History Main / WhoMurderedTheAsshole

** The short story "The Under Dog" (1926) is another example by Christie. The victim was Sir Reuben Astwell, a wealthy businessman and a man of violent temper. He had poor relations with most of his family members and frequently quarreled with them, he managed to alienate his loving wife by threatening to get rid of her right-hand-woman, he was verbally abusive to all of his employees, and he owed part of his wealth to cheating business associates out of their share of the profits in business ventures. Almost everyone has a motive and nobody seems to mourn him. The murderer turns out to be Owen Trefusis, Reuben's loyal secretary for 9 years. He was noted throughout the story to be a particularly meek, patient, and soft-spoken man. It turns out that Reuben was systematically abusing Owen for years, using him as something of a punching bag for verbal abuse. Whenever anyone else got Reuben mad, he took out his anger on Owen. Because Owen, unlike the others, never talked back. During the last session of verbal abuse, Owen briefly snapped and killed his employer. The murder was not even premeditated, and Owen had nothing to gain from it.

** Ratchett in ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'' is worth mentioning in particular, being [[ExaggeratedTrope doubly]] an Asshole Victim. He's portrayed as a total jackass from the minute he steps on board, so don't feel too guilty when he's splattered across a Pullman carriage for the watcher's entertainment, and as Poirot investigates his death, he learns that Ratchett managed to grievously wrong almost every single passenger on the train (by kidnapping and murdering a little girl, and getting OffOnATechnicality), giving all of them a motive... which is why [[EverybodyDidIt all of them worked together to off him]]. Poirot eventually chooses to let the murderers go because Ratchett's death wasn't worth the hassle of prosecuting all his killers.

* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'', Highprince Sadeas' murder is met with a general "[[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing Good riddance]]" from his peers, and even the [[HonorBeforeReason steadfastly honorable]] Highprince Dalinar finds it difficult to investigate, given that Sadeas betrayed him and got six thousand of his soldiers killed. It's lampshaded several times throughout the investigation that there are a ''lot'' of suspects. Basically everyone except for his wife had a motive. However, the readers know the whole time that it was Adolin, Dalinar's son, who killed him. Sadeas had explained how he was going to continue undermining Dalinar at every turn, but they were alone, so Adolin snapped and killed him. Once Dalinar discovers the truth, he's as vexed by the inconvenient timing as he is by the whole "murder" thing.

*** In the second (chronologically first) case, the victim Dr. Turner Grey is killed during a channeling session. The session was to get the deceased Mimi Miney to admit full responsibility in a malpractice incident, and he brought a gun to the session, presumably to force the issue if Mimi refused. That leaves half the cast with motives to murder him (and the rest all have strong alibis): Mimi might take exception to his blame-shifting (especially as he'd been a BadBoss to her), Maya might've been threatened, and Mimi's little sister Ini was nearby and might have wanted revenge.[[spoiler: Mimi did it, but ''not'' out of revenge; if he'd realized she was still alive and impersonating her dead sister Ini, he might have revealed the impersonation to the world and ruined the new life she was trying to build.]]

Bob has died under mysterious circumstances. The homicide detectives arrive, looking for someone with a motive to kill him, and quickly find [[DeathByWomanScorned Alice]]... and [[TheDogBitesBack Charlie]]... and [[BlackmailBackfire Devan]]... and [[CrusadingWidow Erika]].... and [[TheDogWasTheMastermind Tropey]] the [[KickTheDog dog]]… and [[NiceToTheWaiter Fred]] the [[OverlyLongGag garbage man]]… Turns out, [[AssholeVictim Bob was such a wretch]] that ''anyone'' would gladly have done the deed.

Bob has died under mysterious circumstances. The homicide detectives arrive, looking for someone with a motive to kill him, and quickly find [[DeathByWomanScorned Alice]]... and [[TheDogBitesBack Charlie]]... and [[BlackmailBackfire Devan]]... and [[CrusadingWidow Erika]].... and [[TheDogWasTheMastermind Tropey]] the [[KickTheDog dog]]… [[OverlyLongGag and the garbage man]]… Turns out, [[AssholeVictim Bob was such a wretch]] that ''anyone'' would gladly have done the deed.

Bob has died under mysterious circumstances. The homicide detectives arrive, looking for someone with a motive to kill him, and quickly find [[DeathByWomanScorned Alice]]... and [[TheDogBitesBack Charlie]]... and [[BlackmailBackfire Devan]]... and [[CrusadingWidow Erika]].... and [[TheDogWasTheMastermind Tropey the dog]]… [[OverlyLongGag and the garbage man]]… Turns out, [[AssholeVictim Bob was such a wretch]] that ''anyone'' would gladly have done the deed.

Bob has died under mysterious circumstances. The homicide detectives arrive, looking for someone with a motive to kill him, and quickly find Alice... and Charlie... and Devan... and Erika.... Turns out, [[AssholeVictim Bob was such a wretch]] that ''anyone'' would gladly have done the deed.

** ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'': The first victim, Shadi Smith, rigged a poker game against Phoenix and whacked Olga Orly in the head when it didn't work out, again giving the two main suspects motives. [[spoiler: The real killer was Kristoph Gavin, who he'd snubbed 7 years earlier]]. Later, Drew Misham was a forger, so any of his clients could have killed him to keep him from talking.

*** In the second case, we have failed actor William Shamspeare, a gas thief who made plenty of enemies, and tried to kill Soseki Natsume via suffocation by blowing air into the gas pipe. Oh and he's also an ex con. But it was the far more sympathetic CrusadingWidow of his victim that nearly killed him.

Bob has died under mysterious circumstances. The homicide detectives arrive, looking for someone with a motive to kill him, and quickly find Alice... and Charlie... and Devan... and Erika.... and Fred the garbage man... Turns out, [[AssholeVictim Bob was such a wretch]] that ''anyone'' would gladly have done the deed.

*** First up is actually the ''culprit'' of the very first case of the first game, namely Jezaile Brett a racist englishwoman who was nearly a KarmaHoudini thanks to a conspiracy between the English and Japanese higher ups. Susato, Yujin and the defendant Rei Membami all had a motive to kill her, but it was Raiten Menimemo the "journo" who killed her by spiking her drink with poison and using a knife to frame Rei.

*** One of the Chapter 3 victims is Hiyoko Saionji, a ''massive'' brat who treated her classmates like garbage (especially [[ShrinkingViolet Mikan Tsumiki]]) and had a habit of abusing small animals. However, even though Mikan is the one who killed her, this turns out not to be the case; Hiyoko wasn't targeted, she just walked in on a murder already underway and [[HeKnowsTooMuch had to be silenced]]. Though the fact that Mikan positioned her kimono to resemble that of prostitutes seems to indicate that she still enjoyed it.

Bob has died under mysterious circumstances. The homicide detectives arrive, looking for someone with a motive to kill him, and quickly find Alice... and Charlie... and Devan... and Erika.... Turns out, [[AssholeVictim Bob was such a wretch]] that ''anyone'' would gladly have done the deed.

** Ratchett in ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'' is worth mentioning in particular, being [[ExaggeratedTrope doubly]] an Asshole Victim. He's portrayed as a total jackass from the minute he steps on board, so don't feel too guilty when he's splattered across a Pullman carriage for the watcher's entertainment. As more is learned about him after the murder, it becomes even clearer just how deserving he was of his fate. He murdered a baby girl, ruined her family's life in the process (collecting a ransom payment from them and then killing the girl anyway), and got away with it scot-free. [[Literature/HerculePoirot Poirot]] eventually lets his murderers go. A nice twist on the "everyone had a motive" reason for an asshole villain, given that it turns out that everyone did it.

** The sadistic Lord Edgware in ''Literature/LordEdgwareDies''. However, as in ''Appointment with Death'', the murder was committed for selfish motives.

** Mrs. Boynton in ''Literature/AppointmentWithDeath'' is one of Christie's more extreme examples: she's an almost hypnotic 'mental sadist' who uses sheer force of personality to absolutely control her family and uses that power to psychologically torture them. Her murder, while selfishly motivated, is related to her domineering nature, as she died by BlackmailBackfire.

** ''Literature/OneOfUsIsLying'' revolves around the murder of a high school student who ran a highly damaging gossip app and delighted in using it to tear others down. He was murdered while in detention with four other students, each of whom he was about to publish some major dirt on. As the murderer clearly had to be in the room at the time, the police investigation focuses pretty much exclusively on the "Bayview Four" but, as others point out, there were plenty of people who might have wanted him dead.

*** He was awful to his wife Kendra and been planning to divorce her and get custody of their children; Kendra also suspects he was having an affair. This would give her a significant motive to arrange his death. She says that while she loved him once, she doesn't deny her life has improved now that Martin is no longer in it and she was overheard going on drunken rants against Martin at a dive bar she frequented.

* In ''Literature/IveGotYouUnderMySkin'', socialite Betsy Bonner Powell was murdered at a graduation party thrown at her mansion twenty years ago. It comes to light that Betsy had wronged several of the party guests in some way, and all of them had motive and opportunity to kill her.
** Nina's mother made her life hell because she blamed Nina for introducing Betsy and Rob, thus causing her to lose out on becoming Rob's wife and leaving them struggling financially, especially as Rob had told her to turn down a role in what became an extremely successful sit-com because he didn't want her working so much when they were newly married. Betsy mocked Nina about it at the Graduation Gala and Nina proceeded to drink heavily, to the point she didn't even remember going to bed or some other details of that night save for being furious at Betsy.
** Betsy's daughter Claire fervently hated both her mother and stepfather for the way they used and manipulated people, including her friends and their families, and for being so controlling of her they refused to let her board at school. Rob suggests that Claire was jealous of his relationship with her mother, as they were close before Betsy married Rob. It's also revealed [[spoiler:Rob was molesting Claire and she knew her mother would never have defended her]].
** Alison lost out on a scholarship that would've put her through medical school because Betsy persuaded the dean to give it to another girl (who later dropped out) in order to impress her mother and get into an exclusive club (Betsy and Rob had a lot of influence due having recently made a large donation to the college). Betsy then rubbed it in Alison's face at the Graduation Gala, prompting Alison to vent to her friends that she was going to "kill that witch". Alison is also a sleepwalker who vaguely recalls going into Betsy's room that night, but can't be certain.
** Regina's father committed suicide after losing all his money investing in Rob Powell's hedge fund; fifteen year old Regina found his body. Consequently, she and her mother struggled with money and had to move out of the family home they'd lived in for years, with Regina's mother dying several years later from the stress. It's also revealed Regina found out [[spoiler:that her father had an affair with Betsy, who persuaded him to invest in the hedge fund to ruin him while making her husband richer]].
** Jane Novak was friends with the Bonners for years and was thrilled when Betsy hired her as a housekeeper after marrying Rob Powell, only for Jane to be treated as a mere servant from that point on. Jane also fell in love with Rob and so was bitterly jealous and resentful towards Betsy, knowing she was mostly with Rob for his money [[spoiler:and was well aware Betsy wasn't even faithful to him]].
** Family friend and neighbour George Curtis had an affair with Betsy while going through a rough patch with his wife. Betsy began pressuring him to get a divorce, but George decided to stay with Isabelle after she told him she was pregnant with twins, they having previously suffered four miscarriages. Betsy blackmailed George to pay her $25 million or she would tell Isabelle everything. George was terrified of losing Isabelle and their future children, and even though he could easily afford the $25 million, he knew how Betsy loved to toy with people and feared she wouldn't keep her end of the deal. He also secretly returned to the Powell mansion after the party intending to take back the jewelry he'd given Betsy to hide the evidence of their affair, which was around the same time Betsy was killed.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3639659/1/A-Bad-Week-at-the-Wizengamot A Bad Week at the Wizengamot]]'': after being put in jail, Umbridge was apparently murdered behind bars when she got too lippy with a witch who was much smarter and stronger than her. No one was ever punished for her death because she had become so loathed by everyone inside the prison: the warden, the guards, all the other prisoners, and even the house-elves.

** Ratchett in ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'' is worth mentioning in particular, being [[ExaggeratedTrope doubly]] an Asshole Victim. He's portrayed as a total jackass from the minute he steps on board, so don't feel too guilty when he's splattered across a Pullman carriage for the watcher's entertainment. As more is learned about him after the murder, it becomes even clearer just how deserving he was of his fate. He murdered a baby girl, ruined her family's life in the process, and got away with it scot-free. [[Literature/HerculePoirot Poirot]] eventually lets his murderers go. A nice twist on the "everyone had a motive" reason for an asshole villain, given that it turns out that everyone did it.

*** In the final case, it eventually comes out that the victim, Juan Corrida, had driven Celeste Inpax to suicide years ago, and forged a suicide note from her to make Matt Engarde look bad. Celeste was Adrian Andrews' mentor and Matt's career was on the line, so that's both suspects with motives in one fell swoop.

Bob has died under mysterious circumstances. The homicide detectives go looking for a person with a motive to kill him and quickly find someone... and someone else... and someone ''else''. Turns out, [[AssholeVictim Bob was so unlikable]] that ''anyone'' would have gladly done the deed.

Bob has died under mysterious circumstances. The homicide investigators go looking for a person with a motive to kill him and quickly find someone... and someone else... and someone ''else''. Turns out, [[AssholeVictim Bob was so unlikable]] that ''anyone'' would have gladly done the deed.

Bob has just been murdered. The investigators start looking for the person with a motive to kill him and quickly find someone... and someone else... and someone ''else''. Turns out, [[AssholeVictim Bob was so unlikable]] that ''anyone'' would have gladly done the deed.

* ''Literature/WorldOfTheFiveGods'': There is no lack of suspects when Minister Methani, one of the chief ministers in a FantasyCounterpartCulture to the Byzantine Empire, is murdered.

*** In the second case, we have failed actor William Shamspeare, a gas thief who made plenty of enemies, and tried to kill Soseki Natsume via suffocation by blowing air into the gas pipe. Oh and he's also an ex con. But ir was the far more sympathetic CrusadingWidow of his victim that nearly killed him.
*** The following case we have Odie Asman, who's ill intentions and vile deeds are spelled out in his name. But for context sake, he was a criminal journalist who ruined the lives of several people, including the ones who schemed to kill him through blackmail. Enoch Drebber may have set up the murder but the one to actually kill him was the coroner herself.

* The plot of ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' is kicked off when aging former crimefighter Eddie Blake (aka "The Comedian") mysteriously turns up dead on the sidewalk outside his New York apartment, prompting his former colleague "Rorschach" to investigate his murder. It soon becomes clear that Blake was a complete and utter [[TheSociopath sociopath]] (and an unrepentant rapist and murderer) who was hated by almost everyone who knew him, making Rorschach's investigation all the more difficult.

--> '''Just Detective:''' You arrested ALL of them?\\

* ''Fanfic/MurderersRow'': Andy was never well-liked in the prison on account of being an unpleasant {{Jerkass}}, but he winds up TheScapegoat for the massive prison riot at the end of Volume 2[[note]]while he did play a major role in causing it, the actual masterminds either died during the riot or were able to stay off the radar[[/note]]. Since the riot killed multiple prisoners and guards, the entire prison winds up baying for his blood, and he "[[KilledOffscreen disappears]]" shortly after. Absolutely no one gives a shit or even bothers to investigate since he was just ''that'' hated.

** Toyed with in ''Literature/TheNakedSun,'' where the murder victim was the perfect embodiment of the planet's social code ("a good Solarian")... and therefore qualifies, since the definition of a good Solarian ''is'' an antisocial asshole. As the detective brought in from Earth just to solve the case [[GenreBlind has to explain to his audience]] at the SummationGathering, ''everyone'' had a motive to murder the man who reminded them all of their imperfections.

* Creator/EllisPeters's [[Literature/FelseInvestigates Felse novels]]:
** Helmut Schauffler in ''Fallen Into the Pit''. One of the police at the crime scene, asked to suggest someone who might want him dead, names seven without needing to think hard, and Sergeant Felse notes that he could have done the same without any overlap of names.
** Arthur Rainbow, in ''Rainbow's End'', manages to get on the wrong side of just about everyone before meeting his end.

* Creator/AgathaChristie liked to do this as well.
** Ratchett in ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'' is worth mentioning in particular, being [[ExaggeratedTrope doubly]] an Asshole Victim. He's portrayed as a total jackass from the minute he steps on board, so don't feel too guilty when he's splattered across a Pullman carriage for the watcher's entertainment. As more is learned about him after the murder, it becomes even clearer just how deserving he was of his fate. He murdered a baby girl, ruined her family's life in the process, and got away with it scot-free. [[Literature/HerculePoirot Poirot]] eventually lets his murderers go. A nice twist on the "everyone had a motive" reason for an asshole villain, given that it turns out that everyone did it.
** Mr. Shaitana in ''Literature/CardsOnTheTable'', who has a collection of successful murderers -- the ones he knows got away with it -- and invites them to a party calculated to make them squirm. Christie plays with this one, as Poirot immediately points out that this is not a safe hobby. Much of the book is spent trying to find out what murders the suspects previously committed. As a further sign of Shaitana's arrogance, very late in the book, it is revealed that one of the so-called "murderers" was actually innocent of his original crime, and thus did not deserve to be put through Shaitana's mind game in the first place.
** Simeon Lee in ''Literature/HerculePoirotsChristmas'' is a selfish old millionaire, who plays sadistic mind games with his family. Here, however, the murder was actually personal revenge.
** The sadistic Lord Edgware in ''Literature/LordEdgwareDies''. However, as in ''Appointment with Death'', the murder was committed for selfish motives.
** Colonel Protheroe of ''Literature/TheMurderAtTheVicarage'' is the most despised man in the village; even the local ''vicar'' says that killing him would be a service to the community. However, yet again, the murder turns out to have been committed for purely selfish motives.
** Mrs. Boynton in ''Literature/AppointmentWithDeath'' is one of Christie's more extreme examples: she's an almost hypnotic 'mental sadist' who uses sheer force of personality to absolutely control her family and uses that power to psychologically torture them. Her murder, while selfishly motivated, is related to her domineering nature, as she died by BlackmailBackfire.
** The short story "The Under Dog" (1926) is another example by Christie. The victim was Sir Reuben Astwell, a wealthy businessman and a man of violent temper. He had poor relations with most of his family members and frequently quarreled with them, he managed to alienate his loving wife by threatening to get rid of her right-hand-woman, he was verbally abusive to all of his employees, and he owed part of his wealth to cheating business associates out of their share of the profits in business ventures. Almost everyone has a motive and nobody seems to mourn him. The murderer turns out to be Owen Trefusis, Reuben's loyal secretary for 9 years. He was noted throughout the story to be a particularly meek, patient, and soft-spoken man. It turns out that Reuben was systematically abusing Owen for years, using him as something of a punching bag for verbal abuse. Whenever anyone else got Reuben mad, he took out his anger on Owen. Because Owen, unlike the others, never talked back. During the last session of verbal abuse, Owen briefly snapped and killed his employer. The murder was not even premeditated, and Owen had nothing to gain from it.

** Family friend and neighbour George Curtis had an affair with Betsy while going through a rough patch with his wife. Betsy began pressuring him to get a divorce, but George decided to stay with Isabelle after she told him she was pregnant with twins, they having previously suffered four miscarriages. Betsy blackmailed George to pay her $25 million or she would tell Isabelle everything. George was terrified of losing Isabelle and their future children, and even though he could easily afford the $25 million, he knew how Betsy loved to toy with people and feared she wouldn't keep her end of the deal. He also secretly returned to the Powell mansion after the party intending to take back the jewellery he'd given Betsy to hide the evidence of their affair, which was around the same time Betsy was killed.

* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'': [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerated]] in ''The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton'', where the titular Milverton was such a terrible person, that Holmes not only flat-out refuses to investigate his murder, but he had personally witnessed it (because he and Watson were [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight burglarizing Milverton's house to destroy incriminating documents]]) and chosen not to intervene. What makes this even more Exaggerated was that the story was RippedFromTheHeadlines. It was pretty much a fictional retelling of the murder of Charles Augustus Howell, an alleged blackmailer who was found dead or dying with his throat slit and a half-sovereign coin stuffed in his mouth. [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch He was ruled to have died from TB, with the slit throat happening postmortem.]]
* ''Literature/TheSaint'': In the short story "Nassau: The Arrow of God", Simon Templar investigates the murder of a man given to publicly announcing other people's sins for his own amusement. Templar [[ConvictionByContradiction "solves"]] the crime by determining that only one of the suspects has a prior felony (selling fraudulent stock) to conceal. Because nobody ever killed somebody for threatening to expose an extramarital affair or for claiming one's religion is fraudulent. Really, Simon's entire career consists of liberating a succession of asshole victims from (always) their money and (periodically) their lives.

* CC de Poitiers, the victim in Louise Penny's second ''Literature/ThreePines'' mystery ''A Fatal Grace'', is self-obsessed, emotionally and verbally abusive to her husband and daughter, and universally loathed (even by the man she's having an affair with). Possible motives are not hard to come by.
* Stella Rodes, the [[{{Hypocrite}} seemingly angelic victim]] in Creator/JohnLeCarre's second novel, ''Literature/AMurderOfQuality.'' It turns out that she runs the gamut from taunting people to outright blackmailing them (which is what finally gets her killed).
* Creator/BenElton's ''Literature/PastMortem'', in which a series of [[SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp grown-up school bullies]] are found murdered in ways similar to accounts of ways they used to bully their childhood victims. It's zig-zagged, however, in that while some of the bullies kept up being assholes in adulthood, others of them had clearly matured and, even if they didn't exactly regret what they had done, were at least not assholes worthy of death.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** King Joffrey I Baratheon's death leads to a massive dose of this trope. He was so [[TheCaligula deservedly]] hated and reviled that the characters who actually cared about finding the true killer said that practically all of Westeros had ''some'' motive to kill him and even the most occult of poisons isn't ''that'' difficult to get hold of, so... um. Where to find a long enough sheet of parchment to make a solid list? Yeah, sure, suspects were named, but it's clear that few in Court are truly convinced that they are actually the ones who did it, even though it's currently politically expedient to officially agree they must have.
** Historically, Maegor Targaryen, a similarly cruel, vicious, and murderous king, was found dead on the Iron Throne. Nobody knew who killed him (though it's implied that he could have killed himself), and nobody cared to find out. A common superstition is that the Throne itself murdered him.
%%* In one of Kate Ross's Literature/JulianKestrel books, ''Whom The Gods Love'', the victim is revealed to have been , so the book quickly goes from "Who could have done this horrible murder?" to "Is there a single character without a motive?"

* One of the ''Literature/NikkiHeat'' novels centers around the murder of a highly unpopular critic. When Nikki asks who might want her dead, Jameson Rook suggests that she get a copy of the Manhattan phone book and start with the letter A.
* ''Literature/LordDarcy'': In ''The Eyes Have It'', the first reaction to the discovery of the Count's corpse is "I knew someone would do you in sooner or later, my lord".
* Zane in ''Literature/WelcomeToTemptation'' by Jennifer Crusie was essentially trying to blackmail and/or harass almost every prominent person in town and annoyed the hell out of pretty much everyone else. Amusingly enough, despite his having been hit by a car, maced in the face, bundled up in a shower curtain, and disposed of... he died of a heart condition without actually having been murdered at all.
* Parodied in the Agatha Christie pastiche "Death on the Line" in the ''Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue'' book ''Stovold's Mornington Crescent Almanac''. Lady Violetta "Gnasher" Ickenham unleashes a stream of invective against everyone else at the dinner table and how much she's dedicated herself to making their lives hell, before adding that she's finally going to do something about the typing error in her will that names them all as beneficiaries...
* Several cases in the ''Literature/InDeath'' series have a wealth of suspects thanks to the victim being [[AssholeVictim a terrible person]]. One textbook example is Richard Draco in ''Witness in Death'', who proves to have been such scum while he was alive that Eve for the first time in the series admits that she can't feel any sympathy for him nor condemn his murderer. Since the murder takes place during a stage production of ''Witness For the Prosecution'', nods to Agatha Christie abound.

* In ''Literature/AuntDimity: Detective'' no one in Finch particularly mourns when Prunella "Pruneface" Hooper, possibly the most obnoxious person in town, is found dead under mysterious circumstances (Aunt Dimity, Lori's [[spoiler: ghostly]] adviser and confidant, as good as states outright that Prunella has gone to Hell). Pretty much everyone but Lori and her immediate family has a motive, and there's a very long chain of witnesses providing evidence pointing directly to someone else, who has evidence pointing directly to someone else, who has evidence pointing directly to someone else... The final witness actually reveals the truth: Pruneface died of an accidental head injury, and the witness assumed she'd only been knocked out and went about their day.

* "Murder in Pastiche" by Marion Mainwaring. It's mainly a detective novel pastiche (gee) but that trope occurs too (and naturally, gets lampshaded on the spot).
* ''Literature/MagicalCatsMysteries'': In book 3 (''Copycat Killing''), Kathleen accidentally discovers the skeletonized body of Tom Karlsson, the biological father of her friend Roma (Tom had disappeared when Roma was just a child). When speaking to Roma's mother Pearl about it later, asking who would want to kill him, Pearl admits she knows who: "Pretty much anyone who knew him." Tom, it turns out, had worked for the town bootlegger, cheated at cards, and was abusive to his wife.
* "Literature/ClublandHeroes" revolves around the murder of a small-minded, pompous little busybody whose hobby was apparently suing almost everyone he came into contact with, and who seemed to take great pleasure in getting the law imposed as harshly as possible on people for even the mildest of infractions. Everyone in town is glad of his death -- even the local police because he recently got several of them fired for a technical dereliction of duty.
* Creator/KarenMMcManus:
** ''Literature/OneOfUsIsLying'' revolves around the murder of a high school student who ran a highly damaging gossip app and delighted in using it to tear others down. He was murdered while in detention with four other students, each of whom he was about to publish some major dirt on. As the murderer clearly had to be in the room at the time, the police investigation focuses pretty much exclusively on the "Bayview Four" but, as others point out, there were plenty of people who might have wanted him dead.
** Similarly with the victim of ''One of Us is Next''. Brandon Webber is a spoiled, misogynist {{Jerkass}} who killed Phoebe's father and got off scot-free.
* There's no actual (successful) murder, but in one of the ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' books, [[BattleButler Butler]] thinks to himself that this trope would very much come into play if something were to happen to his [[InsufferableGenius obnoxious]] young charge.
-->''Butler rolled his eyes. Who would want to kill Artemis? Every waiter and tailor in Europe, for a start.''
* In the ''Literature/MercyThompson'' book ''Iron Kissed'', Mercy has to clear Zee's name in the murder of a man named O'Donnell. Unfortunately, he was a part of an anti-fae hate group who was such a dick to friend and foe alike that it's hard to find the real killer.

* ''Literature/HiveMind2016'': In ''Hurricane'', Treeve was a jerk who claimed people were oversensitive when called on it, so when he died, this was the reaction.
* ''Literature/JaineAustenMysteries'':
** [=SueEllen=] Kingsley from ''Killer Blonde'' was such a heinous bitch, there's plenty of people in her life who'd have wanted her dead.
** Vic Cleveland from ''Death By Pantyhose'' was screwing over, just plain screwing, abusing, and [[spoiler:blackmailing]] so many people, Jaine finds she has a ''lot'' of suspects in his murder.
* ''Literature/MartinBeck''
** As ''The Man Who Went Up in Smoke'' progresses, it becomes clear that the victim was a [[spoiler:heroin dealer]] who also loved antagonizing his peers by insulting them in deeply personal ways.
** The murder victim in ''Murder at the Savoy'' is a CorruptCorporateExecutive who sold arms to dangerous countries, had unaffectionate relationships with many members of his inner circle, and destroyed the lives of many of his employees due to his greed.
** The eponymous victim in ''The Abominable Man'' is a policemen notorious for his callousness and brutality, with far more enemies than friends.
** The victim in a subplot in ''The Terrorists'' is a tax-cheating, drug-using pornographer who got teenaged girls too high to understand that they were agreeing to appear in his movies, causing many people to loathe him.
* ''Literature/SixSuspects'': Vicky Rai was such a terrible person, who victimized so many people (his most recent and infamous crime was murdering a bartender for refusing to serve him a drink after the bar had closed), that there are no less than [[TitleDrop six suspects]] in his murder. Not only is his own father among the suspects, it's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:his father did in fact order a hit on him because he had become a liability, though it was never carried out]]. Ultimately it turns out [[spoiler:the murderer wasn't any of the six suspects, it was a journalist who was tired of seeing men like Vicky Rai get away with so much, and was never suspected because he had no personal connection to him.]]
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
** In the ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce'' novel "Bloodlines" Han Solo's evil cousin Thracken Sal-Solo is killed by Boba Fett's granddaughter Mitra Gev. Not knowing it was her, Corellian Security ([=CorSec=]) has to work through a fair number of suspects given how many wanted Sal-Solo dead and how many are taking credit for the death.
*** Later, in the novel "Sacrifice" Sal-Solo's replacement Dur Gejjen was assassinated by Ben Skywalker under orders from his cousin Jacen, and [=CorSec=] doesn't realize Skywalker was the real killer. Contacted later by Luke Skywalker, Han tells his brother-in-law that given how many people wanted Gejjen dead [=CorSec=] is having trouble organizing the sheer number of suspects into a coherent list. Once again several groups that had nothing to do with the murder claim credit for it.

* Mrs Boyle in ''Theatre/TheMousetrap'' spends most of her time on stage pissing and moaning, coming across consistently as a reactionary, entitled, elitist, obnoxious, and just generally unbearable person. She dies at the end of the first act, and if it wasn't for the "three blind mice" motif leading to a high chance of another death, there wouldn't be much of a mystery because it would be hard to ''care'' who killed her. The first "blind mouse", Maureen Lyon, was also this (although in her case she died before the play's beginning). She was an abusive foster parent to the three Corrigan brothers, which led to one of them dying (her husband also took part in it, but died in prison). It's suspected that the killer is targeting people who were involved in the Corrigan case (Mrs. Boyle was the judge who placed the Corrigans with the Lyons), out of revenge for the youngest brother's death.

* The ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate'' DLC ''Dreadful Crimes'' includes a mystery titled "The Most Hated Man in London", where the trick is that the titular John Ashton has not one, not two, but '''five''' murderers, all acting independently within the space of about fifteen minutes, leaving the Frye twins to figure out who gets the credit (and criminal charges) of actually killing the man.
* In ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', the Hanged Man, the victim of the main case, turns out to be a scummy, racist mercenary hired by the Wild Pines group to break up the strike of the Dockworkers' Union. The Hardie Boys, the militant arm of the Union, fully and freely admit to have lynched the guy and dare you to do something about it. [[spoiler: They lie. They only hanged him post-mortem; the true killer and his motives turns out to be (mostly) unrelated to the struggle between the Union and Wild Pines.]]
* The first ''VideoGame/NancyDrew'' game, ''Secrets Can Kill,'' has Nancy posing as a high school student to find out who murdered Jake Rogers. It turns out everyone had a motive to kill Jake, as he'd been blackmailing all of the suspects over different secrets.
* The first murder victim in ''VideoGame/{{Pentiment}}'', [[spoiler: Baron Rothvogel]], turns out to have been a violent lecherous rapist who gave many different people ample reason to want him dead.

** ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll''

** ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'' has a couple from the second game: First up is actually the ''culprit'' of the very first case of the first game, namely Jezaile Brett a racist englishwoman who was nearly a KarmaHoudini thanks to a conspiracy between the English and japanese higher ups. Susato, Yujin and the defendant Rei Membami all had a motive to kill her, but it was Raiten Menimemo the "journo" who killed her by spiking her drink with poison and using a knife to frame Rei.
** In the second case, we have failed actor William Shamspeare, a gas thief who made plenty of enemies, and tried to kill Soseki Natsume via suffocation by blowing air into the gas pipe. Oh and he's also an ex con. But ir was the far more sympathetic CrusadingWidow of his victim that nearly killed him.
** The following case we have Odie Asman, who's ill intentions and vile deeds are spelled out in his name. But for context sake, he was a criminal journalist who ruined the lives of several people, including the ones who schemed to kill him through blackmail. Enoch Drebber may have set up the murder but the one to actually kill him was the coroner herself.
* The victim in the MurderMystery VisualNovel ''VisualNovel/{{Jisei}}'' was working with her company to steal information from a rival corporation, but decided to doublecross her employer in favor of a third party that offered her more money.

* In the ''[[Literature/TheMoomins Moominvalley]]'' episode "The Strange Case of Mrs Fillyjonk", Moominmama has been accused of murdering Mrs Fillyjonk, Moominpapa, trying to clear her name, says he can't imagine why anyone would want to kill Mrs Fillyjonk. After a {{Montage}} of her barking disapproval at Snufkin, the Hemulen, the Muskrat, the Snork Maiden, Little My, and the Woodsies, he concludes the answer is everyone in Moominvalley.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Mr. Burns survives the events of the two-part episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsWhoShotMrBurns Who Shot Mr. Burns]]" after being shot by an unseen gunman. The whole idea of the {{Cliffhanger}} is that practically ''everyone'' in Springfield wanted to kill him, and in many cases, few would have blamed them. However, not only does he survive, the shooting was (presumably) an accident, making it a subversion twice-over.[[note]]In a twist, the shooter was someone who would probably be declared legally incapable of pre-meditating murder - Maggie Simpson. The Aesop here is that life is too fragile to assume everything is murder, and death can come from where you least expect it.[[/note]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Mr. Burns survives the events of the two-part episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsWhoShotMrBurns Who Shot Mr. Burns]]" after being shot by an unseen gunman. The whole idea of the {{Cliffhanger}} is that practically ''everyone'' in Springfield wanted to kill him, and in many cases, few would have blamed them. However, not only does he survive, the shooting was (presumably) an accident, making it a subversion twice-over.[[note]]In a twist, the shooter was someone who would probably be declared legally incapable of pre-meditating murder - Maggie Simpson. The Aesop here is that life is too fragile to assume everything is murder, and death can come from where you least expect it... [[ViewersAreMorons but nobody submitted the correct answer]], meaning they had to retcon the episode to fit the most interesting submission, stating that Smithers accidentally took the shot in a fit of rage. He gets a pay cut.[[/note]]

** In the second case, we have failed actor William Shamspeare, a gas thief who made plenty of enemies, and tried to kill Soseki Natsume by blowing air into the gas. Oh and he's also an ex con. But ir was the far more sympathetic CrusadingWidow of his victim that nearly killed him.