Line #132 Main/EveryoneIsASuspect


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5	[[quoteright:252:[[Franchise/ThePinkPanther https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/suspect3.png]]]]
6	[[caption-width-right:252:[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou Including YOU!]]]]
7
8	->''"They'll give statements and be eliminated, the rest of the Badge of Honor crew will be alibied, and then we'll only have the rest of Hollywood to deal with."''
9	-->-- '''D.A. Ellis Loew''', ''Film/LAConfidential''
10
11	One of the key questions in detective stories is: who has a motive? Usually that only serves to narrow things down, as there are two or three people with a plausible motive, and even then a whole other person can turn out to be the actual killer. Sometimes the opposite happens: every single person in the general vicinity has a reason to want the victim dead.
12
13	Not only was the victim [[AssholeVictim a horrible human being whom everybody hated on general principle]], but the victim also had specifically wronged all the other characters. [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole The killer could have been anyone]]. This is a common reason for a ChekhovsParty, because it'll usually turn out a lot of important suspects were collected together for some reason.
14
15	Sometimes everyone's a suspect because EverybodyDidIt.
16
17	Long story short, it's better to have lots and lots of suspects, because that is part of what makes it a mystery.
18
19	----
20	!!Examples:
21
22	[[foldercontrol]]
23
24	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
25	* ''Manga/CaseClosed'' has a few of these. Sometimes there is only one real suspect, who the audience knows is guilty because there is no one else (and Conan figures it out pretty quick too), [[ReverseWhodunnit and the question is how they did it]]. Then there are some episodes where you have a few suspects. Then some episodes that really define this trope.
26	* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'', we find out everyone is trapped in [[spoiler: a witch barrier]]. Homura directly realizes anyone could be the one causing it. She ends up suspecting Bebe, since Homura never saw her before. [[spoiler: It was ''[[TomatoInTheMirror Homura herself]]'']].
27	* Oddly enough, since victims in ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' tend to be... just about everyone, just about everyone ''also'' winds up being a suspect. This helps to contribute to the drama, since Battler is trying to prove that the murders weren't committed supernaturally but doesn't want to suspect his family and friends.
28	** ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' leans towards this in the question arcs as well, as the narrator gets increasingly ProperlyParanoid about what is going on. [[spoiler:HatePlague is a wonderful thing.]]
29	[[/folder]]
30
31	[[folder:Comic Books]]
32	* In the classic ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' arc, "The Death of Jean [=DeWolff=]", Detective Stan Carter makes a statement to Spider-man that anyone in New York could be a suspect in Jean [=DeWolff=]'s death, even he himself. [[spoiler:This is a SarcasticConfession not just an observation; Carter ''is'' the Sin-Eater, the supervillain who killed [=DeWolff=].]]
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
36	* A ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' strip parodies this and TheButlerDidIt with a murder mystery that takes place at a butler's convention.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Fan Works]]
40	* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': "The Murder Mystery" is a classic whodunit story. Here, The Director has been murdered -- and given how strongly disliked he was, all the characters except Penny have a motive to kill him.
41	* ''Fanfic/HeroChat'' has the students make another movie, with Nino writing the script. The spin-off ''Team Miraculous'' shows it in more detail. It's a murder mystery, and one of the features is that everyone has a motive: the victim's wife, his mistress, his daughter, his daughter's boyfriend on the kitchen staff, his brother who is also his business partner, and even [[spoiler:[[DetectiveMole the detective]], who had her own reasons for hating the victim, and was more looking for a FallGuy in the suspect with the flimsiest defense: the daughter, whom she tried to frame upon establishing the daughter's lack of an alibi, but is defeated in a fencing duel and the daughter tells the others what the detective foolishly [[JustBetweenYouAndMe confessed to her at the confrontation]].]]
42	* In ''Fanfic/TheParselmouthOfGryffindor'', it comes to light that Moody suspected ''everyone'' of being the traitor in the Order of the Phoenix. Even [[MindScrew himself]].
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
46	* ''Film/EightWomen'': The titular women, which are the total cast besides the victim, are all suspected of committing the murder once it becomes clear it couldn't have been someone from outside, and almost all of them have plausible motives. [[spoiler:None of them did it, the victim actually faked his murder with the help of the youngest daughter. And then he kills himself.]]
47	* The premise of ''Film/ByWhoseHand'' (1932), which opens with a man on a train being stabbed by an unseen figure and then rolls back four hours to show several different passengers all with different potential motives.
48	* The movie ''Film/{{Clue}}'' had all the protagonists as {{Blackmail}} victims of the actual victim. [[HeKnowsTooMuch Murder ensues]] ...
49	* In ''Film/TheCrimeDoctorsStrangestCase'', everyone in Walter Burns' household has a motive for his murder: some more obscure than others.
50	* ''Film/CrookedHouse'': Everyone is Aristide Leonides' household had a reason for wanting him dead: his second wife, his sister-in-law, his sons, his daughters-in-law, his grandchildren, the tutor, the nanny... And the method used--MedicationTampering--was one that any of them could have employed.
51	* This was the premise of the film ''Film/DrowningMona''.
52	* The murder mystery of ''Film/GosfordPark'' centers on an AssholeVictim who everyone has motive to kill. The cops focus on the elite upstairs, but half the staff have reason to kill him, too.
53	* ''Film/InTheCut'': Practically everyone who comes into contact with Frannie is a possible suspect. Frannie herself could be a suspect, since the murder victim's severed limb was found in her garden.
54	* ''Film/KnivesOut'': Benoit Blanc's efforts to solve Harlan Thrombey's murder are complicated by the fact that everyone in Thrombey's BigScrewedUpFamily had motive to kill the man; Thrombey had been clearing house prior to his death by cutting all his family off in an effort make them shape up, leaving a lot of them screwed over and nursing a grudge against the patriarch. So the question becomes not which of Thrombey's family had motive to kill him, but which of them was the quickest to actually get around to it. [[spoiler:That would be Ransom.]]
55	* Both parodied and subverted in the movie ''Film/MurderByDeath''. The "suspects" are all of the guests and the house staff; with the guests consisting of parodies of many the most well-known literary and movie detectives -- Sam Spade, Film/CharlieChan, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Nick and Nora Charles -- all of whom had reasons to kill the host, which come up during the course of the film. The host is killed shortly after the guests arrive; after announcing that he will be killed, and [[GenreSavvy offering scathing critiques of the various tropes and devices used]] typically used by said detectives, via their parody {{Captain Ersatz}}s. Subverted in that [[spoiler: the host is not actually dead, but faked his death to demonstrate the inferiority of the methods used by his guests, and his ability to outsmart them all. Or did he?]]
56	* In ''Film/MurderMystery'', Nick and Audrey quickly determine motives for all of the other guests on the yacht. [[spoiler:Five of the eight were involved to one degree or another.]]
57	* The ''Film/{{Scream}}'' films, the first of which even has the resident MetaGuy Randy [[LampshadeHanging yelling out this exact phrase]]. In the [[Film/Scream1996 first]] and [[Film/Scream3 third]] films, the killer turns out to be [[spoiler:somebody who [[FakingTheDead faked their death]] at Ghostface's hands, meaning that you can't even scratch somebody off the list of suspects when Ghostface kills them!]] Furthermore, the Ghostface costume is a cheap, mass-produced Halloween costume in-universe, which means that pretty much anyone can afford to buy it.
58	* In ''Film/AShotInTheDark'', Clouseau has assembled all the people in the mansion, and tells his tale in preparation for having the killer confess by trying to escape the room. When the lights go off, they ALL try to escape. Every single one of them was responsible for one of the murders in the movie (or [[OffstageVillainy prior to it]]), except for one who was a blackmailer. [[spoiler: And the killer who was repeatedly trying to murder Clouseau seemingly to get him off their trail...was actually his own boss, and they were ''actually'' trying to kill him just because they couldn't stand him and nothing to do with his investigations, except that they were so bumbling and inept that they drove his boss insane.]]
59	* Parodied endlessly in the ''Scream'' spoof ''Film/ShriekIfYouKnowWhatIDidLastFridayTheThirteenth'':
60	** All five major characters admit that they have good reasons why they would want to kill at least one of the other four, but none of them are the killer, who is hiding out [[RightUnderTheirNoses right under the table they’re convening at]].
61	** Also, for no apparent reason both [[spoiler:Officer Doughy and news reporter Hagatha]] are wearing the exact same boots as the killer, while [[spoiler:the principal]] has an exact match of the killer's entire outfit just lying around.
62	** Boner casually mentions that he could kill all his friends if he wanted to, eliciting concerned or shocked looks on their faces. Then in a spontaneously upbeat tone he says that [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial of course he wouldn't]].
63	** Dawson is accused of having killed his entire family, and [[spoiler:the others dumped him in the sea while he was wearing a deer costume, mistaking him for a real animal]].
64	* ''Film/TheThing1982'' creates its notorious sense of paranoia from this, though in this case it isn't so much "anyone could have committed the murder" as "any one of twelve men could in fact be a hostile shape-shifting alien capable of creating a perfect copy of people that it kills". Naturally, a good chunk of the plot is simply driven by the guys trying to figure out who to trust.
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Literature]]
68	* ''Literature/TwentySixSixtySix'': So much so that the authorities arrested [[spoiler: Klaus]] just so they could make it appear progress was being made in the investigation.
69	* In ''Literature/{{Barrayar}}'', Simon Illyan has a short list and a long list of suspects in an attempted assassination of Aral Vorkosigan, and "Everyone's on my long list."
70	* In one of Creator/GKChesterton's mysteries, various people try to consult the blackmailer during the day and come back claiming that he refused to stop fishing. In actuality, he had been murdered. Each one is cleared when it is revealed that they too had been his victims and so had been afraid that they would be accused.
71	* Creator/AgathaChristie:
72	** The Literature/HerculePoirot novel ''Literature/DeathOnTheNile'' put the murder victim on a boat with seemingly everyone who hated her. It came so that the reader could figure out who did it, as there were only two characters who were cleared of the murder due to physical impossibility; naturally, they were our killers.
73	** The [[EverybodyDidIt famous twist]] of ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'' ''relies'' on this being an established trope so the reader doesn't think ''too'' much on what a coincidence it is that everyone in the train car except for the detective becomes a suspect.
74	** An interesting subversion is in the Literature/MissMarple story ''Literature/APocketFullOfRye'', where the actual murderer deliberately plots out the murder to tie in to the "Sing a Song of Sixpence" rhyme, which would incriminate (by chain of association) a brother and sister pair who had been told every day by their mother to wreak revenge on the murder victim who had wronged them in days of yore. Miss Marple concludes, correctly, that the siblings had much better sense than to waste their lives with revenge, but deduces that the sister ''did'' get back at the murder victim by marrying his son.
75	** ''Literature/TheMurderOfRogerAckroyd''. Readers of today can't imagine what a shock it was in 1926 to have the culprit of a detective novel turn out to be [[spoiler:[[UnreliableNarrator the first-person narrator]]]]. The killer [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this trope in the end by admitting even they were confused by how much everyone else looked like they might have done it, and why their relatively straighforward crime was befuddled by contradictory evidence that seemed to show it could ''not'' have happened the way it really did- it turned out most of the suspects were lying or planting fake clues to hide their own secrets and crimes, which made them more suspicious.
76	** Surprisingly -- and yet believably -- subverted in ''Literature/PerilAtEndHouse''. The detective compiles a seemingly complete list of suspects, and yet in the end it turns out that neither the main culprit (despite being there and well-known by everybody for all the time) nor one of the minor ones are on it.
77	** Another good example is ''Literature/CardsOnTheTable'' whose plot is familiar to anyone who has seen the ''Film/{{Clue}}'' film. A nasty guy invites a bunch of people to a party on the premise that all of them are scoundrels (in this case, specifically that they've all committed murder and gotten away with it) and pretty much blackmails them. Naturally, the host bites it, and there is a note at the beginning of the novel to the effect that all of them would be capable of murder if pressed.
78	** And the similar premise of ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'', in which [[TenLittleMurderVictims ten people]] are invited to an island because they've all committed murder in such a way that they could not be blamed for it -- deliberate neglect, emotional abuse driving a victim to suicide, sentencing an innocent man to death, etc. -- and then killing them all off in the manner of the nursery rhyme.
79	* ''Literature/{{Fatherland}}'': When a prominent German politician is murdered in his home, the lead detective immediately raises the question of who might have a motive. Unfortunately for him, this is an AlternateHistory and said politician was a veteran SS officer who served in Nazi-occupied Poland, so the list of people with either a political or personal grudge against him is rather long. [[spoiler: Ironically, he turns out to have been murdered by his own government because [[HeKnowsTooMuch he knew too much]] about the Holocaust.]]
80	* In ''[[Literature/TheFatherLukeWolfeTrilogy Father, Forgive Them]]'', numerous people were in the room when Dr. Curtland died, and admit to how much they would have liked to kill him, and that they had a means of doing so at the time. Predictably, [[spoiler:the real murderer is none of them]].
81	* This happens frequently in Michael Dahl's ''Literature/FinneganZwake'' books, particularly ''The Ruby Raven''.
82	* ''The Shapla Case'', from the ''Literature/{{Kadingir}}'' series, begins with the murder of [[spoiler: King Kuzu]]. It is also the book with the largest cast, and almost all of them are suspects: [[BlackWidow the Queen]], [[SelfMadeOrphan his many children]], [[KlingonPromotion the members of the State Council]], [[{{Pirate}} the pirates]], TheMafia, [[TheKingslayer the anti-royalists]], TheMole... the list goes on.
83	* Parodied in "Literature/TheMacbethMurderMystery" by Creator/JamesThurber. Having identified the ''true'' murderer of King Duncan, the protagonist announces that he's going to tackle ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' next. "But who do you suspect?" "Everybody."
84	* In ''Literature/MaroonedInRealtime'', Brierson notes early in the investigation that motive isn't going to be much use in narrowing down the suspects, because all the people who could have killed Marta had some reason for resenting her personally or for wanting her colony project to fail. Later, Brierson deliberately makes himself a target to see which of the well-armed people attack him. Except for his partner, they all do. (Strictly speaking, all their automated weaponry does, because it's been subverted by the murderer; it doesn't mean they're all guilty, but does prevent him from ruling any of them out.)
85	* Any of the men on the pilgrimage could have murdered the children in ''Literature/MistressOfTheArtOfDeath''.
86	* In the novel ''Never Trust a Dead Man'' by Creator/VivianVandeVelde, Farold - [[WhodunnitToMe the murder victim]] - is terribly depressed to realize just how many of the people he knew have plausible reasons for wanting him dead.
87	* In ''Literature/{{Pale}}'' the protagonists are asked by their town's insular magical community of Others to look into the murder of the Carmine Beast. Since outsiders can't enter the town undetected, they know that at least one of the local Others must be responsible.
88	* In both the [[Literature/PrettyLittleLiars book]] and TV series of ''Series/PrettyLittleLiars'', most of the supporting characters are suspects at some point in Ali De Laurentis' murder.
89	* In Boris Akunin's ''Seagull'', not only is everyone a suspect, but there's also an alternate ending for each suspect to be the culprit. [[spoiler:Including the detective himself.]]
90	* In the ''Literature/{{Under Suspicion\|Series}}'' novels, a central part of the premise - of both the books and the in-universe reality TV show - is that the featured [[RevisitingTheColdCase cold cases]] have several plausible suspects; generally-speaking, the majority of the main cast (with the exception of the production crew) are all "under suspicion" for a crime, with all of them potentially having motive, means and opportunity. The suspects agree to take part in ''Under Suspicion'' and be interviewed for a chance to ClearMyName and tell ''their'' side of things; even if they are guilty or at least have something else to hide, they're still compelled take part because they know it'll make them look ''more'' suspicious if they don't. Specific examples include ''Literature/IveGotYouUnderMySkin'' (the victim was murdered in her own home, where in addition to being under the same roof as several suspects because her daughter's friends slept over, she'd managed to [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole personally wrong all of them in some way]]) and ''Literature/TheCinderellaMurder'' (the victim wasn't a bad person this time, but there are still lots of people close to her who may have had motive to kill her and all of them would've known where she was headed that night).
91	* Creator/JohnWCampbell's "Literature/WhoGoesThere" is the basis for ''The Thing'' (mentioned in the Film section). As noted, the problem is that you can't tell who ... or ''what'' ... might have been co-opted by the shapeshifting alien. One of the characters reasons that there must be several humans left, since if the real humans were already hopelessly outnumbered by fakes it wouldn't be bothering to hide still ... the trick is finding out which ones they are.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
95	* In Season 3 of Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy, the main plot revolves around the murder of [[spoiler: Bryce Walker. Since he had hurt everyone at some point while he was alive, every other main character is a suspect.]]
96	* ''Series/{{Borgia}}'': At least half the cast has reason to want [[spoiler:Juan]] dead.
97	* ''Series/{{Castle\|2009}}'' - "Everyone looks guilty to me, it's a job requirement."
98	** Parodied; Beckett's words are echoed by Castle, in a [[LargeHam much more dramatic fashion]] than Beckett's matter-of-fact statement, later in the episode. His daughter Alexis then points out that he just a minute before asserted that someone couldn't ''possibly'' have been a suspect. Castle, slightly peevishly, tells her to just let him have his moment.
99	** The writers of this show ''love'' this trope. Sometimes it's an AssholeVictim, but sometimes it's just a perfectly normal person with very bad judgment in personal relationships. In one particular episode, it turned out that even though the victim was a more or less likable person, her fiance, classmate, employer and client all had motives to kill her. The killer turned out to be [[spoiler: her roommate]].
100	** In the second Nikki Heat tie-in novel, when asked about who might have a motive to kill the victim (a rather vicious critic), the Castle expy suggests getting a copy of the Manhattan phone book and starting with A.
101	* In every episode of the ''[[TabletopGame/{{Clue}} Clue]]'' TV series, it was explicitly set up so every character would have a reason to want the victim of the week dead.
102	* ''{{Series/Dallas}}'': One of the reasons "Who shot J.R.?" spawned fanon on a scale never seen before or since was that ''every'' named character in the series had compelling reasons to want him dead.
103	* This was par for the course in ''Series/ElleryQueen''. Everyone who knew the victim would have a reason for wanting them dead.
104	* ''Series/GetSmart'' has an awesome recurring character who is a detective so thorough he considered '''himself''' a suspect until he finds evidence clearing his name.
105	* The episode "Not Guilty" of ''Series/GilligansIsland'' centers around the possibility that one of the castaways might be a murderer. The murder victim stole the Professor's work, embezzled the Howells, cheated on Ginger while she was engaged to him, bankrupted Mary Ann's father, and all five confronted him the night he was killed. [[spoiler:Turns out his death was actually an accident and they're all innocent.]]
106	* An episode of ''Series/TheGlades'' had a murder victim who was a divorce attorney. The main character said it best: Half the state of Florida were suspects.
107	* ''Series/LawAndOrder'':
108	** In the episode "Vendetta", Detectives Briscoe and Green investigate the murder of the [[RippedFromTheHeadlines in-story equivalent]] of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Bartman_incident Steve Bartman]]. Every fan of the relevant baseball team is a suspect.
109	** Another time they had a murder victim who was involved in construction. Van Buren snarks, "Construction. You've got fifty suspects before you do your first interview," alluding to the mob's involvement in that business.
110	* ''Literature/LessonsForAPerfectDetectiveStory'': This is the theme of episode four (and is parodied) as nobody in the house had a proper alibi and everybody reveals they had a perfect motive for killing him at rapid speed. Naturally the one person who didn't want him dead was mentally unwell so easily could have as well. Fujii points out that perhaps EverybodyDidIt but Tenkaichi dismisses it because it's boring. In the end, [[spoiler:nobody did it. He killed himself]].
111	* ''Series/MannerOfDeath'': Everyone in this small town acts suspicious enough to be the murderer or to at least be partly involved. It just gets worse as the series goes on.
112	* ''Series/{{MASH}}'': Hawkeye is suspected of theft after stolen items turn up in his foot locker. He calls a midnight order in the mess tent of pertinent personell and (dressed in detective garb) begins weeding out suspects. He says the thief gave himself away with the last round of thefts as Hawkeye had treated the items with a solution that turns fingernails blue. Everybody looks at their fingernails in puzzlement--everybody except the Swamp houseboy, who hides his hands. Hawkeye was bluffing to allow the thief to give himself away.
113	* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': not only is everyone a suspect due to everyone in Midsomer being [[AssholeVictim a petty, vicious little scumbag]] with about three skeletons per closet, by the end of the episode [[NeverOneMurder half of them will be dead]] (not always for reasons pertaining to the original murder).
114	* ''Series/MillionYenWomen'': The premise of the series is that some unknown person sent invitations to five women to come live in the home of Shin, a struggling writer. The sender's identity is one of the mysteries of the story. Eventually, [[spoiler:one of the women comes to the conclusion that the person who sent the invitations is someone Shin knows]]. After that, the five women and all other people who were shown to be part of Shin's life for the first half of the series comes across as potentially being the invitation sender.
115	* In episodes of ''Series/MurderSheWrote'', you can usually guess who will be the first character to die: he or she will be the one systematically making every other cast member want him dead.
116	* ''Series/TeenWolf'': A recurring device used in the show. Throughout Season 1, suspicion for being the Alpha is levelled at Derek Hale, Adrian Harris, Alan Deaton, and a few other adults who aren't hunters. In Season 2, there are numerous candidates for the Kanima(and later its Master). In Season 3a, nobody knows who the Darach is, and in 3b several of the main characters are considered for the Nogitsune. In Seasons 4 and 5, the Benefactor, the Hybrids, and the Beast of Gevaudan all fulfil the mandatory 'mysterious figure the cast need to learn the identity of'.
117	* Played for laughs (naturally) in ''Series/ATouchOfCloth'', particularly with murder victim Aiden Hawkchurch, whose ShrineToSelf wall of magazine covers feature publications like "Enemymaker" and headlines like "Someone Kill Him Already!". Asked for a list of people who ''didn't'' hate him, his wife names famously cheery RealLife Radio DJ Henry Kelly, ''and that's it.'' As soon as Cloth and Oldman turn on the radio in their car, they hear Henry Kelly crowing delightedly about Hawkchurch being murdered.
118	* In the Fight Club episode of ''Series/VampireProsecutor'', everyone in the club is suspected of killing the victim as they had battled him one after another, piling on the life-threatening injuries.
119	* The basis of soaps "Whodunit?" murder mysteries, as the victim is usually an AssholeVictim who has managed to piss off everyone in the cast before being killed.
120	* In every episode of ''Series/WhodunnitUK'', every character in the episode apart from the VictimOfTheWeek and (sometimes) the investigators is a viable suspect.
121	* As the eponymous ''Series/NancyDrew2019 investigates the death of Tiffany Hudson, the list of suspects starts with the half dozen or so people remaining in the vicinity of the murder and expands to more and more of the town as she learns that Tiffany had a lot of enemies. Not helping the case are the supernatural elements to the show with a ghost maybe helping, maybe hindering the investigation.
122	[[/folder]]
123
124	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
125	* ''TabletopGame/{{Clue}}'': There are six playable characters, all of whom are suspects in a murder. ''The killer themself'' is unaware of their own guilt, and can in fact win the game by successfully accusing themself.
126	* In the board game ''Kill Doctor Lucky'', the players compete with each other to be the one to finally finish the old man off.
127	* In the tabletop game "Lie Detector/Spy Detector" (same game, different artwork), any of the 24 pictured witnesses can be the criminal/spy: for each one of them, five or six of the statements provided by other witnesses are true and the other eighteen (including their own) are false. A 25th card provides a "hot tip" (which can be the sixth true statement) from someone in disguise who cannot be the criminal/spy.
128	[[/folder]]
129
130	[[folder:Theater]]
131	* In ''Theatre/TheAltos'', as with many Murder Mysteries, everyone has motive and opportunity for killing the deceased.
132	%% * ''Theatre/TheMousetrap'' with rather predictable outcome.
133	* Several characters in ''Theatre/TheBat'' are suspected at one time or another of killing Dick Fleming.
134	* In ''Theatre/MarginForError'', even before Consul Karl Baumer is killed, Denny is keeping a running count of how many of the people in his office want him dead. Denny, Sophie, Max, Otto and Dr. Jennings all have personal motives for his murder; though Moe wasn't in the room at the time, he considers being Jewish enough for some people to suspect him for killing the Consul.
135	[[/folder]]
136
137	[[folder:Video Games]]
138	* Almost every character introduced in ''VideoGame/CriminalCase'' have a potential to become suspects -- including members of the Police force. In fact, three of the Player's teammates have wound up on the suspect list, and one of them actually ''was'' guilty of the crime.
139	* In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', almost every case has every character as a suspect. Since all of the characters are trapped inside the school and are required to murder another student to graduate, it is inevitable that everyone would have a motive, even if they did not want the victim to be dead.
140	* ''VideoGame/LoveAndPies'': Yuka gives Amelia a list of everyone who she says could have possibly been behind the arson attack on the cafe. This list includes all the main characters, even Amelia's family and friends like Yuka herself. [[spoiler:The real culprit wasn't on the list.]]
141	* When ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' fans finally [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTj6tauY1JU meet the Spy]], he's introduced by way of a rather tense realization: Since nobody killed a Red Spy on the way in, he could be [[TenLittleMurderVictims in this very room]]. [[spoiler: The presence of a [[TriggerHappy Soldier]] makes the [[RedHerringMole situation]] even more hazardous than it is already.]]
142	* When you start ''VideoGame/TownOfSalem'' everyone is pleasant to one another... But after the first night and the bodies start piling, the accusations start flying.
143	[[/folder]]
144
145	[[folder:Web Animation]]
146	* ''WebAnimation/TheAccuser'': When a lawyer is found dead, one of the cops assigned to the case hinted that the victim's former legal partner might have something to do with that. When another one mentioned mentioned said partner's handicap (being wheelchair bound) as a reason to rule him out as a suspect, the cop who accused the victim's partner invoked the trope.
147	[[/folder]]
148
149	[[folder:Western Animation]]
150	* On Hanna-Barbera's ''WesternAnimation/ClueClub'', Larry has Sheriff Bagley round up everyone involved in the episode's crime and peg out each's possible motive for committing it before revealing the actual criminal.
151	* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episode "Golem," Terry notes that whoever hijacked a large construction robot and had it go on a rampage deliberately had the robot start the rampage by totaling the new car of JerkJock Nelson Nash. When Bruce asks if anyone had a motive to want to hurt said jock, Terry replied "The line starts with me, and goes around the block. ''Twice''."
152	* The hour-long ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "And Then There Were Fewer," James Woods is murdered at a gathering he put on for people he had previously wronged in some way. Therefore, to paraphrase how Lois and Mayor West put it, "According to James Woods, ''everyone'' had a motive--but he had wronged one of us enough to actually want him dead." The killer turned out to be [[spoiler: Diane Simmons, who planned to kill Woods for having dumped her [[OldMaid after she turned 40]], and frame Tom Tucker for the crime to get back at him for replacing her with a younger co-anchor]].
153	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': When someone graffitis an image of a penis onto a bathroom door, Kaeloo takes it upon herself to play detective and identify which of her friends was the party responsible. Unfortunately, as she thinks about it, she realizes that all of them have potential motivations for doing so, so they're all suspects.
154	* In the ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' episode "Rogercop", Chloe's new bracelet goes missing, and Marinette points out that, as there's no real evidence, anyone in the class could have stolen it. However, this reasoning is treated as being just as bad as Chloe's immediate, baseless accusations against Marinette herself. (In case you're curious, the actual culprit was Plagg, who thought the box the bracelet was in contained cheese).
155	* In the ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' episode, ''Mermysteries'', the cast tries to figure out who was responsible for the mission to retake Dryl failing so horribly. Unfortunately, there is a lack of evidence to prove which one of them did it, certain individuals do not give accurate accounts of the battle and the interrogators take all their tricks from murder mystery novels. The real culprit, who the audience knows is Double Trouble, uses the situation to [[spoiler:ensure everyone is distracted while the Horde conquers Salineas. The plan goes off without a hitch]].
156	-->'''Frosta''': Who are the suspects?
157	-->'''Mermista''': ''Everyone!''
158	* The "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" two-parter of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' developed motives for Homer, Bart, Smithers, Grampa, Moe, Barney, Skinner, Groundskeeper Willie -- basically, everybody in Springfield, as well as popular drummer Tito Puente, wanted Mr. Burns dead for rampant villainy (although some could easily be ruled out[[note]]Sideshow Mel had a knife, not a gun; Principal Skinner's gun had a silencer; Moe & Apu had guns which wouldn't wound Burns in the manner that he was; Marge Simpson & Jimbo Jones are both seen outside City Hall as a wounded Burns stumbles past; and Krusty the Clown had literally just returned to town minutes earlier.[[/note]]). Marge even says the trope name at the end of part one. It then turned out that the shooting was an accident. Burns ''did'' [[spoiler: try to steal Maggie's candy...]]
159	* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'': By the time of his death in the [[ThrownOutTheAirlock Movie Night Massacre]], several characters were shown to have ''every'' reason to kill Jonas Venture Sr and the means to do so. While initially it seemed that SPHINX was behind it, later it was confirmed that they were [[FrameUp framed]] and the identity of the real culprit became a RiddleForTheAges.
160	[[/folder]]
161
162	[[folder:Real Life]]
163	* The feudal lord of the small Spanish town of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuente_Obejuna Fuente Obejuna]] was murdered in 1475. Since this happened during a Portuguese invasion of the region and the town was of strategic importance the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermandad Santa Hermandad]]'' put a lot of effort into the investigation of the murder, down to [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing]] several of the main suspects... yet they couldn't break any, and the only answers they got were pretty much that the guy was an [[AssholeVictim ass]], that everybody hated him and that the killer had been [[EverybodyDidIt the whole Fuente Obejuna]]. The Catholic Monarchs accepted this explanation and pardoned the town. A fictionalized version of the incident is told in the 17th century play ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuenteovejuna Fuenteovejuna]]'' by Lope de Vega.
164	* The murder of Ken [=McElroy=], a local farmer in the town of Skidmore, Missouri, remains unsolved largely for this reason. He was killed when he was out on bail for shooting a local store clerk... but as it turned out, he had been committing a litany of crimes of varying degrees of severity over the course of the past few decades (being accused of rape, arson, theft, killing local pets and livestock, and a dozen other things besides), but had managed to wriggle out of consequences every time due to a mixture of threatening witnesses and a highly competent lawyer. While leaving behind a large gathering of people who had come together after he bragged about his plans to finish the job on that clerk, two bullets hit him from different guns. [[ConspicuouslyPublicAssassination There were over forty witnesses]], all of whom had cause to fear him, many of whom had been personally wronged by him, and a good number of whom were armed. On top of all that, barring his wife, who never saw the shooter, none of the people there were willing to come forward and testify who took the shot.
165	* Canadian weapons engineer Gerald Bull, who at that time was working on the "Project Babylon" supergun for Iraq, was assassinated outside his flat in Belgium in early 1990. However, it is unlikely that it will ever conclusively be known who ordered his murder - his work over the years had made him a likely target for Israel, Iran, the CIA, [=MI6=], Syria, and Chile.
166	[[/folder]]

Context Main / EveryoneIsASuspect