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{{trope}}
{{quote|
|Dr. Zoidberg, [[Futurama]]}}
A Subtrope of [[The Summation]], this commonly occurs at the end of a murder mystery.
All of the suspects gather together in a room (or, in Japan, at the top of a cliff overlooking the sea), 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.
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* "I suppose you're all wondering why I've gathered you here..."
* "Someone in this room... is a murderer!" May be followed by a [[Scare Chord]].
While this is an [[Ending Trope]], there aren't really unmarked spoilers. A Summation Gathering is a form that [[The Reveal]] takes, and common enough in the [[Mystery]] genre that the trope is never a surprise.
{{endingtrope}}
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[The Kindaichi Case Files]]'' 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
* ''[[Case Closed]]''. Played with a lot since Conan, as a child, has to use Richard as a sort of mask in order to reveal the truth, by knocking him out, slumping him over something for a generic "deep thought" pose, and using a voice-changer to talk like him. Not always the best idea since sometimes, these suspects aren't very willing to just stand and a watch the man reveal everything.
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== [[Film]] ==
* Parodied in Neil Simon's ''[[Murder By Death]]''. 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.
* In ''[[The Thin Man (
* Happens in each of the Albert Finney/Peter Ustinov [[Hercule Poirot]] movies. This includes ''[[Death
* The second [[The Pink Panther|Pink Panther]] film ''A Shot in the Dark''.
== [[Literature]] ==
* [[
* [[Nero Wolfe]] 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 Kanewha Spa, following the final feast of Les Quinze Maîtres.
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** 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 [[
* In Glen Cook's Nero Wolfe-inspired ''[[Garrett
* In [[Vernor Vinge]]'s ''[[
* Lawrence Block's Bernie Rodenbahr does this in every book, [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshading]] every time.
* Used in the [[Forgotten Realms]] 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.}}
== [[Live
* In the ''[[Angel]]'' episode "Happy Anniversary" Wesley does this to determine which of the family members summoned a demon. Notable because the entire rest of this B plot happens off-screen, although it sounds [[Noodle Incident|absolutely fascinating]].
* The ''[[
** Despite this, it's [[Played for Laughs]] thanks to Donna, who hasn't quite caught on and keeps accusing the wrong person.
* A variant in the ''[[Veronica Mars]]'' episode "An Echolls Family Christmas": She figured out who stole the game pot from the poker game, and suggests that they all show up for another game, and whomever is revealed to have stolen it will be kicked out and will have effectively bought ''her'' into the game.
* A subversion appears in ''[[NCIS]]'', during the sting operation that identified {{spoiler|Agent Lee}} as [[The Mole]]. Having summoned every potential culprit together, the Director has their hands tested for evidence, and identifies the innocent {{spoiler|Abby}} as the guilty party, allowing the team to follow the ''actual'' suspect once the fake one is in custody and the Mole thinks the internal investigation is over.
* Occurred often in ''[[Murder, She Wrote]]''.
* Lampshaded in ''Tropical Heat'', when the detective, Nick asks that the suspects be gathered in one room, and his friend Spider asks derisively if he's going to do "that whole Agatha Christie summation thing".
* In an episode of ''[[Seinfeld]]'', George plots an elaborate setup to prove a mechanic stole his Twix bar. It's ruined when he leaves the room...
{{quote|
'''George:''' That's my candy lineup! Where are all my cards? They're all on the floor! ''And you!'' How many Twix does that make for you today? Like eight Twix?
'''Mechanic:''' No.
'''Man:''' Hey, this Clark bar is good!
'''George:''' It's a Twix! They're all Twix! It was a setup! A setup, I tell ya! And you’ve robbed it! You’ve all screwed me again! Now, gimme one! Gimme a Twix!
'''Mechanic:''' They're all gone.
'''George:''' [[Skyward Scream|TWIX!!!]] }}
* A standard feature of ''[[Death in Paradise]]''. When Detective Poole {{spoiler|[[Anyone Can Die|is murdered]]}} and replaced with D.I. Goodman, they rest of the team has to explain to Goodman that a summation is "[[Lampshading|how we do things here]]" on the island of Saint Marie.
== [[Theatre]] ==
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* In an early quest of ''[[Baten Kaitos|Baten Kaitos Origins]]'', the characters are investigating a series of terrorist attacks from a neighboring town, and hold several of these as new information comes to light.
* ''Professor Layton'' (chiefly the games, though there's a spectacular one in [[Professor Layton and The Eternal Diva|the movie]]) have these, though they never ''really'' bring closure to the mystery, since the [[Big Bad]] always runs off before they can be apprehended.
* ''[[Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors]]'' has one {{spoiler|in the "Safe" ending, Junpei attempting to prove who killed Guy X.}}
* In Chapter Three of ''[[Limbo of the Lost]]'' Briggs calls everybody to the Town Hall to reveal who's been killing everybody.
* In the 1983 DOS game [[wikipedia:Sleuth
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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** For the record, both of these predate the quoted Uncyclopedia article by a few years. Now you know!
** In one episode, it's revealed that the room they use is ''specifically'' for this and is formally named the "Accusatorium".
* A teaser to ''[[Batman:
* Daffy tries this on his neighbors in ''[[The Looney Tunes Show]]'' episode "Newsapaper Thief." His failure to plan ahead means that he has to constantly intervene to correct errors in his planning.
* Near the end of the ''[[My Little Pony:
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Speeches and Monologues]]
[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Ending Tropes]]
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