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' has fun with this trope. During the 'Whodunit?' quest, this sort of plot is set up where 6 people, including the PlayerCharacter, are all invited to a mansion, told it's a competition for treasure, and that they will be locked in until somebody finds it. Then people start dying. The amusing part? [[spoiler: It's a mission for the Dark Brotherhood, AKA the Assassins guild; '''''YOU''''' are the murderer, hired by the mansion's owner to help him get revenge on the other 5 "guests". You actually get a bonus if you manage to kill them all without anybody discovering that YOU are the killer. For extra giggles you also have the key to the mansion.]]

** The episode "Proving Ground" took the theme UpToEleven. Given that the SGC's primary foes are {{Body Snatcher}}s, they select new members through complex training exercises where EveryoneIsASuspect [[TheMole Mole]]. These exercises tend to be {{Total Party Kill}}s. One particularly promising group that refuses to get their act together finds that their umpteenth test is NotAGame. [[spoiler:It was a game with one of their own being TheMole whose job was to up the ante. When they knew it was all a game, they slacked off. When they thought it wasn't, they ended up distinguishing themselves under fire and becoming a quality team]].

* The TropeCodifier: Agatha Christie's ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'', a.k.a. ''10 Little Indians''.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[MeaningfulName Mr. Boddy's]] role had been revealed.]]

->''I know I'm human. And if you were all these Things, then you'd all just attack me now, so some of you are still human.''

* I: ''No one'' is TheMole: for whatever reason, everyone's paranoia has spiraled completely out of control, causing them to attack each other on otherwise flimsy pretexts or misinterpreted accidents. Or the host, with the help of his staff and/or associates, faked it all to "entertain" his guest.

* ''Literature/{{Gideon the Ninth}}'' is a gothic space version of this story type, where scions of 8 necromancer houses are summoned to the dead home planet of their emperor, bringing a single bodyguard each. The mansion in this case is both an island and a haunted mansion, with the characters guessing at what/who is doing the haunting.