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Warning: Some spoilers follow forGlass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
At their core, mysteries are actually a comforting story shape.
There is crime, crime is solved, crime is punished.
Murder mysteries, police procedurals, and whodunnits are the morality plays of our age.
And just like medieval morality plays, theyre kinda hacky.
To make sense of a senseless world.
And what could be more orderly than a well-utilized trope?
Youd think the mystery genre would be all about surprising the audience.
But youd be wrong.
Diehard crime-fiction fans know the genres main appeal is less about shocking plot twists and more about pattern recognition.
Its about playing with cliches, not defying them.
Agatha Christie wrote 66 mystery novels as well as short stories and plays with murders aplenty.
Here are the best whodunnit twists, ranked by audacity and artistry.
10) The Detective Is Bluffing!
Their ability to bullshit.
So many egos, so many people lying about their age or background, and so many available weapons.
But what crime stories often presuppose is … what if they could?
All it takes is one malevolent on-set presence to swap the fake sword for a real one.
Or a nail gun, in the case ofPsychs telenovela episode.
8) Im a Jewel Thief, But Im No Killer!
She cant clear herself of the murder without incriminating herself for many, many burglaries.
The Doctor gets to have all the fun.
7) That Was No Maid!
That one is particularly hilarious, because the person disguising himself as the help is Tony Curtis.
6) I Poisoned My Own Drink!
As seen in:Glass Onion,The Mirror Crackd,The Princess Bride
The ultimate misdirect.
You offer your drink to the victim, they drop dead, and everyone thinks a killer isreallyafter you.
Whos the least likely person to commit a murder?
Plus you get to deliver a great anguished monologue when you realize your drink was poisoned.
Someone was trying to kill me, and this poor sap got it instead!
There is a grand conspiracy against me!
But like so many conspiracy theories, its a complete fabrication of the allegedly conspired-against partys making.
Sometimes a poisoner who feels the noose tightening will give themself a less-than-lethal dose to allay suspicion.
Okay, that only happened once, but wasnt it a cool twist?
5) A Lookalike!
Sometimes its a very convincing disguise (Lord Edgware Dies).
Lookalikes can be used for good or for evil.
Either way, a terrible wig will probably play a role.
The entire mystery genre runs on terrible wigs.
All medical knowledge would lead you to believe the stabbing was the cause of death, right?
Sometimes the guy was poisoned then knifed post-mortem.
In this case, the knife is more of a fuck-you gesture.
Or sometimes a body is thrown from a window to fake a suicide.
Sometimes multiple people take turns stabbing someone, so no one knows who dealt the killing blow.
Some people are so reviled theyre embroiled in multiple murder attempts, as in theSimpsonsepisode The Great Louse Detective.
At the end of the day, the dead guy is still dead.
3) Gaslighting!
Would someone convince a rich person with already poor mental health that theyre sleepwalking?
Or being stalked by a dead lover?
Or by a hellhound?
Dont be silly, you frail and easily suggestible darling.
As if people do bad things for money.
Youre talking crazy, sweetheart.
Why dont you have a lie down and Ill bring you some very un-drugged cocoa.
2) A Long-Lost Relative!
Weve lost so much to technology.
Even just in mystery plotting.
As Miss Marple and the victim ofToward Zerodiscuss, a murder is really the culmination of a long countdown.
The roots of the crime often lie in secrets from the victims or perps past.
And its the investigators job to uncover those secrets.
He was trained from birth to murder his dad and went to police academy to achieve it.
You have to admire the grindset whether you agree with his ethics or not.
First, this character is dead!
Theyre fine, and theyve been snooping for the detective.
They saw who poisoned them or where the gun was fired.
And now they know whos been getting all stabby in this country estate.
Its all the drama of a death with none of the bummer aftertaste.
Plus the detective actually prevents a murder, something they so rarely get to do.
Adding yet another layer to the twist croissant, this time its the murderer who fakes their death.
