History KarmaHoudini / Literature

** In ''[[Literature/TheHoundOfTheDurbervilles The Hound of the D'Urbervilles]]'', about Moriarty and Moran, Moran even though he meets his canon fate-being arrested for murder because of Holmes following the end of The Great Hiatus-he gets let out after a few years, as opposed to being hanged. Its implied that Moriarty's criminal Firm, though busted, was not totally broken, and Moriarty, as former number two, still had some juice.
** ''Literature/AStudyInScarlet'':
*** Two men who years ago were responsible for the death of an old man and the forced marriage and death of his daughter avoided any punishment for years. Subverted in that the daughter's former lover, in prison at the time of the events, decides to become karma's messenger and executioner.
*** The killer dies in prison of an aortic aneurysm before he can be brought to trial.

* In Rumer Godden's children's novel ''The Dolls' House'', the villainess Marchpane, after enslaving the other dolls and turning their owners to neglect them in her favour, successfully sets a trap to lead Mrs. Plantagenet to incinerate herself in the fireplace. She is not punished, just sent back to her previous existence as a museum exhibit.as

** At least until after his death, the "good" people in the series seem to think Dumbledore can do no wrong. Harry hates the Dursleys for being abusive, but not Dumbledore for foisting him off on them in the first place when there were much more pleasant obtions. He hates Snape for being a vindictive and unfair teacher, but not Dumbledore for hiring him. Or for hiring any of the fraudulent and incompetent teachers Hogwarts is littered with! Cedric Diggory died due to Dumbledore's negligence (hiring a Death Eater in disguise). Other students have come very close to dying during his reign, such as Snape during his schooldays when Sirius Black tried to kill him (and didn't suffer any consquences for it), or Harry himself several times. Dumbledore never allowed Hagrid to finish school but then hired him as a teacher despite his being completely unqualified for the post. Hagrid promptly introduced the students to dangerous animals, including one who injured Draco Malfoy. Yet any attempts by Mr Malfoy, the Ministry, or anyone else at removing Dumbledore (or even Hagrid) are presented as evil, and Dumbledore is presented as the best Headmaster Hogwarts could possibly have.

* Happens to some villains in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', even though there are two more books to be written. Not only does [[MagnificentBastard Littlefinger]] never get punished for his ChronicBackstabbingDisorder, he's one of the only characters who actually comes out of ''every single book'' better than he started it.

* Creator/EdgarAllanPoe:
** ''Literature/TheCaskOfAmontillado'', Montresor details how he immured his friend in a wall over a perceived insult, and reveals that it's been 50 years since this happened, and that he has gotten away with it. Montresor even [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this by saying successful {{Revenge}} is only complete when retribution doesn't overtake the redresser.
** Subverted in a different short story. ''The Imp of the Perverse'', where the narrator commits murder and gets away scot-free, but then falls victim to the titular Imp of the Perverse, the urge everyone has to do things they ''know'' are stupid and self-destructive. In his case, he realizes the only way he could possibly be caught is if he confessed, and the thought bothers him until he eventually gives in and confesses, causing him to be sent to prison.

* ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo'' gives us both [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Milo Minderbender]] and Aarfy. The first sells the parachutes and medical supplies of his squadron to the enemy to make money, and lets his squadron be bombed (providing location and removing defences) in order to sell cotton and ends the novel as one of the richest men in America, while the later rapes and murders a woman and gets off completely, utterly free, while the police arrest the main character standing next to Aarfy for going A.W.O.L.

** Averted in the Literature/{{Timeline 191}} storyline, ''Literature/HowFewRemain'' on. This is with Kimball being revealed as the one who sunk the destroyer USS ''Ericsson'' after the [=WW1=] Armistice was announced. The US government doesn't do anything, and then the widow of one of the ''Ericsson'''s crew comes down and puts enough lead in his chest to make damn sure he wasn't getting up. If her escape is a Karma Houdini...

** In the adaptation of ''VideoGame/MetalGear1'', While [=Vermon CaTaffy's=] plan to launch nukes across the world was thwarted, he slipped away while Justin "Solid Snake" Halley was not looking and ultimately receives no repercussions for his actions.
** Foster in the adaptation of ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' gets little more than a slap on the wrist for not only nearly blundering the world towards [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the apocalypse]], but also forcing children to do his dirty work for him, and once all is said and done ordering one of said children to kill the other.

* Rosalind in the Tana French novel ''In the Woods'' poisons her younger sisters Katy and Jessica in order to make them sick. When Katy finally wises up and stops eating anything Rosalind gives her, Rosalind arranges for Katy to be raped and murdered. Rosalind brags about this to the police, but because she's only 17, they can't use her confession because her parents weren't present when she made it.

* In ''Literature/TheFirstLaw'', Bayaz is a manipulative bastard responsible for directly killing hundreds and indirectly killing thousands, as well as extending or provoking multiple wars over personal grudges or to strengthen his personal power. Even worse, the things listed here are just over the course of the books, he's been doing this for hundreds of years beforehand as well. The Literature/TheAgeOfMadness books end with the first events that could really even be called a defeat for him, and even then it's clear he's still quite influential and working on building an even stronger base of power.

** Natasi Daala was a former Imperial admiral who oversaw the construction of the Death Star, the enslavement of genius children to build it, and the bombardment of several pacifist planets before attacking [[TheRepublic the New Republic]] ''twice'' in an attempt at AvengingTheVillain. After seemingly reforming during the Second Galactic CivilWar she's elected Chief of State of TheAlliance in ''Literature/FateOfTheJedi'', only for her to quickly reveal that she still hates the Jedi and become a PresidentEvil. After exiling Luke, [[FinalSolution attempting to reenact Order 66]], and terrorizing the public with Mandalorian SecretPolice, she's briefly PutOnAPrisonBus only to be broken out by Boba Fett. Aside from having her political ambitions crushed, she faces no real comeuppance for her ''decades'' of war crimes.

* In ''Literature/TheFirstLaw'', Bayaz proves to be a manipulative bastard who, after sacrificing thousands of innocents by provoking two wars is yet to suffer his comeuppance in the series so far.

** Anton Chigurh from ''Literature/NoCountryForOldMen''. Over the course of the book, he kills a cop, a guy who had a car he wanted, several dozen Mexican drugrunners, a harmless old woman who happened to be in the wrong place, a hotel clerk who happened to be on shift when he showed up, the hitman with a heart of gold, some more Mexicans, and the protagonist's wife. He also blows up a car just outside a pharmacy, so he can rip off some medical supplies to fix his leg. His punishment? A broken arm. Granted, this all was the point of the story's message, but still.

** Phoebus in ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', is a womanizing soldier who suffers no ill effects after allowing the woman who supposedly "killed" him to hang for the crime. However, it is implied that his marriage [[WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue at the end of the story will be an unhappy one]]. Most film adaptations of the story have him meet a more "karmically proper" fate and [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney Disney's animated adaptation]] [[AdaptationalHeroism actually turns him into a hero]] who gets the girl in the end.

** Sylvester [=McMonkey=] [=McBean=], the fix-it-up chappie from ''Literature/{{The Sneetches|AndOtherStories}}'', and quite likely the very first Karma Houdini we met as young children. Mr. [=McBean=] takes advantage of the Sneetches' prejudices again and again, charging them for his service of adding or removing the stars on their bellies. First it was just three dollars, then it was ten dollars, and so on and so on. His punishment? Mr. [=McBean=] departs a rich man toward the end of the tale. Although the Karma Houdini's actions did ultimately ''help'' the people he conned.

* A deconstructed trope in ''The Rules of Survival'' by Nancy Werlin. The main character Matthew wanted to kill his physically and emotionally abusive mother, especially after she [[PapaWolf kidnapped his little sister.]] Instead, he let her be. But she can no longer have custody over her children and can't return home out of fear of being thrown into jail for kidnapping. She would still send letters to her children, sometimes warm, sometimes threatening, but she has no power over their lives anymore. She could live her own life however she wanted, flirty and irresponsible, but as Matthew noted, she is getting older and harsh reality is catching up to her. One of her favorite tactics is using her beauty to seduce random men into doing what she wants, but as she ages, she's going to find it harder to do that.

* ''Literature/TheTournament'': [[spoiler:Crown Prince Selim]], as per history, in spite of being a medieval sex trafficker. Though the postscript about the historical figures reminds us that his life was quite ignominious.

** The Malfoys. The Malfoy family are magic Nazis, and it's pretty clear only a fraction of the crimes they've really committed is confirmed, [[LoveRedeems but because Narcissa loved her son, they get to go scot-free.]] The exception is Draco himself: Though he was an unpleasant jerk and tried to murder Dumbledore, it was done under duress, his jerkass acts sometimes got punished and he does go on to try and become a better person and changes his racist ways.