History Main / TheButlerDidIt

* In Rick Veitch's ''ComicBook/BratPack'', BigBad Doctor Blasphemy, responsible for the deaths of... the entire cast, is revealed to be King Rad's butler Fredo in the final pages.
* Played with by ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'': the ''actual'' butler is always innocent, but Diabolik tend to take his place (or the place of another house servant) to take a look of the place he's about to steal from and/or drug/kidnap his victim.

* In ''ComicBook/JannahStation'', this is one of the possible outcomes, [[spoiler: depending on the reader's point of view]].
* ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheCapedCrusader''. In "The Gentleman's Gentleman's Tale", Alfred claims to be the Joker, having created the RoguesGallery with the help of actors he knew from his stage days before he became a butler, in order to keep Bruce Wayne diverted from his personal demons. The story opens with this trope being given in a murder mystery play.
* In Frank Tieri's run of ''ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders'', ComicBook/TheRiddler, investigating a rich man's murder, declares the butler the killer by directly quoting this trope, calling it "the greatest cliché of all".

The expression "The butler did it" is commonly ''believed'' to have been coined by mystery author Mary Roberts Rinehart in her 1930 novel ''The Door'', although this is actually a real-world example of BeamMeUpScotty. The actual plot device goes back still further, and was already regarded as hackneyed even then; the earliest ''verified'' explicit statement of disapproval regarding its use dates to S.S. Van Dine's 1928 essay [[http://gadetection.pbwiki.com/Van+Dine%27s+Twenty+Rules+for+Writing+Detective+Stories "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories"]]. (It might be noted that these rules would disqualify the authors who defined the genre, including Creator/WilkieCollins, Creator/EdgarAllanPoe, and Creator/ArthurConanDoyle -- indeed, rule 20 says that a good mystery should not include certain types of clues that Doyle introduced into the mystery genre on the grounds that [[OnceOriginalNowCommon they were now overused]] — and Van Dine's essay could more accurately be titled "Twenty Rules for Writing a FairPlayMystery"). [[https://web.archive.org/web/20030928010350/https://www.straightdope.com/columns/030926.html This]] article explores in detail the origin of this strange semi-existent trope, and says that suspicion of servants was noted as far back as Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's "The Musgrave Ritual", from ''The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes'' (1893). There's also [[https://literature.stackexchange.com/a/21548 multiple]] SilentFilms with the plot point. It's possibly related to the RealLife stereotype that, if something goes missing in a home, the [[InsideJob hired help likely stole it]].

* ''Film/HomeAlone4'' subverts and averts this trope. The main character believes that the butler of his dad's rich girlfriend helped two burglars (his old enemies) get into her high tech Mansion. He made quite a mess driving them away so everybody believes its just an excuse (he was about 9 years old). It turns out it was the , erm, nice housekeeper who is revealed as one of the burglar's mum.

* In the second case of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'', the [[{{Meido}} Ultimate Maid]] [[TheAce Kirumi Tojo]] kills [[spoiler: [[DeathSeeker Ryoma Hoshi]] by [[KillItWithWater drowning him]]. After he's dead, Kirumi then engineers an elaborate scheme to [[DisposingOfABody get rid of the body]]: maneuvering it into [[StageMagician Himiko's]] tank of [[PiranhaProblem piranhas]] using a ropeway, where it's quickly StrippedToTheBone.]]

* In a video/boardgame variant of Clue (the boardgame), the butler is named Didit, and he's the only one on-screen at the time the murder happened (and thus the only one who ''couldn't'' have done it).

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' where Castle and Beckett are having trouble figuring out a suspect for the [[BodyOfTheWeek Murder of the Week]]:

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'', after teasing a couple of times, finally gives us a straight example in [[spoiler:"Secret's Safe With Me"]], finally allowing Castle to [[IAlwaysWantedToSayThat say the phrase]] and have it be true.

The expression "The butler did it" is commonly ''believed'' to have been coined by mystery author Mary Roberts Rinehart in her 1930 novel ''The Door'', although this is actually a real-world example of BeamMeUpScotty. The actual plot device goes back still further, and was already regarded as hackneyed even then; the earliest ''verified'' explicit statement of disapproval regarding its use dates to S.S. Van Dine's 1928 essay [[http://gadetection.pbwiki.com/Van+Dine%27s+Twenty+Rules+for+Writing+Detective+Stories "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories"]]. (It might be noted that these rules would disqualify the authors who defined the genre, including Creator/WilkieCollins, Creator/EdgarAllanPoe, and Creator/ArthurConanDoyle -- indeed, rule 20 says that a good mystery should not include certain types of clues that Doyle introduced into the mystery genre on the grounds that [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny they were now overused]] — and Van Dine's essay could more accurately be titled "Twenty Rules for Writing a FairPlayMystery"). [[https://web.archive.org/web/20030928010350/https://www.straightdope.com/columns/030926.html This]] article explores in detail the origin of this strange semi-existent trope, and says that suspicion of servants was noted as far back as Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's "The Musgrave Ritual", from ''The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes'' (1893). There's also [[https://literature.stackexchange.com/a/21548 multiple]] SilentFilms with the plot point. It's possibly related to the RealLife stereotype that, if something goes missing in a home, the [[InsideJob hired help likely stole it]].

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan''
** In one of the first issues, when Spider-Man defeated Electro for the first time and unmasked him, he thought "If this was a movie, I'd gasp in shock and then I'd say: 'Good Heavens! The ''butler''!'" but admitted that he had never seen him before.
** Some decades later, during [[ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManJMichaelStraczynski JMS's "Spidey's a New Avenger"]] arc, he pauses while searching the closet of a HYDRA agent to deliver this line to an empty room, on the grounds that he's [[IAlwaysWantedToSayThat waited his whole life to say it]].

** A ''very'' [[UnbuiltTrope prototypical]] version of this arguably happens in Holmes' debut in ''Literature/AStudyInScarlet'', where the killer is the similarly-overlooked [[spoiler:cabbie who drove both victims around]]. The following novel ''Literature/TheSignOfFour'' plays it [[spoiler:a little straighter - the butler wasn't the mastermind or anything, but he ''was'' the [[InsideJob inside man]] crucial to enabling the central murder.]]

* In ''Hot Mikado'', a parody of Creator/GilbertAndSullivan's ''Theatre/TheMikado'', the Mikado's song contains the lyrics, "the colossal bores who read the Who-done-its and blab that the butler's the crook; I'll give them a mystery by Creator/AgathaChristie with [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment no final page to the book!]]

* Definitely played with in ''VideoGame/MySimsAgents''. In one part of the story, a fortunite crystal, which is able to let people see the future, is the most-sought part of Cyrus [[=LeBodreaux=]]'s estate. However, when Madame Zoe goes into the crystal room for a pre-dinner reading, you find that the crystal there has been smashed! You follow the evidence which leads you to the conclusion that Carl, the zombie butler, was the one who smashed it. [[spoiler: However, it turns out that Zoe, a skilled hypnotist, was whispering hypnotic suggestions to him as he slept. Not only that, but it turns out that the crystal in the crystal room wasn't even the real fortunite crystal! Zoe, having foreseen that she wasn't the named inheritor of her uncle's estate, had intended to make people believe the fortunite had been destroyed so that the other potential inheritors would leave, allowing her to keep the estate anyway.]]

* Lampshaded in the MMORPG ''VideoGame/{{Runescape}}''. During the quest "Murder Mystery" you can talk to gossips about the murder of Lord Sinclair. One of the options you can say is "I think the butler did it" in which case the gossip will say something along the lines of "you've been reading too many murder mystery novels my friend". This does not affect the quest's plot in any way.

The expression "The butler did it" is commonly ''believed'' to have been coined by mystery author Mary Roberts Rinehart in her 1930 novel ''The Door'', although this is actually a real-world example of BeamMeUpScotty. The actual plot device goes back still further, and was already regarded as hackneyed even then; the earliest ''verified'' explicit statement of disapproval regarding its use dates to S.S. Van Dine's 1928 essay [[http://gadetection.pbwiki.com/Van+Dine%27s+Twenty+Rules+for+Writing+Detective+Stories "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories"]]. (It might be noted that these rules would disqualify the authors who defined the genre, including Creator/WilkieCollins, Creator/EdgarAllanPoe, and Creator/ArthurConanDoyle -- indeed, rule 20 says that a good mystery should not include certain types of clues that Doyle introduced into the mystery genre on the grounds that [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny they were now overused]] — and Van Dine's essay could more accurately be titled "Twenty Rules for Writing a FairPlayMystery".) [[https://web.archive.org/web/20030928010350/https://www.straightdope.com/columns/030926.html This]] article explores in detail the origin of this strange semi-existent trope, and says that suspicion of servants was noted as far back as Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's "The Musgrave Ritual," from ''The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes'' (1893). There's also [[https://literature.stackexchange.com/a/21548 multiple]] SilentFilms with the plot point. It's possibly related to the RealLife stereotype that, if something goes missing in a home, the [[InsideJob hired help likely stole it]].

It is the case that this is an English-language trope: crime novels popular in Germany in the same period were notorious for the cliche that "the gardener did it," this transplanting the blame out of the house.

--> “Oh, give me this moment, will you? How often do you get a captive audience like this? Now I know why villains do these monologues. This is good fun. Oh, and since we’re discussing cliches you should like this one. The butler did it. My first job was as a gentlecolt’s gentlecolt to an art professor who dabbled in crime on the side. I soon took his place and surpassed him in every way.”

* Lampshaded by Jim in ''Film/TheHauntedMansion2003'' "The butler did it? [[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe You've got to be kidding me."]]
* In the Creator/AdamSandler[=/=]Creator/JenniferAniston Netflix film ''Film/MurderMystery'', the killer is [[spoiler:someone who'd changed their surname, which was originally "Butler".]] Sandler's character basically says "I told you so."

** Six men meet once a month at a restaurant for dinner and conversation. Somehow, they always end up solving a mystery -- or, rather, their waiter Henry points out the solution after the others try to solve it and fail. In the first story of the series, Henry turns out to be the one who "did it," although the mystery is not so much "who done it" as "what, exactly, did he do?" Henry is happy to provide the answer, since what he did was not in any way illegal.

* Played straight (but played with on a meta level) at the end of the story "The Horror Writers Halloween Ball" in [[Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant Armageddon Outta Here]]. In an aside, it is mentioned that Gordon Edgley, together with Skulduggery, solved the case of the phantom killer of Darkenholme House.[[AnotherStoryForAnotherTime "But that's...another story.]] ... [[{{Beat}} (paragraph)]] ... Which is rather uninteresting. The butler did it."
* ''Literature/TheCatInTheStacksMysteries'': Literally in book 2, where James Delacorte's butler Truesdale became his boss's primary heir and then killed him to speed up the process after finding out by means of a gossipy paralegal and her aunt, the latter of whom was having an affair with one of the other heirs and shared this information with Truesdale after learning of his status. Both Sean Harris and Kanesha Berry are rather incredulous when Charlie Harris figures it out, especially since two other major suspects have just been arrested, but that doesn't stop it from being true. (The two suspects already in custody at this point, it turns out, were guilty of something else - they stole part of Delacorte's rare book collection, which was being left to Athena College rather than Truesdale or any of Delacorte's family.)

* In the ''Series/CSICrimeSceneInvestigation'' episode "Random Acts of Violence," Nick is called to investigate who murdered the supervisor of a high tech company in the sealed computer room, with only three other employees on the floor outside. After thoroughly investigating them, he realizes that the real "murderer" is an AC repairman working in the room directly above the computer room, whom nobody had noticed. He dropped his hammer accidentally, it fell through an air-vent, hit the victim fatally on the head, and was then retrieved by the repairman, who said nothing to keep himself out of trouble.
* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': Conversed by Stella and Flack in "Trapped." He lists the wealthy victim's hired help as potential suspects and the following exchange ensues:

* In ''Series/{{Soap}}'', after Peter Campbell is murdered, one of the reasons Benson is a suspect (besides being black) is because he's the butler. "In cases like this, it's the butler who did it. In fact, that's how we got the phrase 'the butler did it'."
* ''Series/SquareOneTV'' features this in a Mathnet series when George Frankly invites Pat Tuesday to join him at a mystery weekend in a mansion. Unfortunately, due to a road sign pointing the wrong direction due to a storm, they end up at a different mansion where six criminals have been invited to another party - they only show up because the invitations were to their real names instead of their assumed names they'd been living as for years. Over the week's episodes, they start disappearing one by one. When they all disappear, George finds a series of hidden passageways leading to a holding cell where they're being held by the butler. [[spoiler: It turns out the butler was a court stenographer upset that these 'criminals' never went to jail, despite the fact that they've all proven their innocence with math. (For example, one man was exonerated from stealing gold when he pointed out that to commit the crime, he would have had to carry hundreds of pounds of gold by himself.) When he was exposed and went to jail, he learned to like math, taught it to others, and [[BreakingTheFourthWall became an advisor to Square One TV]]. ]]

* In the card game Gloom, the description for Butterfield ("the lurking butler") is "Whatever it is, he did it." Another card is "..Was Betrayed by the Butler", with the flavor text "Like you're surprised."

** Then there's "Last Rites," a two-part Franchise/{{Batman}} story set during ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', with one chapter called "The Butler Did It" and the other "What the Butler Saw." It turns out that Alfred the butler [[spoiler:is actually the Lump, a telepathic parasite hiding inside Batman's memories as he is used for clone fodder by the gods of Apokolips]]. It's Creator/GrantMorrison, what can we say.

* In ''Desolation Jones'', the Colonel's butler is briefly suspected of being the mastermind behind the crime. Jones remarks "wouldn't it be funny if the butler did it." Nobody gets why he's amused.
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in the early ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' private-eye spoof "Kane Keen," in which the detective explains that the butler is as likely a suspect as [[EveryoneIsASuspect everyone else is]] since "the butler is ''always'' the murderer." Based on the expert deductive method of tossing a coin, he then points to the butler and unmasks him as the true culprit: [[TheDogWasTheMastermind the talking dog]]. The InspectorLestrade then bursts in, breathlessly informing Kane that he's figured out that the butler did it.

* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'' #6, ("The Ghost of Redbeard," an adaptation of the TV episode "Go Away Ghost Ship") has the gang approaching the penthouse of shipping magnate C.L. Magnus to ask about the titular ghost trying to put his business under when Magnus' butler summarily slams the door on them:

** In one cartoon, two detectives are summoned to solve a murder -- at a butler's convention. {{Punchline}}: [[ThisIsGonnaSuck "I hate to start a Monday with a case like this."]]

* A variation appeared in the film ''Film/ShortCircuit2''. Johnny Five notices the novel ''The Hound of the Baskervilles''. He begins speed reading through it, pauses halfway and says, "I think the chauffeur did it." He speeds through the rest of he book and, on finishing, says, "He did". Of course, as everybody knows, [[spoiler:the murderer was the nephew of Sir Charles, and he had trained a vicious dog to murder the rest of the family in order to claim the Baskerville fortune for himself.]]

* In ''Film/DarkAndStormyKnight'' the butler, Jeens, didn't do it, but he was obviously involved in some messy business. But "[[NeverFoundTheBody Those bodies were never found]]."

** In ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'', the butler, Mr. Rogers, and his wife Ethel are two of the suspects, [[spoiler:but are two of the first victims. They're guilty of ''something else'', though (killing their former boss, a rich and sickly spinster whose meds they tampered with so they could inherit her estate), and ''that'' is why they got killed. (Ethel dies first and in her sleep since her husband pressured her into helping kill their old employer; Rogers is killed in a far more bloody manner awhile later.)]]

* "Author, Author" by Creator/AvramDavidson presents a (fictional) crime writer who first used the phrase "the butler did it," and subsequently made a great deal of money off of murderous butler stories. When he stumbles into Butler Afterlife, its inhabitants are inclined to kill him for defaming their profession.

* In Bruce Coville's ''The Ghost Wore Gray'', Chris tells Nina: "I'd say that the butler did it...except this place doesn't have one."
* ''Literature/InDeath'': At one point in ''Divided In Death'', Eve talks to Baxter about his partner Trueheart. Baxter is letting Trueheart handle a case in which a woman was found manually strangled in Upper East Side, New York City. She had a lot of money, a miserable disposition, a huge mean streak, and a dozen heirs who are all glad to see her dead. Baxter then says, "I told him I thought the butler did it, and he just nodded, all serious, and said he'd do a probability. Christ, he's a sweet kid." Clearly, Baxter was just being funny.

* In a ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' episode, the aliens attended a murder mystery dinner (thinking it was real, of course) and Tommy suggests this at one point. Harry replies "You think the ''butler'' did it? Well, that's a little far-fetched."

** Played with in a later episode, where it looks like the butler ''may'' actually have done it, leading to significant lampshading on the part of Castle. [[spoiler: (It's averted at the end - he was merely ''stealing'' from his employer.)]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E7TheUnicornAndTheWasp "The Unicorn and the Wasp"]], a murder mystery featuring Dame Creator/AgathaChristie as a character, the butler at one point quips that "Well, at least we know the butler didn't do it."

* In a televised version of one of the ''Literature/HerculePoirot'' mysteries, Poirot and Hastings attend a murder-mystery play. The two agree to a game: Poirot will try to figure out which character is the murderer, and write it on a slip of paper which Hastings will read during the third act. Poirot's paper reads: "The butler did it." [[spoiler: The play's butler turns out ''not'' to be the culprit, much to Poirot's annoyance, and the Belgian detective spends several minutes complaining to Hastings about bad scripting.]]

* Subverted twice over in the Radio/CabinPressure episode ''Paris''. It's Birling Day, when once a year the airline flies the extremely rich and obnoxious Mr. Birling to a rugby match. Every year Carolyn (the airline's owner) provides him with a bottle of very expensive whisky, and every year Douglas (the first officer) steals it. This time Carolyn charges Martin (the captain) with stopping Douglas, and Martin enlists the help of Arthur (Carolyn's son, the steward; he's an idiot, but there's no one else). When the whisky disappears, Douglas insists that he hasn't stolen it (yet). Martin and Douglas come up with a theory as to the guilt of each of the four regular characters (Martin, Douglas, Carolyn and Arthur), in some cases more than one theory per suspect, and one for Mr. Birling himself - ''and'' one for the 'butler' figure of Philip from the airport fire crew, whom Carolyn had frisk Douglas before he got on the plane. But it wasn't Philip. The one person whom ''nobody'' suspects is Mrs. Birling (who appeared briefly near the start of the episode to see off her husband, whom she hates and who hates her)); because of this, GenreSavvy listeners will realise that she must have done it. Except that, [[WordOfGod as the writer explains]] [[http://johnfinnemore.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/stage-direction-ding-ding-ding-ding.html here]], he carefully put her in and had nobody suspect her to trick such listeners into thinking just that - but she didn't steal it either. (Douglas stole it. Douglas ''always'' steals the whisky on Birling Day.)

* There is another play called "The Butler Did It," different from above, which features a ShowWithinAShow expy Creator/AgathaChristie play. In said play within the play, the entire cast are a family surnamed "Butler" and their household butler, making the title true, but also useless.

* Played with in ''Webcomic/PvP'' by having the butler secretly playing the role of "hero". Creator Scott Kurtz's explanation of the idea was essentially "if anyone ever discovered the secret lair beneath the mansion, they would obviously suspect the millionaire playboy as the hero's secret identity. Meanwhile, [[BeneathSuspicion the butler]] would have skipped town and hired his services out to the next rich employer far away, where he would start his hero gig anew."

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' episode "Broadcast Wagstaff School News", Tina investigates a case regarding an anonymous student who was defecating in various places in the school. Tina herself refers to them as the "Mad Pooper" but in an attempt to invoke this trope, Linda suggests naming them the "''Butt''-ler."

* In the ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' episode "Christopher Bundy ... Died on a Sunday", Jessica points out to the police detective that Bundy's ... manservant ... was acting suspiciously and lacks an alibi. Despite her attempt to avoid using the word, the detective asks her if the renowned mystery writer is actually saying she thinks the butler did it. (It turns out [[spoiler: he's not the murderer ... and not a butler. His suspicious activity was because he's actually an undercover federal agent.]])

** Got a LampshadeHanging in the ''Series/{{Morse}}'' episode "Happy Families", with the murder of a wealthy industrialist in a mansion with a large family:

The expression "The butler did it" is commonly believed to have been coined by mystery author Mary Roberts Rinehart in her 1930 novel ''The Door'', although this is actually a real-world example of BeamMeUpScotty. The actual plot device goes back still further, and was already regarded as hackneyed even then; the earliest ''verified'' explicit statement of disapproval regarding its use dates to S.S. Van Dine's 1928 essay [[http://gadetection.pbwiki.com/Van+Dine%27s+Twenty+Rules+for+Writing+Detective+Stories "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories"]]. (It might be noted that these rules would disqualify the authors who defined the genre, including Creator/WilkieCollins, Creator/EdgarAllanPoe, and Creator/ArthurConanDoyle -- indeed, rule 20 says that a good mystery should not include certain types of clues that Doyle introduced into the mystery genre on the grounds that [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny they were now overused]] — and Van Dine's essay could more accurately be titled "Twenty Rules for Writing a FairPlayMystery".) [[https://web.archive.org/web/20030928010350/https://www.straightdope.com/columns/030926.html This]] article explores in detail the origin of this strange semi-existent trope. It's possibly related to the RealLife stereotype that, if something goes missing in a home, the [[InsideJob hired help likely stole it]].

* In ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', although the "butlers" are more like servants, this is what Eva suspects during the first arc. During the second arc, Kanon goes missing after he and Jessica are killed in another 'closed room murder', and as he has a master key, Rosa comes to the conclusion that either Kanon (who had disappeared), Gohda or Kumasawa (neither of whom had an alibi) killed Jessica, as they were the only ones who could have locked the door to Jessica's room. Rosa goes even further after locking all the servants out with apologies and excuses about their ''possible'' suspicion. After they're thrown out, she openly confides to Battler that she doesn't have any doubt that they're all responsible. As it turns out, she's right.
** And as it turns out [[spoiler: she was right...[[MindScrew kind of]]. To make a VERY long story short, from the Anti-Fantasy perspective, there was a servant named Sayo Yasuda (known better by the blessed name...Shannon) who as it was turned out was secretly the bastard child of Kinzo Ushiromiya and his ''other'' secret bastard daughter Beatrice. Sayo would actually become the true head of the family, but maintain the personas of Shannon and Kanon to preserve the illusion as they enact their murder-suicide plot on the Ushiromiyas.]]

* Lampshaded by Jim in ''Film/TheHauntedMansion'' "The butler did it? [[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe You've got to be kidding me."]]

* ''Film/TheHauntedMansion'' lampshades and plays it straight. While the butler did indeed do it [[spoiler: heavily implied that the butler was racist]], the main character immediately after invokes this trope.

* The butler did it in the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' story "The Musgrave Ritual", although in that case it's only theft, not murder, and not the mystery; the question is ''why'' he did it, and what happened to him afterwards. It eventually transpires that he's [[spoiler:dead, possibly at the hands of his accomplice. The maid did it (or at least let it happen).]]

* Creator/AgathaChristie used variants of this a couple of times, but rarely played it straight:
** In ''Literature/SparklingCyanide'', the waiter did it, while in ''Literature/DeathInTheClouds'', the air steward did it. However, [[spoiler: in both cases, this was one of the regular suspects ''disguised'' as a server]].
** In ''Literature/ThreeActTragedy'', the butler is the prime suspect, having disappeared soon after the murder. Turns out [[spoiler:he did it]], but [[spoiler:he was one of the other suspects in disguise]].
** [[spoiler:''Theatre/BlackCoffee'']], originally written as a play, has this ending. In the book adaptation, not by Christie, it's spoiled the moment it happens by outright stating, before the detectives even arrive, that the character [[spoiler:placed the poison into the victim's coffee cup before giving it to him.]]
** One of Christie's short stories, [[spoiler:''The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman'']] also employs this trope, except that in this case the "Butler" is actually a valet.

** [[spoiler:Subverted]] in ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone''. The butler, Mr. Rogers, and his wife Ethel are two of the suspects, [[spoiler:but are two of the first victims. They're guilty of ''something else'', though (killing their former boss, a rich and sickly spinster whose meds they tampered with so they could inherit her estate), and ''that'' is why they got killed. (Ethel dies first and in her sleep since her husband pressured her into helping kill their old employer; Rogers is killed in a far more bloody manner awhile later.)]]
** In both ''Literature/APocketFullOfRye'' and the short story "[[Literature/TheThirteenProblems The Tuesday Night Club]]", [[spoiler: the maid did it.]] However, in both cases [[spoiler: the maid was heartlessly seduced/pressured into doing it by her lover, and in the former case ends up murdered herself after serving her purpose.]]

* In the Creator/AgathaChristie novel ''Three-Act Tragedy'', [[spoiler:the murderer posed as his friend's butler solely in order to murder him and then fled afterwards in a deliberately suspicious manner, returning in his usual guise as the victim's good friend.]]
** In ''Murder on the Orient—Express'', depending on which solution you believe, the butler did indeed do it [[spoiler:along with everyone else in the Calais Coach, including the coach attendant]].
** In ''Black Coffee'', [[spoiler:the butler really did do it. However, since this was already a dead horse trope, you never see it coming because the butler never actually does it.]]

* Creator/AgathaChristie used variants of this a couple of times; in ''Sparkling Cyanide'', the waiter did it, while in ''Literature/DeathInTheClouds'', the air steward did it. However, [[spoiler: in both cases, this was one of the regular suspects ''disguised'' as a server]].

** [[spoiler:''Black Coffee'']], originally written as a play, has this ending. In the book adaptation, not by Christie, it's spoiled the moment it happens by outright stating, before the detectives even arrive, that the character [[spoiler:placed the poison into the victim's coffee cup before giving it to him.]]

* The ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' adaptation of "The Third Floor Flat" has an ill Poirot guess this as the solution to a murder mystery play Captain Hastings has dragged him to - demonstrating how diminished his skills are while sick.

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