History Main / CriminalMindGames

->''"Look out world. Here comes a guy as tough as a regular guy only easier to catch."''
-->-- [[http://www.seanbaby.com/superfriends/riddler.htm Seanbaby]], on The Riddler

Does not necessarily have anything to do with ''CriminalMinds'', though the show ''has'' used this trope at least twice.

** Played straight the novel ''Death Note: Literature/AnotherNote''. The killer, [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign Beyond Birthday]], left several clues leading from one murder to the next, and in fact [[spoiler: lead Naomi Misora ''in person'' to find each and every one of these clues to make sure his effort didn't go to waste. The clues ''then'' all ended up as a dramatic setup for his own suicide, which ''itself'' was an attempt to prove himself better than L by creating a mystery L couldn't solve.]]
** Ironically, [[spoiler: Misora figured it out because "Ryuzaki" knew too much about the case, so he had to either be Beyond Birthday or L himself. She immediately decided the second option was too ridiculous to be true, as someone who acts like [[BunnyEarsLawyer that]] couldn't possibly be the world's greatest detective. The kicker? Beyond Birthday looks and acts ''exactly like L'' - to the point where the reader has been believing he ''is'' L all this time. ([[UnreliableNarrator Mello is a deceiving jackass even through the fourth wall]].)]]
* A number of episodes of ''DetectiveConan'' (especially the longer TV specials) involve some criminal leaving a trail of clues—either because they secretly want to be caught and stopped, or because they're just AxCrazy. For whatever reason, many of these seem to involve bombs.
** One TV special had Conan and Heiji running all over a baseball stadium to try to catch a would-be stadium bomber who sent them clues via abandoned mobile phones with a specific time limit to find the next one.
** "Trembling Metropolitan Police Headquarters: 12 Million Hostages" involved a mad bomber who sent a clue to his next target to the timer screen of his current bomb…seconds before its detonation.
** A recent, extremely long manga story set in London had a bomber leaving a trail of Sherlock-Holmes-themed clues all over London for Conan to chase down in order to stop his next bombing.

* GKChesterton's very first FatherBrown mystery, ''The Blue Cross'' subverted this in two ways: first because the clues themselves were meaningless, and second that it wasn't the criminal leaving them.
* This is the M.O. of recurring villain the Deaf Man in Ed [=McBain's=] ''EightySeventhPrecinct'' novels. There is a slight aversion in that while the Deaf Man sends taunting clues to the police, they seldom fully decipher them and are more likely to stop his crimes by accident than design.
* Used by Melisande in [[KushielsLegacy Kushiel's Chosen]]. She thinks of her attempt to gain control of Terre d'Ange as a game and Phedre as her WorthyOpponent, and so sends Phedre a hint to start her search.
* Jeffrey Deaver's ''The Bone Collector''

* Thrown {{Up To Eleven}} in ''Anime/DeathNote: Literature/AnotherNote'' with Beyond Birthday. The entire book is about trying to solve a very, very, difficult one of these... None of the police force investigating could even start to decipher B's clues, and the only people who helped where Naomi Misora (under L's guidance) and an "unprivate" detective named Ryuzaki. [[spoiler:Guess who ends up doing most of the work? No not L, but Ryuzaki, who turned out to be the killer who placed the clues there in the first place as a XanatosRoulette to throw off L, in order to surpass him and become "the perfect criminal".]]

* Subverted in ''{{Homicide Life On The Street}}'' (a show whose reason for existing is to subvert the trope of the Detective show) in the episode "Sniper". A serial killer draws a hangman game in chalk at the scene of each crime, with another letter filled in each time. The detectives hope that if they can guess the word, they can solve the crime. [[spoiler: It turns out that the word is "eromitlab," a nonsense word -- Baltimore backwards. The killer is simply crazy. There's nothing more to it than that.]]
* Happened in an episode of ''[[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Law and Order: Special Victims Unit]],'' though the police didn't give up on traditional methods entirely. In fact, by ''using'' traditional methods, they're able to catch the perp ''before'' he can complete his intended killings, and even manage to save a victim without stooping to his level.
* Happened at least once in ''{{CSI}}'', with ''vastly'' more complex clues than usual.

* An episode of ''{{NUMB3RS}}'' called "The Janus List" [[XanatosRoulette took this to ridiculous extremes]]. Supposedly, the whole point of the exercise was to give the FBI a list of double agents, but the character who had the list made it all but impossible for the FBI to find it. [[spoiler:To be fair, this also hid the list from double (triple?) -agent Colby Granger-- but yeah, routes much more direct were available.]]
** A lot of episodes of ''NUMB3RS'' do this. Usually the clues require advanced mathematics to unravel, since the show's Aesop is that "Maths are useful and mathematicians are like superheroes - with maths."
* {{Justified|Trope}} in {{Charmed}}, when a group of demons perpetrates a series of attacks using an Alice in Wonderland theme. The justification is that the Charmed sisters have recently faked their own death, and the demons have a theory that they are still alive and won't be able to resist investigating murders if there's a fairytale theme to give it that extra captivating interest.

* The Mysterons do this all the time in ''CaptainScarlet and the Mysterons''; somehow, despite tipping their hand every single time, they actually ''win'' in a few episodes, starting with the second.
* Subverted in ''{{Dexter}}''. The Ice Truck Killer seems to keep sending clues to the police, but they're really meant only for Dexter.
** In the second season, Dexter himself does this to mislead the agents investigating his own murders. In a twist, his attempt to mislead actually helps the FBI agent to narrow down the investigation.

* CarmenSandiego is possibly only second to the Riddler in being known for this. She leaves the clues as a friendly challenge of wits against the FriendlyEnemy / WorthyOpponent detectives.

* ''TheSimpsons'' did a parody of this. Chief Wiggum was the "Mutton-Chop Murderer", who wanted to create a crime even Lisa Simpson couldn't solve. They also had a subversion; in one episode, Bart hid something of Lisa's and challenged her with a series of riddles, ''each one'' more devious then the next -- but Lisa figures the whole thing out in five seconds.
** Lisa didn't need to figure out anything, she found her hidden possession just by looking behind the bookshelf.
* Spoofed in the ''SouthPark'' episode "Chickenlover": the titular animal molester always left a message at the scene of the crime. The clues turn out to be really, really obvious... ''but Officer Barbrady is illiterate,'' and thus, he can't read the messages. After forcing himself to painstakingly learn to read through children's books, he eventually manages to find and arrest the culprit... who turns out to be a bookmobile driver who was trying to encourage Officer Barbrady to confront his illiteracy, [[FridgeLogic even though there was no way he could have known about it before he molested the first chicken.]]
** Further spoofed/subverted in that in his joy over conquering his illiteracy, Officer Barbrady then reads Ayn Rand's ''Atlas Shrugged''. After that, he decides that reading sucks, and he'll never read anything else every again; completely subverting the "Chickenlover"'s whole stated purpose for his actions.
*** It's as much a TakeThat to AynRand as a subversion of the Aesop for humor.
* In British series ''BromwellHigh'' one of the girls hides some illegal sweets people are looking for and composes a rhyme telling where they are.

* Brutally subverted on ''MonkeyDust'' when a serial killer becomes entangled in a furious game of cat and mouse with a police detective. The thrill of the chase is blown when the serial killer accidentally falls asleep in his car at the crime scene after killing a man: blood stained and with weapon in hand. Disappointed that it ended with such an anticlimax, the police detective decides to let the killer go. Only to be then killed by him.

* Scary RealLife example: The Zodiac Killer, an as-of-today unknown serial killer who taunted California policemen with postcards and letters written in secret code. According to the letters he sent to the press, he killed people in order to have slaves in the afterlife.
** Ergo also his [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed obvious stand-in]] Scorpio from ''DirtyHarry''.
** A number of investigators and researchers consider many, if not all, of his "clues", including his codes, to be purely [[RedHerring red herrings]].
*** Ironically, it took amateurs to break the said codes, since professional codebreakers were assuming that they were far more elaborate than they actually were, and failed to realize that they were filled with spelling errors. They tell next to nothing about the killer himself, but do seem to imply that he ultimately committed suicide, or wants the police to believe that he did.

** Others who sent letters (some of them more coherent than others) include Son of Sam, BTK, and the Axeman of New Orleans.

->''Look out world. Here comes a guy as tough as a regular guy only easier to catch.''

* Subverted in ''DeathNote:'' the master detective L expects Kira to be leaving messages -- but Kira is just as smart as he is, so only leaves red herrings to throw L off the scent, or meaningless clues to waste his time.
** Played straight the novel ''Death Note: Another Note''. The killer, [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign Beyond Birthday]], left several clues leading from one murder to the next, and in fact [[spoiler: lead Naomi Misora ''in person'' to find each and every one of these clues to make sure his effort didn't go to waste. The clues ''then'' all ended up as a dramatic setup for his own suicide, which ''itself'' was an attempt to prove himself better than L by creating a mystery L couldn't solve.]]

* Thrown {{Up To Eleven}} in ''{{Death Note}}: {{Another Note}}'' with Beyond Birthday. The entire book is about trying to solve a very, very, difficult one of these... None of the police force investigating could even start to decipher B's clues, and the only people who helped where Naomi Misora (under L's guidance) and an "unprivate" detective named Ryuzaki. [[spoiler:Guess who ends up doing most of the work? No not L, but Ryuzaki, who turned out to be the killer who placed the clues there in the first place as a {{Xanatos Roulette}} to throw off L, in order to surpass him and become "the perfect criminal"]]

* Thrown {{Up To Eleven}} in ''{{Death Note}}: {{Another Note}}'' with Beyond Birthday. The entire book is about trying to solve a very, very, difficult one of these... None of the police force investigating could even start to decipher B's clues, and the only people who helped where Naomi Misora (under L's guidance) and an "unprivate" detective named Ryuzaki. Guess who ends up doing most of the work? [[spoiler: No not L, but Ryuzaki, who turned out to be the killer who placed the clues there in the first place as a {{Xanatos Roulette}} to throw off L, in order to surpass him and become "the perfect criminal"]]

* Thrown {{up to eleven}} in ''{{Death Note}}: {{Another Note}}'' With Beyond Birthday. The entire book is about trying to solve a very, very, difficult one of these... None of the police force investigating could even start to decipher B's clues, and the only people who helped where Naomi Misora (under L's guidance) and an "unprivate" detective named Ryuzaki. Guess who ends up doing most of the work? [[spoiler: No not L, but Ryuzaki, who turned out to be the killer who placed the clues there in the first place as a {{Xanatos Roulette}} to throw off L, in order to surpass him and become "the perfect criminal"]]

* thrown {{up to eleven}} in ''{{Death Note}}: {{Another Note}}'' With Beyond Birthday. The entire book is about trying to solve a very, very, difficult one of these... None of the police force investigating could even start to decipher B's clues, and the only people who helped where Naomi Misora (under L's guidance) and an "unprivate" detective named Ryuzaki. Guess who ends up doing most of the work? [[spoiler: No not L, but Ryuzaki, who turned out to be the killer who placed the clues there in the first place as a {{Xanatos Roulette}} to throw off L, in order to surpass him and become "the perfect criminal"]]

See also LinkedListClueMethodology for a number of non-(or at least ''less'')criminal scavenger hunts. Compare TheWalrusWasPaul.

* The subject of AliceCooper's ConceptAlbum "Along Came a Spider".

[[folder: Real Life ]]
* Scary RealLife example: The Zodiac Killer, an as-of-today unknown serial killer who taunted California policemen with postcards and letters written in secret code. According to the letters he sent to the press, he killed people in order to have slaves in the afterlife.
** Ergo also his [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed obvious stand-in]] Scorpio from ''DirtyHarry''.
** A number of investigators and researchers consider many, if not all, of his "clues", including his codes, to be purely [[RedHerring red herrings]].
*** Ironically, it took amateurs to break the said codes, since professional codebreakers were assuming that they were far more elaborate than they actually were, and failed to realize that they were filled with spelling errors. They tell next to nothing about the killer himself, but do seem to imply that he ultimately committed suicide, or wants the police to believe that he did.
* JackTheRipper wrote letters to the police and newspapers, taunting them. The "From Hell" letter is the most infamous, as it was delivered along with part of [[NotVeryPrettyNowIsHe one of the victims' kidneys]].
** Others who sent letters (some of them more coherent than others) include Son of Sam, BTK, and the Axeman of New Orleans.
[[/folder]]

* In the movie ''[[{{I Robot}} I, Robot]]'', the [[spoiler:"murder" ''victim'']] does this, the initial clue being [[spoiler:[[XanatosFuneral his own "murder"]]]], ostensibly to reveal his secret to the hero without tipping off a [[spoiler:ThreeLawsCompliant AI with SinisterSurveillance]] in time to prevent a [[spoiler:ZerothLawRebellion]]. (Yeah, the ''movie'' did something clever and subversive. )

* Double-subverted in John Buchan's RichardHannay novel ''The Three Hostages''. The villain leaves a riddle for the police, in the form of a six-line poem. Subversion: It's deliberately uncrackable, and therefore ''should'' act only as a distractor. Double-subversion: But, possibly subconsciously, he laces the riddle with subtle clues, which the heroes crack thanks to a number of [[ContrivedCoincidence remarkably fortuitous encounters and observations]].

* This is the M.O. of recurring villain the Deaf Man in Ed [=McBain's=] ''[=~87th Precinct~=]'' novels. There is a slight aversion in that while the Deaf Man sends taunting clues to the police, they seldom fully decipher them and are more likely to stop his crimes by accident than design.

* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in {{Charmed}}, when a group of demons perpetrates a series of attacks using an Alice in Wonderland theme. The justification is that the Charmed sisters have recently faked their own death, and the demons have a theory that they are still alive and won't be able to resist investigating murders if there's a fairytale theme to give it that extra captivating interest.

* Issue #6 of ''Untold Tales of {{Spider-Man}}'' had Spidey and the Human Torch working together to stop The Wizard, who left logic-based puzzles as clues to his next caper. The crime spree was The Wizard's attempt to prove that he was smarter than the Torch, but GeniusBruiser TeenGenius Spider-Man solved them all fairly easily.

* ''TheAbominableDrPhibes'' accidentally dropped a medallion with some Hebrew lettering at the scene of one of his crimes, which tipped the police off to the Old Testament nature of his [[PoeticSerialKiller poetic serial killing]].

* Played with in ''Red Dragon'', where the police intercept a fan letter the SerialKiller sent to his idol, Hannibal Lecter. Lecter begins corresponding with him in the sensationalist newspaper ''The Tattler'' with a cryptic message, and as the FBI are'nt able to decipher it in time they decided to let go ahead as it's their only means of contacting him, and when they finally deciphered it they could take Lecter's place. Unfortunately, it was'nt the Dragon they were playing mind games with- Lecter's message [[spoiler: told the Dragon the hero and his family's home address, and said he should kill them all.]]

*** Actually, he was mostly based on the BTK killer Dennis Nader, who also left letters. The only Zodiac thing was that Naders' letters just taunted the police; he never left cryptic clues in them, though he would announce that he had chosen his next victim.

* Spoofed in the ''SouthPark'' episode "Chickenlover": the titular animal molester always left a message at the scene of the crime. The clues turn out to be really, really obvious... ''but Officer Barbrady is illiterate,'' and thus, he can't read the messages. After forcing himself to painstakingly learn to read through children's books, he eventually manages to find and arrest the culprit... who turns out to be a bookmobile driver who was trying to encourage Officer Barbrady to confront his illiteracy.

* Jigsaw does this in ''{{Saw}} 2'', having abducted a Detective Matthew's son and left him, and numerous other victims-including Amanda, a survivor of his games- in a house filled with death traps, and is recording the whole thing, which becomes useful when the detective and a SWAT team show up to arrest him. Jigsaw says the son will be returned alive and safe if Matthew's just has a conversation with him, but the house is also filling with nerve gas that will kill everyone inside in two hours. [[spoiler: The son is locked in a safe in Jigsaw's room, the video is not live and everyone in it is already dead apart from Amanda, and when Matthew's shows up thinking he'll save his son Amanda reveals that she was Jigsaw's apprentice, and the whole thing was a revenge scheme of hers because Matthew's once framed her for a crime, ruining her life, and it ends with Amanda leaving him to die locked in the room from the first film]].

** Ironically, [[spoiler: Misora figured it out because "Ryuzaki" knew too much about the case, so he had to either be Beyond Birthday or L himself. She immediately decided the second option was too ridiculous to be true, as someone who acts like [[BunnyEarsLawyer that]] couldn't possibly be the world's greatest detective. The kicker? Beyond Birthday looks ''exactly like L'' - to the point where the reader has been believing he ''is'' L all this time. ([[UnreliableNarrator Mello is a deceiving jackass even through the fourth wall]].)]]

* Double-subverted in John Buchan's ''The Three Hostages.'' The villain leaves a riddle for the police, in the form of a six-line poem. Subversion: It's deliberately uncrackable, and therefore ''should'' act only as a distractor. Double-subversion: But, possibly subconsciously, he laces the riddle with subtle clues, which the heroes crack thanks to a number of [[ContrivedCoincidence remarkably fortuitous encounters and observations]].

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-->-- [[http://www.seanbaby.com/superfriends/riddler.htm Seanbaby]], on TheRiddler

* In all incarnations of ''{{Batman}}'', this is TheRiddler's modus operandi; other Batman villains, notably {{The Joker}}, have also done it.

* Happened in an episode of ''[[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Law and Order: Special Victims Unit]],'' though the police didn't give up on traditional methods entirely.

* This is the M.O. of recurring villain the Deaf Man in Ed [=McBain's=] ''EightySeventhPrecinct'' novels. There is a slight aversion in that while the Deaf Man sends taunting clues to the police, they seldom fully decipher them and are more likely to stop his crimes by accident than design.

* Played with in ''Red Dragon'', where the police intercept a fan letter the SerialKiller sent to his idol, Hannibal Lecter.

The detectives are on the heels of a very unbalanced criminal who has left them a trail of clues to follow -- usually a test of their intellect, or their investigatory skills, as though the criminal wants to see if the detectives are worthy of catching him. Not only do the detectives oblige the nutter and follow his breadcrumb trail, they tend to give up all conventional routes of investigation. Usually they are the minutest step behind their quarry right until the end. Sometimes the criminal wishes to distract or trap the detectives, sometimes they want them to uncover some other truth along the way, but usually they're just being a real smartass. Sometimes the clues are hidden in the SerialKiller's CallingCard or in its [[LucaBrasiSleepsWithTheFishes gruesome]] [[MaryKellysKidney souvenirs]].

* Another movie example: ''{{Se7en}}'', [[spoiler:although that was all part of a {{Thanatos Gambit}}]].