Never One Murder: Difference between revisions

 

Subtrope of [[Crime After Crime]]. [[Murder Is the Best Solution]] can lead to this outcome.

{{examples}}

 

* ''[[The Kindaichi Case Files]]'', and most of the time the killer was targeting all of his victims.

 

== Film ==

* The movie ''A Shot In The Dark'' has several murders, though many of these are botched attempts to kill [[The Pink Panther|Inspector Clouseau]]. The play it was based on had only one murder.

* Marv's story in [[Sin City]] starts off with just one murder but it is soon revealed that the [[Big Bad]] is a [[Serial Killer]] who has had many victims. Similarly, Marv is "killing his way to the truth."

 

== Literature ==

* Jo Nesbø's [[Harry Hole]] novels are fond of including serial killers (or killers that appear to be serial killers), so naturally this trope shows up several times.

* ''[[Taggart]]'' is notable for this, with only two or three cases of this not happening, as is ''[[Midsomer Murders]]''.

* This one happens a great deal in ''[[Monk]]'', but "Mr. Monk and the Actor" gave it an ironic twist. A character asks if the murderer is likely to strike again; he's told that it was a crime of passion, and the man who did it will probably never put another toe out of line. Cut to the murderer breaking into a pawnshop, which leads to his second murder.

* In the [[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]] episode 'Usual Suspects' in which the boys get arrested for the first time, the killer in the case turns out to be this, a crooked cop covering his tracks, and the supernatural being they were hunting turns out to be his first victim trying to warn the rest.

* Happens in several episodes of ''[[Numb3rs]]''.

 

== Theater ==

** [[The Seven Basic Plots|Christopher Booker]]'s understanding of the Tragedy plot, well displayed in ''Macbeth'', includes three murders: the Good Old Man, the Rival (or Shadow), and the Innocent Young Girl. Each has symbolic significance. The first murder tends to lead to the others (downward spiral into worse crimes) and the fate of the Girl tends to [[Moral Event Horizon|seal the fate]] of the tragic hero (ultimate destruction). (It's possible to avoid direct murder of her: violation works, as does driving her toward insanity or suicide.)

* ''[[Arsenic and Old Lace]]'': A body in a window seat turns into twelve as the hero discovers that his sweet, innocent aunts have been quietly murdering lonely old men for years.

 

== Video Games ==

** And in ''Trials and Tribulations'' {{spoiler|the killing spree spanned six years. First Dahlia arranged the suicide of Terry Fawles, killed her own half-sister, then poisoned Diego Armando (he got better) and electrocuted Doug to keep them quiet.}} If you include {{spoiler|Terry}} this gives her the highest body count in the game.

* ''[[The white chamber]]'': The killer {{spoiler|aka the main character}} killed {{spoiler|her}} first assistant by accident and hid the corpse, then killed the engineer when he found the body, then murdered everyone else one by one out of sheer psychotic paranoia.

 

== Western Animation ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Giallo]]

[[Category:Mystery Tropes]]