Markup View

Author: Chabal2

Nov 7th 2017 at 8:44:39 AM

Many murder mysteries specifically mention this when the victim was killed by physically violent means (stabbing, drowning...) to keep the number of suspects high. Usually takes the form of the detective asking the coroner if a woman could have done it, the coroner answering that she could have if under a strong emotion (such as, say, murderous intent).

* JudgeDee: One story has Mr. Wang claim he killed Mr. Twan and carried his body up a hill before chopping off his fingers with an apothecary's knife. The judge sees through this right away (both men being old and frail) as well as identifying the real culprit (Wang's huge but mentally-retarded son). He gives Wang a chance by stating that with his father in jail, the son will have no one to protect him, causing Wang to confess his son killed Mr. Twan as a result of a misunderstanding (the mutilation was an entirely separate event, essentially a {{Yubitsume}} gone wrong). The judge assures him that he'll see to it that his son is well taken care of, and take the circumstances for Wang's attempted perjury into account at the trial.
* One MidsomerMurders has a kid mastermind several murders, using his mentally-disturbed uncle to carry out the actual work.