History Main / SummationGathering

* Anime/CaseFileNoTwoTwoOneKabukicho: Sherlock usually delivers his summation in the form of rakugo, complete with a stage and costume.

** Subverted in the second film of the series, ''Film/AShotInTheDark''. Clouseau has no idea who the killer is, so gathers all the suspects and arranges for his partner to turn out the lights, hoping the guilty party will panic and flee. The meeting instead dissolves into an enraged argument between all the suspects in which they all reveal each other to have committed one of the murders (the sole "innocent" suspect is revealed to be a blackmailer, as well) out of sheer annoyance at Clouseau's bumbling, with Clouseau [[AsideGlance staring helplessly into the camera]] before the lights go out.

** Subverted in the second film of the series, ''Film/AShotInTheDark''. Clouseau has no idea who the killer is, so gathers all the suspects and arranges for his partner to turn out the lights, hoping the guilty party will panic and flee. The meeting instead dissolves into an enraged argument between all the suspects, with Clouseau [[AsideGlance staring helplessly into the camera]] before the lights go out.

* Most issues of ''ComicBook/TheMazeAgency'' featured one.

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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Manga/TheKindaichiCaseFiles'' ends every story arc with one of these, although they rarely happen in a parlor, instead usually occurring in the same place where one of the victims was killed. The summation is usually accompanied by a dramatic explanation of exactly how the killer carried out his crimes. Kindaichi will explain everything -- motive, method, all the secrets behind the case -- without revealing the killer's identity, leaving that for the very end.

* Subverted in an arc of ''Manga/BlackButler'', where three murders occur over the case of a single night: the unexpected arrival of Vicar Jeremy, who has an alibi for all three, explains to the guests who was responsible. [[spoiler:After doing so, however, one particular guest, [[BeenThereShapedHistory an aspiring novelist]] named [[Creator/ArthurConanDoyle Arthur]], realizes that the murderer convicted had been framed as part of a plan on the behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, and returns for a private discussion on that front.]]
* For a series featuring Sherlock Holmes, ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'' is surprisingly light on gatherings to explain mysteries, but there is one at the end of ''The Two Detectives'' when Sherlock and William come together to identify the murderer.
* Anime/CaseFileNoTwoTwoOneKabukicho: Sherlock usually delivers his summation in the form of rakugo, complete with a stage and costume.

* Despite having an entire space station the size of a city to work from, Detective Werner of ComicBook/JannahStation always insists on gathering the suspects, witnesses, and other persons of interest into an actual parlor.

* Done by Inspector [=LeBrock=] at the end of several volumes of ''Comicbook/{{Grandville}}''. In the final volume, which had the final scene ''sealed'', crime writer [[CreatorCameo Bryon Turbot]] helpfully explains that this is called the "unravelling". (Everyone in ''Grandville'' is speaking [[TranslationConvention French translated into English for the reader]], and this includes words that were borrowed by English in our timeline, like "denouement".)

* Parodied in Neil Simon's ''Film/MurderByDeath''. Lionel Twain calls together the world's five greatest detectives and issues them a challenge: to solve a murder that hasn't yet occurred. At the end of the movie, they go through this trope five separate times, as each detective claims to have solved the murder and tries to prove that they're right. The various explanations completetely contradict each other, and all of them turn out to be wrong anyway.
* In ''Film/TheThinMan'' and ''The Thin Man Returns,'' Nick Charles solves the mystery by this method. In the first movie, by his own admission, he hadn't quite sussed who the murderer was; he'd ruled out most of them, so he laid out the facts until one of the remaining suspects fit, and made an accusation.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in one movie by Nora - "First you have the Gathering, followed by the Summation, followed by the Payoff!" (in bullets)

%%* Happens frequently in the ''Film/CharlieChan'' movies.
* Inspector Elliot gathers all of the circus folk in the centre ring for TheSummation at the climax of ''Film/CircusOfFear''.
* Creator/DanielCraig's Benoit Blanc gives an impromptu one in ''Film/KnivesOut''.

* Literature/NeroWolfe virtually always does something like this. It's not in the parlor, though, it's almost always in his office instead. In the few stories where he's had to leave his house, and resolve the case before he can return to it, the Summation Gathering takes place in whatever place is appropriate:
** In ''Too Many Cooks'', it is held at the banquet table at the Kanawha Spa, following the final feast of Les Quinze Maîtres.
** In ''Some Buried Caesar'', it takes place at Thomas Pratt's home in upstate New York.
** In "Immune To Murder", it takes place at O. V. Bragan's fishing lodge in the Adirondacks, where he has gone to make trout Montbarry for a foreign ambassador at the special request of the [=US=] Secretary of State.
** In "Too Many Detectives", it takes place in a hotel room in Albany, where he has been summoned to submit to questioning in a state investigation of illegal wiretapping.
** In "The Impolite Corpse" (from the third radio series), it takes place at the murder scene because his client told him over the phone that Archie was in danger. Wolfe suspects (correctly) that this was a lie intended to get him over there, but had found the case so annoying that he was willing to just solve it right there and be done with it. [[spoiler:Incidentally, the fact that his client went to such lengths to make him leave his office is the pivotal clue that breaks the case.]]
** In this series the trope's also well justified: Wolfe charges high fees (and occasionally is depending entirely upon the potential gratitude of non-clients for compensation), often seems to be doing nothing at all to earn them, and it's established in the setting that the local police and district attorney's office are very eager to take complete credit for anything he turns up and are at the same time looking for an excuse to bring him in for obstruction of justice. He has multiple reasons for wanting all interested parties in one place to report his activities to. (Not always truthfully.)
* In Creator/RandallGarrett's Literature/LordDarcy homage to "Too Many Cooks", ''Too Many Magicians'', the Summation Gathering takes place in the Nero Wolfe-analogue's office, but it's conducted by Lord Darcy. However, the SummationGathering is actually [[KansasCityShuffle an elaborate misdirection]] to [[spoiler:get the real murderer to give them his sword to reenact the murder, so he'll be unarmed when they arrest him]].

* Lawrence Block's Literature/BernieRhodenbarr does this in every book, [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] every time.
* Used in the Literature/ForgottenRealms novel ''Murder in Cormyr'', when retired wizard Benelaius uses this setup, which his servant Jasper notes as coming from a series of detective novels Benelaius claims to despise, to expose a man guilty of espionage, attempted mass murder, and (of course) murder. Subverted in that Benelaius arranged for the murderer to sit somewhere where he could make an easy escape and flee into exile rather than face death as Benelaius was a pacifist. Also subverted in that [[spoiler: while the first two accusations were true Benelaius knowingly framed the accused for the actual murders so as to cover up the real murderer's guilt.]]
* Peter Tremayne's Literature/SisterFidelma does this in every single novel, often drawing together bitter enemies who otherwise wouldn't be caught dead in the same room. She seems to be constitutionally unable to explain herself without every single character present, even if she has to browbeat a king into gathering these characters for her.
* Played with in ''[[Literature/OldMansWar The Human Division]]'':
-->'''Wilson:''' [[LargeHam Someone in this room is a killer!]]
-->'''Lowen:''' [[DiscussedTrope Please don't say that when they actually show up.]]
* From the Literature/ErastFandorin novel series:
** An accidental one in ''Literature/TheTurkishGambit''. The bad guy, a spy for Turkey, has lured the principals into the Constantinople suburb of San Stefano. He has almost gotten them to go into Constantinople itself, which unbeknownst to the others is a trap, when Fandorin shows up JustInTime to stop them. He then identifies the bad guy and explains his intricate espionage plot.
* {{Invoked| Trope}} and {{discussed| trope}} in Josh Lanyon's ''Somebody Killed His Editor'', in which the protagonist, mystery writer Christopher Holmes, reluctantly gathers everyone in a central location to talk through the murders and reveal his deductions as to the most likely suspect. Since the novel is set at a ''mystery writers' workshop'' (at which several dozen writers, publishers, and staff are trapped by weather in a remote California location), people quickly catch on ("He's going for the drawing room summary!") and there's much excited discussion and interruptions regarding his reasoning and methods. As Holmes is mostly playing for time anyway, as he wants to keep the killer and the potential victims in plain sight until help arrives, he doesn't mind too much. In the grand tradition of summation gatherings, he briefly pursues the RedHerring before focusing on the real culprit.

* ''Literature/JohannesCabalTheDetective'': {{Invoked|Trope}} by Johannes to explain not only a double murder but also the circumstances that led him to be there -- no small feat, since he distracts one audience member from trying to shoot him dead on the spot. {{Justified|Trope}} because [[spoiler:he's stalling for time for a bomb to go off]].
* A non-murder-oriented mystery is "solved" in this fashion at the end of the first trilogy of the ''Literature/FoundationSeries''. Each Foundation scientist takes turns arguing for their theory as to Second Foundation's identity, until after all other theories have been discounted, the final speaker identifies [[spoiler:a Second Foundation mole in the very room.]]

* In Chapter Three of ''VideoGame/LimboOfTheLost'' Briggs calls everybody to the Town Hall to reveal who's been killing everybody.

* In the freeware game ''Disorient on the Murder Express'', the detective gathers everyone to the fireplace at the rear of the train [[spoiler:to explain how they ''[[EverybodyDidIt all]]'' tried to murder the victim for their own reasons, contributing to his death. Then [[FridgeLogic they all shoot him.]]]]

* The current page quote appears in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS2E16AnthologyOfInterestI Anthology of Interest I]]". The room it takes place in appears again in "The 30% Iron Chef", where it is referred to as "the accusing parlor".

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'''s ''Hercule Yakko'' has fun with this: Yakko dramatically whispers he knows the location of Marita's missing diamond and orders the ship's passengers to be assembled in the State Room: but not to reveal the thief, but because he didn't have enough people to play charades, and [[spoiler:also to say none of them took the diamond, but he will turn the room upside down to prove the diamond is there; once everyone has fallen to the ceiling the diamond appears; Marita was sitting on it the whole time]]
* ''WesternAnimation/DallasAndRobo'': "Murder on the Georgia Overdrive" has Dallas Moonshiner holding one. It turns into a massive {{Infodump}} on the suspect passengers but is subverted when she utterly fails to solve the case. The one she accuses is not even there because they've been murdered off-screen.
-->'''Dallas:''' What do you want from me, I'm drunk. I've had a dozen martinis.
* When Moomintroll solves the supposed murder of Mrs Fillyjonk in the ''[[Literature/TheMoomins Moominvalley]]'' episode "The Strange Case of Mrs Fillyjonk", he gathers everyone in her parlour and then says "I suppose you're wondering why I've gathered you here today." The Hemulen Jailer points out that he ''told'' them why he gathered them there when he gathered them.

-->-- '''Dr. Zoidberg''', ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}''

* The current page quote appears in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Anthology of Interest I". The room it takes place in appears again in "The 30% Iron Chef", where it is referred to as "the accusing parlor".

* ''Series/TheAfterparty'' spends the season following a complex (if comedic) murder mystery, and the season finale naturally has the eccentric detective gather all the suspects in the living room to explain who the killer is and how they did it. Also lampshaded as being unnecessary:

A Subtrope of TheSummation, this commonly occurs at the end of a murder mystery. The GreatDetective, who has brilliant powers of observation and deduction, gathers all suspects together in a room, so that the detective can tell them who the murderer is. The detective goes down the list of suspects one by one, explaining why they are innocent — although some of them may be guilty of other crimes, such as disposal of evidence. Eventually he will get to the guilty party, and explain how--and why--the murder (or theft of a precious object) was committed.

Additionally, any testimony or statement given by those present at the summation might be inadmissible in court, as they have been led to believe speculation presented as fact. But this is an AcceptableBreakFromReali, and the trope still works well from a storytelling perspective, since it both builds suspense and explains all the loose ends.

A Subtrope of TheSummation, this commonly occurs at the end of a murder mystery. The GreatDetective, who has brilliant powers of observation and deduction, gathers all suspects together in a room, so that the detective can tell them who the murderer is. The detective goes down the list of suspects one by one, explaining why they are innocent — although some of them may be guilty of other crimes, such as disposal of evidence. Eventually he will get to the guilty party, and explain how--and why--the murde was committed.

A Subtrope of TheSummation, this commonly occurs at the end of a murder mystery.

All of the suspects gather together in a room, so that the detective can tell them who the murderer is. The detective goes down the list of suspects one by one, explaining why they are innocent — although some of them may be guilty of other, minor, crimes. Eventually he will get to the guilty party, and explain how and why the murder was committed.

Expect at least one embarrassing secret to be unearthed during this scene.

FridgeLogic kicks in when you realize that, if the detective already knows who the killer is, they should just have that individual arrested. And it's probably best to do that by ''surprise'', rather than by giving a long speech in which the list of suspects is gradually shortened, and the killer might be tempted to run away before anyone can handcuff them. Additionally, any testimony or statement given by those present at the summation might be inadmissible in court, as they have been led to believe speculation presented as fact. The trope still works well from a storytelling perspective, since it both builds suspense and explains all the loose ends.

FridgeLogic kicks in when you realize that, if the detective already knows who the killer is, they should just have that individual arrested. And it's probably best to do that by ''surprise'', rather than by giving a long speech in which the list of suspects is gradually shortened, and the killer might be tempted to run away before anyone can handcuff them. Additionally, any testimony or statement given by those present at the summation might be inadmissible in court, as they could have been led to believe speculation presented as fact. The trope still works well from a storytelling perspective, since it both builds suspense and explains all the loose ends.

FridgeLogic kicks in when you realize that, if the detective already knows who the killer is, they should just have that individual arrested. And it's probably best to do that by ''surprise'', rather than by giving a long speech in which the list of suspects is gradually shortened, and the killer might be tempted to run away before anyone can handcuff them. Additionally, any testimony or statement given those present at the summoning might be inadmissible in court, as they could be led to believe speculation presented "as fact". The trope still works well from a storytelling perspective, since it both builds suspense and explains all the loose ends.

FridgeLogic kicks in when you realize that, if the detective already knows who the killer is, he should just have the guy arrested. And it's probably best to do that by ''surprise'', rather than by giving a long speech in which the list of suspects is gradually shortened and the killer might be tempted to run away before anyone can put him in handcuffs. Additionally any testimony and statements given by anyone present at the summoning might be inadmissible in court, as those present have been led to believe speculation presented as fact, but the trope works well from a storytelling perspective, since it builds suspense and explains all the loose ends.