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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Frank Bigelow''': I'd like to report a murder.
'''Captain''': Sit down. Where was this murder committed?
'''Frank Bigelow''': San Francisco, last night.
'''Captain''': Who was murdered?
'''Frank Bigelow''': I was.
|''[[D.O.A.]]'' }}
This is where the protagonist has been murdered and is either [[Dead to Begin With|dead]] or [[Your Days Are Numbered|soon will be]]. The rest of the story concerns their efforts to solve the crime in the time they have left. A subplot can also be their trying to protect a loved one from the killer who did them in. This can be supernatural or non-supernatural depending on whether the protagonist is already dead or dying slowly but inevitably. If he or she is already dead, may involve [[Near
A common science-fictional version involves characters who have the ability to back themselves up, through [[Brain Uploading]] or some similar technology. This is often used as a way to get around the issue that most victims know who murdered them: the version of the character that's trying to solve the murder is only as up-to-date as their most recent backup, which means they naturally have no memory of the murder or anything immediately before it.
{{deathtrope}}
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== Already Dead ==
=== Anime and Manga ===
* Lia in ''[[
=== Comic Books ===
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* This was the whole idea behind the DC Comics character [[Deadman (Comic Book)|Deadman]], who died in his first story - and became a superhero as a result, fighting crime in spirit-form while investigating his own death. At one point, it looked like his killer was the same thug who had murdered Batman's parents.
* This was part of the title character's original motivation in ''Ghost'' from [[Dark Horse Comics]].
=== Film ===
* ''[[Ghost (
* ''[[The Crow]]''
* Treat Williams does this in ''Dead Heat''. Note that he's a cop who was investigating the bad guys ''before'' he's killed; becoming a zombie just lets him see the case through till the end.
* The '50s movie
* The movie ''[[
=== Literature ===
Line 37 ⟶ 34:
* The novel ''Never Trust A Dead Man'' pairs this with [[Clear My Name]] and [[Enemy Mine]]: the protagonist, Selwyn, is forced to cooperate with his murdered [[The Rival|rival]] (who has been brought back from the dead in the form of a bat) to find the real murderer and clear Selwyn's name.
* ''[[Literature/Nine Tail Fox|9Tail Fox]]'' by Jon Courtenay Grimwood involves a police officer who was shot from behind and resurrected in another man's body by the Celestial Fox.
* ''Ghost Story'', Book 13 of ''[[
* James Herbert's ''Nobody True'' is told from the POV of a ghost seeking his killer ... who can astrally project to oppose him.
* In ''[[
=== Live-Action TV ===
* ''[[
* One episode of ''[[
* The first episode of ''[[
=== Radio ===
* Edith, in Season 6 of ''[[Old
=== Tabletop Games ===
* Ratik Ubel, an NPC revenant from ''[[
=== Video Games ===
* ''[[Shadow of Destiny]]'', although he's trying to reverse his death as well.
* The Flash adventure game ''[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/173654 The Dead Case]''
* ''[[
* Sissel's motivation as the eponymous ghost in ''[[
* The eponymous character of the PC game ''[[Ghost in The Sheet]]'' starts the game by getting run over by a bus. He's not quite satisfied with the "it was an accident" theory, but he has to put it on the back burner in favor of the job his new boss has given him. At the end it's revealed that {{spoiler|his boss arranged for it to happen for reasons that aren't clear (at least, not clear as to why GITS specifically) but appear to revolve around a need for a lackey of some kind}}.
* Sonny, from the flash game series of the same name, died prior to first game's start. He cannot remember what happened to him or anything about his life prior death, and wonders who resurrected him and why.
=== Web Comics ===
* ''[[
* {...} in ''[[Hanna Is Not a
* [http://www.missmab.com/Demo/undead.php Rachel-Rebecca the Third] from ''[[Dan and
* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' once [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=297 pointed out] one of problems with vengeful ghosts.
* In ''[[
== Not Dead Yet ==
=== Film ===
* ''[[
* ''[[
=== Literature ===
* A story in ''[[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s Mystery Magazine'' involving a man who is shot, and has a near death experience. While still in the hospital, he tries to figure out who did it, and does. There's one more dangerous surgery to be done to get the bullet out, and the story ends with him saying "[[Bolivian Army Ending|I'm ready.]]"
* Partially subverted in [[
* According to ''[[More Information Than You Require]]'', ninth US president [[William Henry Harrison]] was given a slow-acting poison at his inauguration that would kill him in thirty days, and told he would be given the antidote if he could figure out who poisoned him. As the book puts it, "Harrison was a great Indian-killer, but not much of a sleuth".
=== Live-Action TV ===
* ''[[
** "Dead Man Walking". [[Genre Savvy]] Tony makes a comparison by name to ''DOA''.
** Also when Tony gets pneumonic plague.
* ''[[Homicide: Life
* ''[[Starsky and Hutch (TV series)|Starsky and Hutch]]'', episode "A Coffin for Starsky".
* An early [[CSI: Miami]] was about a woman who was poisoned with radioactive materials by a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] ([[Red Herring|or rather]] {{spoiler|a low level employee who she seduced to get information}}) because she happened to be the lawyer working the joint lawsuit against their illegal dumping practices.
* Used in ''[[
* [[Truth in Television]]: [
** The latter apparently [[Ripped
** A similar, earlier case in which a fight between two Northern European naval personnel ended with one pinning the other with a piece of equipment that discharged a radioactive field, and firing. It was reported that prosecutors were faced with the difficulty of how to press charges, because a fatal dose was delivered, but murder charges could not be pressed because it would take years for the victim to die.
* ''[[New Amsterdam]]''
* The ''[[
* ''[[
▲=== Video Game ===
* The Flash game ''[http://armorgames.com/play/4966/sixty-seconds-to-live Sixty Seconds To Live]''. The title is fairly self-explanatory here.
== Restored From Backup ==
=== Literature ===
* ''[[Who Censored Roger Rabbit?]]''. Unlike ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit
* ''[[Down and Out
* ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro
** Drawn to an epic [[Mind Screw]] at the end of Umineko Ep4 with this gem:
{{quote|
'''Battler''': "Like a souped up version of the mystery with Doctor Nanjo's murder...... .........So......?"
'''Beatrice''': ".........Who...aaam I...?" }}
** Especially since it is said in red ([[Language of Truth|which means it must be true]]) and that he (and the reader) is supposed to figure who that person is.
* The whole point of ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro
* ''To Live Again'', novel by [[Robert Silverberg]]
* ''[[The Takeshi Kovacs Series|Altered Carbon]]'' by [[Richard K. Morgan]] is a [[Film Noir]] style thriller, with an investigator hired by the restored backup of an apparent suicide. The victim does not believe that he could have possibly wanted to kill himself; indeed it would be futile given that he was backed up and brought back to life in under 48 hours and instead believes he was murdered and demands justice.
=== Live-Action TV ===
* ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'', in the pilot
* In the ''[[
* Count Sessine from ''Feersum Endjinn'' by [[Iain M Banks|Iain M. Banks]].
* The cybrid Johnny from ''[[Hyperion]]''.
* The [[John Varley]] story, ''The Phantom of Kansas'', opens with the protagonist awakening and discovering that this is the ''third'' time she's been restored from backup. The original, and the two previous backups, have all been killed.
* Pextel in ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'' wants justice on the drug runner who ran him off the road and required that he be mechanized. Laura Herrante, under the Crimson Owl protection, [[Attending Your Own Funeral|has buried herself on occasions]]. Fortunately for her, it's usually no mystery who killed her.
=== Tabletop Games ===
* The ''[[
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:This Index Asked You a Question]]
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