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* ''[[Striker S Sound Stage X]]'' of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'': Murder of various Old Belka researchers -> Terrorist plot to attack Mid-childa with the [[Night of the Living Mooks|undead army]] of a [[Shrouded in Myth|legendary Dark King]].
* ''[[Detective Conan]]'' has the Black Organization. It looked like a simple case of blackmail, but they're actually an elite group of murderers that owns huge biological research facilities.
* Subverted in ''[[Ghost in Thethe Shell]]: Stand Alone Complex'', where the murder of a policeman who discovered illegal surveillance devices appears to bring the elite hacker Laughing Man out into the open, but it turns out the guy was an imitator. However, later it's played as straight as a laser: hacker in government-run halfway house --> conspiracy involving Japan's entire military industrial complex. [[Wall of Text]] - watch the freakin' anime!
* ''[[Paranoia Agent]]'': Who/What is Shonen Bat?
* Happens in ''20thCenturyBoys''.
** ''[[Billy Bat]]'', too. [[Naoki Urasawa]] dearly loves this one. ''[[Monster (Animemanga)|Monster]]'' & ''[[Pluto]]'' may not count as the crimes that kick off their plots are already quite high profile, though nowhere near the scale of the conspiracies behind them.
* [[Fullmetal Alchemist (Mangamanga)|Bo]][[Fullmetal Alchemist (Animeanime)|th]] ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' storylines have at least two points that could be considered either the crime with the warrant that turns out too small or the far more sinister plot. They both go from the Elric brothers' attempt at human transmutation to {{spoiler|the murder of Maes Hughes all the way up to outing and defeating an [[Ancient Conspiracy]] which may as well be called Amestris' very own [[The Illuminati|Illuminati]]}}.
 
 
== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Watchmen (Comic Bookcomics)|Watchmen]]'': Investigating the murder of an ex-superhero -> uncovering a plot to prevent nuclear war by destroying a city.
* ''[[Tintin (Comic Book)|King Ottokar's Sceptre]]'': Kidnapping of an expert on Syldavian history -> coup d'etat
 
 
== Film ==
* ''[[Chinatown]]'': Who killed Hollis Mulwray?
* ''[[LAL.A. Confidential]]'': What triggered the Night Owl Massacre?
* ''[[Cellular]]'' starts off as trying to trace a woman who was kidnapped by unknown men but soon found out some of the cops in involved in a greater plot
* ''[[Ace Ventura]]: Pet Detective'': Dolphin kidnapping -> murder, kidnapping, and attempted murder of NFL star Dan Marino.
** ''[[Ace Ventura]] 2: When Nature Calls'': Bat kidnapping -> plot to wipe out two indigenous African tribes and seize their land.
* ''[[All the President's Men (Film)|All the Presidents Men]]'': Two investigative reporters look into a minor robbery in hotel Watergate.
* ''[[Alien Nation (Filmfilm)|Alien Nation]]'': Murder of a cop during a robbery -> re-introducing a devastating alien drug.
* ''[[The Avengers (1998 (Filmfilm)|The Avengers 1998]]'': Sabotage of a weather control project -> holding Britain to ransom with the threat of a weather attack that will destroy London.
* ''[[Beverly Hills Cop]]'': Murder of a man in Detroit -> drug smuggling operation in Los Angeles
* ''[[Blue Thunder]]'': Murder of a LA city councilwoman -> eliminating political undesirables.
* ''[[Cast a Deadly Spell (Film)|Cast a Deadly Spell]]'': Theft of a book and killing of the thief -> conspiracy to call Cthulhu to Earth.
* ''[[Constantine (Film)|Constantine]]'': Suicide of a woman -> bringing the Devil's son to Earth and creating chaos.
* ''[[Doc Savage]]: The Man of Bronze''. Death (murder) of Doc's father -> a plot to steal Indian land in Central America that contains a giant pool of gold.
* ''[[Dreamscape]]'': Murder of a woman while dreaming -> creating a psychic assassin to kill the President of the United States in his dreams.
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* ''[[The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension]]'': Theft of the Oscillation Overthruster and kidnapping Penny Priddy -> the Red Lectroids' plot to return to Planet 10 and conquer it, leading to a threat by the Black Lectroids to start [[World War III]].
* ''[[Big Trouble in Little China]]'': Kidnapping of a girl with green eyes -> David Lo Pan's plan to rule the universe from beyond the grave.
* A common trope in the ''[[James Bond (Filmfilm)|James Bond]]'' series:
** ''[[Dr. No (Film)|Dr. No]]''. Murder of a British agent --> Dr. No's SPECTRE operation to destroy American missiles.
** ''[[Goldfinger (Film)|Goldfinger]]''. Cheating at Texas hold'em, murder of Jill Masterson and gold smuggling --> nuking Fort Knox.
** ''[[Diamonds Are Forever (Film)|Diamonds Are Forever]]''. Diamond smuggling --> Hold the world for ransom with a [[Frickin' Laser Beams|laser-armed]] [[Kill Sat]].
** ''[[Live and Let Die (Filmfilm)|Live and Let Die]]''. Deaths of three British agents --> massive heroin smuggling operation.
** ''[[The Spy Who Loved Me (Film)|The Spy Who Loved Me]]''. Disappearing nuclear submarines --> a plot to start a nuclear war between the N.A.T.O. and U.S.S.R.
** ''[[Moonraker (Film)|Moonraker]]''. Disappearance of a space shuttle --> a plot to kill all humans on Earth.
*** [[Moonraker (Literaturenovel)|In the book]], Catching a man cheating at Bridge --> a plot to nuke Britain by an unrepentant Nazi.
** ''[[Octopussy (Film)|Octopussy]]''. Smuggling stolen Faberge Eggs and murdering a British agent --> nuclear sabotage, wiping out an American military base along with nearby cities and [[WW 3]].
** ''[[A View to A Kill (Film)|A View to Aa Kill]]''. Using steroids in horse races --> destroying Silicon Valley (though these two plot points don't directly connect)
** ''[[The Living Daylights (Film)|The Living Daylights]]''. A faked sniping attack on a fleeing general --> attacks on British agents and a weapon smuggling network in the middle of the war between U.S.S.R. and Afghanistan.
** ''[[Goldeneye (Film)|Goldeneye]]''. Theft of a prototype helicopter --> crippling London with an EMP-based [[Kill Sat]] to cover up a massive electronic bank robbery.
** ''[[Tomorrow Never Dies (Film)|Tomorrow Never Dies]]''. An unusually fast newspaper article on a ship sinking --> starting a war to gain exclusive media rights in China.
** ''[[The World Is Not Enough (Film)|The World Is Not Enough]]''. Murder of a prominent businessman --> forcing a nuclear sub into meltdown and contaminating 90% of the world's oil supply.
** [[Daniel Craig]]'s Bond gets one that spans ''two'' movies: elimination of bomber-for-hire --> [[The Reveal]] of an ''[[NGO Superpower]].''
* ''[[Judge Dredd (Filmfilm)|Judge Dredd]]'': Murder of an investigative reporter --> assassination of the Judges' Council and a coup d'etat.
* ''[[Lethal Weapon (Film)|Lethal Weapon]]'': A simple suicide -> a heroin-smuggling operation run by Vietnam War special forces troops.
** ''[[Lethal Weapon 2]]'': A traffic stop (of a car with a trunk full of Krugerrands) -> an international drug smuggling conspiracy by South African government officials.
** ''[[Lethal Weapon 3]]'': A botched armor truck robbery --> A corrupt officer stealing weapons from impound and selling them on the black market.
** ''[[Lethal Weapon 4]]'': A ship full of smuggled Chinese immigrants --> A plot to sneak four Chinese Triad bosses into the country.
* ''Looker'': Murder of female models -> company conspiracy to brainwash customers with subliminal advertising.
* ''[[Men in Black (Filmfilm)|Men in Black]]'': Disappearance of a man after encountering a UFO and a suicide -> theft of a galaxy and possible destruction of the Earth.
* ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'': a private eye hired to take some dirty pictures -> the murder of Marvin Acme and R.K. Maroon, probate fraud and the attempted destruction of Toontown and genocide of its residents, the Toons.
* ''[[The Fugitive (Filmfilm)|The Fugitive]]'' (Movie version). Murder of Kimble's wife -> drug company conspiracy to market a deadly medical drug to an unknowing public.
* ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'' Series of murders made to look like accidents -> decades-old conspiracy that mercilessly executes anyone who would jeopardize the reputation the village has for serenity and cleanliness. "Have you ever wondered why the murder rate in this town is so low, and yet the accident rate is so high?"
* ''[[Soylent Green (Film)|Soylent Green]]''. Murder of a businessman -> discovering a horrible truth about the entire food supply.
* ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Attack of the Clones]]'': Assassination attempt on a senator -> A clone army, that no one seems to remember ordering, ready just as the Supreme Chancellor commissions a Grand Army of the Republic to deal with the Separatist Crisis -> (finally discovered in ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'') Plot by the Supreme Chancellor to overthrow the Republic and destroy the Jedi.
** Arguably, this extends to include the invasion of Naboo in the first one, ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'' if we're talking about the final part of the plan from ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]''.
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* ''[[Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow]]''. The kidnapping of some German scientists -> A plot to build a spaceship that will destroy all life on Earth.
* ''In Like Flint''. The President's golf swing taking 3 minutes -> A diabolical plan to take control of the minds of women all over the world and put a nuclear sword of Damocles in orbit around the Earth.
* ''[[I, Robot (Filmfilm)|I Robot]]'' Suicide -> [[Zeroth Law Rebellion]]
* ''[[Changeling (Filmfilm)|Changeling]]''. The kidnapping of Walter Collins -> The vast corruption in the LA police department
* Somewhat subverted in [[Strange Days]] - the plot ''looks'' like it's building into a huge far-reaching conspiracy, but {{spoiler|actually a lot of that is just the guy behind the first crime trying to misdirect the hero.}}
* ''[[Star Trek: Insurrection]]'': Data goes [[AI Is a Crapshoot|berserk]] on an alien planet <nowiki>-></nowiki> conspiracy to rob said alien planet of its [[Phlebotinum]] <nowiki>-></nowiki> {{spoiler|vengeful genocide of planet's inhabitants}}.
* [[Kiss Kiss Bang Bang]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|''"Your case and my case... are the same fucking case"'']].
* Averted in ''[[Pulp Fiction]]''. The Wolf asks Jules and Vincent if there is anything wrong with the car, which they had just cleaned thoroughly, so that if he is pulled over by the police, he knows any problems to talk about - and the police won't have a reason to inspect the vehicle, and find any hint of the body or blood the Jules and Vincent had spent time cleaning.
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** ''Dead Beat'': Finding a certain book for a vampire -> preventing some necromancers from saying [[A God Am I]].
** ''White Night'': Investigating the murders of a few low-level witches -> stopping {{spoiler|a coup in the [[Our Vampires Are Different|White Court]].}}
** ''Small Favor'': Checking out an attack on [[The Mafia|Marcone]] -> preventing {{spoiler|[[Little Miss Badass|Ivy]] from becoming a [[Deal Withwith the Devil|Denarian]]}}.
** ''Turn Coat'': Giving the defamed [[Inspector Javert|Morgan]] asylum -> outing [[The Mole]] in the White Council.
** ''Changes'': Saving {{spoiler|[[Friendly Target|Harry's daughter]]}} from [[Our Vampires Are Different|Red Court kidnappers]] -> Killing the {{spoiler|''entire Red Court''}}.
* ''[[Fatherland (Literaturenovel)|Fatherland]]'': An alternate history in which Germany won WWII and a minor ''Nazi'' official discovers the Holocaust.
* In the [[Lord Peter Wimsey]] series ''Murder Must Advertise''. Murder of an advertising copywriter -> massive cocaine-smuggling ring.
* ''[[The Illuminatus Trilogy]]'' starts off with this. Murder of a news columnist -> Wheels within wheels conspiracy for control of Earth, involving rock bands, undead Nazis and Eldritch Abomination(s).
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* Any novel by Jonathan Kellerman.
* In ''[[Rainbow Six]]'', the FBI carries out a search for a missing woman, believing it to be part of a kidnapping or serial killing, only to find {{spoiler|a plan to wipe out most of humanity}}.
* ''[[Harry Potter (Franchise)/Harry Potter and The SorcererPhilosopher's Stone|Harry Potter]]''. The break-in at Gringotts -> Voldemort attempting to rise back to power.
** ''[[Harry Potter (Franchise)/Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban|Harry Potter]]''. The escape of a famous convict -> A devoted servant trying to rejoin with Voldemort.
** ''[[Harry Potter (Franchise)/Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire|Harry Potter]]''. The disappearance of a Ministry official -> a genocidal maniac planning to return to power.
* [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Komarr]]'' starts with the investigation of a collision between a freighter and an orbital terraforming mirror. It makes a detour to a modest embezzlement scheme before {{spoiler|settling on a plot to eliminate the only wormhole link between Barrayar and the rest of the populated galaxy that would actually, due to incomplete analysis of the underlying science, result in the destruction of at least one space station with several thousand residents and transients aboard.}}
* In the [[Greg Egan]] novel ''[[Quarantine (Literaturenovel)|Quarantine]]'', an investigation into the disappearance of a severely developmentally delayed woman from a care home eventually reveals a plot to {{spoiler|radically alter the nature of reality at a quantum level}}.
* ''[[Discworld]]'' City Watch novels:
** ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Men At Arms|Men At Arms]]'': A break-in at the Assassins' Guild -> a plot to overthrow the Patrician.
** ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Fifth Elephant|The Fifth Elephant]]'': The murder of a rubber goods manufacturer and the theft of a replica Scone of Stone -> a plot to overthrow the Low King of the Dwarfs.
** ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Thud|Thud]]'': The murder of a rabble-rousing dwarf, and the theft of a painting -> a plot to prevent peace between dwarfs and trolls by obfuscating their shared history.
* ''The Barsoom Project'': Electronic tampering with a high-tech LARP -> multiple acts of lethal sabotage in support of covert corporate takeover scheme
 
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* This appears to have been the case for {{spoiler|Beckett's mother's murder}} in [[Castle]]. Decade-old murder of a lawyer -> {{spoiler|wide-ranging corruption and conspiracy, the full extent of which has yet to be revealed.}}
** Also, murder of a taxi driver -> {{spoiler|plot to detonate a dirty bomb in New York.}}
* ''[[State of Play (TV series)|State of Play]]'' starts off with a murder, an affair and a suicide which are all investigated by the newspaper who find {{spoiler|that they are all related to a much larger government conspiracy}}.
* Several ''[[Leverage]]'' episodes do this, albeit on a smaller scale than a lot of the examples:
** "The Homecoming Job". Coverup of a friendly fire investigation -> multi-billion-dollar money-laundering scheme.
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* ''[[The Wire]]'': Season Two: Warfie with suspicious amounts of money buys a stained window for a church -> bulk smuggling of drugs, prostitutes and goods; multiple ethnic gangs, murders agogo.
* This has happened frequently on [[CSI: Miami]].
* This seems to be the point of the [[Buddy Cop Show]], ''[[The Good Guys (TV)|The Good Guys]]''. An old [[Noble Bigot Withwith a Badge]] [[Cowboy Cop]] [[Odd Couple|is paired with a young]] [[By-The-Book Cop]] and sent to investigate minor crimes (vandalism, shoplifting, etc.) to [[Reassignment Backfire|keep them out of trouble, but the duo almost always stumble across something much bigger]] (drug smugglers, car theft ring, etc.)
* Pretty much every [[Myth Arc]] episode of ''[[The X -Files]]'', and several Monster of the Week ones as well.
* ''[[The Shadow Line (TV)|The Shadow Line]]'': The death of a drug baron --> {{spoiler|A [[Government Conspiracy]] using drug money to fund police pensions.}}]]
* ''[[Criminal Minds]]'': DEA raid on a suspected meth lab --> an impending terrorist attack using nerve gas.
* ''[[Starsky and Hutch (TV series)|Starsky and Hutch]]'' does this almost every episode.
* ''[[Bones]]:'' A recovered skull --> A cannibalistic serial killer {{spoiler|who ends up recruiting Zack as his apprentice.}}
* Happened on occasion in ''[[Due South]]''. One notable example was Frasier and Vecchio stopping to ticket a man who had parked in a fire lane, only to discover the guy's trunk was full of illegal firearms.
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== Video Games ==
* ''[[Max Payne (Video Gameseries)|Max Payne]]'': Murder of Alex Balder -> Massive government conspiracy involving a failed attempt to create a [[Super Serum]] for the military {{spoiler|which Max's family was killed to protect.}}
* ''[[BaldursBaldur's Gate]]'': An Iron shortage due to bandit attacks -> plot to spark a war between Baldur's Gate and Amn. Attempted assassination of some nobody orphan -> resurrection/replacement of a dead god.
* Happens on occasion in the ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' series. The last case of the third game is probably the biggest example: the murder of a children's book author is ultimately tied into a gigantic revenge scheme.
** ''Investigations'': Seemingly disconnected murders of a police officer, a plane flight passenger, a prosecutor and a defendant -> {{spoiler|An international smuggling ring}}.
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** In the fourth game, a racing spinoff, Jak and friends are coerced into entering a competition, only to find out they're in the middle of a gang war.
** In the fifth game, an [[Interquel]] that [[Gaiden Game|focuses on Daxter]], he's just trying to make a living and figure out how to rescue Jak, only to to uncover the brewing invasion plot by the Metal Heads.
** In the sixth game, Jak, Daxter and [[A Day in Thethe Limelight|Keira]] set out to find more eco and restore balance to the world, but things [[It's Short, So It Sucks|quickly]] escalate into stopping a power-hungry madman.
* ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]'': [[Save the Princess]] -> Prevent the [[Endofthe World As We Know It]].
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls II Daggerfall (Video Game)|Daggerfall]]'': Exorcise a walking spirit and deliver a letter -> Shape the future of [[The Empire]].
* ''[[Dragon Age 2]]'': Sneak a free Qunari mage out of Kirkwall -> {{spoiler|Halt a Chantry plot to spark open conflict between humans and Qunari}}.
** Humorously played with the Bone Pit mine, going from an invasion of small dragons to a Coterie plot to steal shipments to a [[Our Dragons Are Different|High Dragon]] taking over.
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** Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism: Strange creatures from [[Beneath the Earth]] -> nuclear conspiracy going out of hand.
** [[Inverted Trope]] in ''Touhou 12: Undefined Flying Object'': cultists trying to awaken Pandemonium monstrosity -> decent people wanting their saintly leader back.
* [[Your Mileage May Vary]] but ''[[Persona 3]]'' has your team investigating the mystery of the Dark Hour and why your school turns into a freaky tower every night. You end up [[The End of the World Asas We Know It|saving the world]]
** ''[[Persona 4]]'' has you and your team exploring The Midnight Channel and stopping people from being killed by facing their [[Enemy Without|enemies without]]. You end up uncovering a [[Dirty Cop]] {{spoiler|and an [[Assimilation Plot]] by the goddess Izanami to turn everybody into Shadows and form one, collective conscience.}}
* The standard plot of [[Tex Murphy]] games. Tex gets a small, simple gig (find my missing friend) and it turns into a save the world scenario.
* ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'': Find the man that shot you and stole the package you were supposed to deliver, get said package back, and finish the delivery -> decide which of the factions vying for control of New Vegas and the rest of the Mojave Wasteland emerges triumphant, or [[I Can Rule Alone|make your own power play and take over for yourself]].
 
 
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[American Dad (Animation)|American Dad]]'': Parodied, and played straight. Steve does a research project on peanut butter and discovers a secret conspiracy dating back to the days of Abraham Lincoln. The parody occurs earlier in the episode in the form of a [[Noodle Incident]] where Snot claims that he gave up sleuthing after 'the case of a missing bike horn turned into a double rape homicide'.
* 1973-74 ''[[Super FriendsSuperfriends]]'' episode "The Planet Splitter". The theft of diamonds weighing 100+ carats -> A plot to split Cygnus Uno, a planet in another solar system.
 
 
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