History Main / ShadyLadyOfTheNight

She is hired to do criminal, or... ''shady'' activities.

Compare PredatoryProstitute, who is always an evil person, no matter what. A ShadyLadyOfTheNight can have any moral alignment; they ''are'' paid to harm someone, but this can range from the least harmful (e.g. giving out sensitive information) to the most (i.e. killing them).

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]
* One of the ''ComicBook/RoadToPerdition'' stories has Michael O'Sullivan visiting an underage prostitute named Juana who he wants information from concerning his nemesis Connor Looney. For obvious reasons, he doesn't do anything with her, but instead gets the information that he needs from her and leaves her with enough money to leave if she wants to.

[[folder: Fan Works]]

[[folder: Films — Live-Action]]

[[folder: Literature]]

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire:'' In ''Literature/ADanceWithDragons'', the [[spoiler: [[NotQuiteDead thought-to-be dead Mance Rayder]]]] is tasked by Melisandre to save [[spoiler: Arya Stark]] from her marriage with [[spoiler: Ramsay Bolton]] in Winterfell. To do this, he takes six spearwives with him, who [[DirtyHarriet go undercover as camp followers (that is, prostitutes serving soldiers)]]. The spearwives kill several men in Winterfell, and later help [[spoiler: Theon]] to save [[spoiler: "Arya"]], who is actually [[spoiler: Jeyne Poole]].
* ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'': In ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'' By reveals that Impsec often recruits prostitutes to work as spies. Their logic is that it is easier to convince a prostitute to act as a spy than to convince a spy to sleep with an enemy target when necessary.

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

* In the ''Series/{{House}}'' episode "[[Recap/HouseS7E07APoxOnOurHouse A Pox on Our House]]", House hires a camgirl for a private session, which it turns out is for her to translate a document from Dutch without going through the official hospital channels. Geerte is quite bemused at such a prosaic request, but turns out to be a skilled translator.

[[folder: Video Games]]

** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'': [[NaughtyNuns Sister Teodora and her "congregation"]], a local brothel who pays lip service to the Church's rule over Florence and serve as allies and a spy network for the Assassins.

* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'': In order to eliminate the [[NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters Saints]], [[SiblingsInCrime Viola and Kiki DeWynter]] hire a bunch of prostitutes and anonymously organize a party at the Saints' penthouse. Being [[AllMenArePerverts sexually eager]], the male Saints don't realize the prostitutes are here to assassinate them until the Boss narrowly stops one of them from shooting Pierce with his own gun whilst straddling his lap. At this, the other prostitutes pull out really big firearms from... [[{{Hammerspace}} somewhere]], and start shooting the building up. Ultimately, though, the Saints win the firefight, because however well-armed the prostitutes are, they're still wearing {{Stripperiffic}} clothes instead of tactical body armour, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome which means they can be shot dead as effortlessly as any other enemy]]. In the aftermath, the [=DeWynters=] are read the riot act by their erstwhile allies:

She is hired to do criminal, or...''shady'' activities.

* In ''Series/FilthyRich'', after relocating to New Orleans and becoming enmeshed in the Monreaux family, Ginger Sweet orders her webcam girls to start keeping recordings of any high-powered religious men who visit their cams, in case she needs to blackmail one of Margaret Monreaux's wealthy, powerful friends, as she suspects that Margaret is looking for any excuse to shove her out of the family. This backfires terribly when Margaret finds out that the Governor of Lousiana is a regular on Ginger's site; Margaret is in a feud with the Governor and thus leaks incriminating footage to the press, which ruins him but also ruins Ginger, as no one's going to visit her website if they think they're being recorded.

** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedFreedomCry'': Bastienne Josephe is the local madame who runs an informant network comprised of her prostitutes on behalf of the Maroon rebellion.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' Emily Kaldwin, daughter of the murdered previous Emperess Jessamine and thus the presumptive Emperess, has been kidnapped by [[RegentForLife Hiram Burrows]] and held in The Golden Cat, a brothel managed by Madam Prudence.

* Rather [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks early]] in the ''Literature/AnitaBlake'' series, the eponymous character needs some information from someone who happens to be a prostitute -- she was previously a suspicious man's mistress. It takes Anita quite a while to convince her that, really, yes, she really, truly, actually wants to talk.

* Literature/KushielsLegacy: This is {{Invoked}} when Delaunay buys Phedre's indenture and that of Alcuin. He raises them both to be [[HighClassCallGirl courtesans]] ([[DeliberateValuesDissonance which is considered an honored and almost priestly profession in their country]]) but adds plenty of other lessons in observation, languages, acrobatics, escape, and other espionage tricks of the trade so that he can use them to spy upon and report the goings on of the DeadlyDecadentCourt. Delaunay's methods are shady but his intention is benign; [[spoiler: The late prince was his boyfriend, and he swore to protect his lover's young child, the heir to the kingdom, from internal intrigues that would harm her.]]

* ''Series/GameOfThrones:'' Littlefinger runs a brothel whose prostitutes often spy and collect information on their wealthy clients. Ros, for example, was actually a spy ''of'' Varys, which made Littlefinger dismiss her [[spoiler:([[CruelAndUnusualDeath horribly]])]] and replace her with Olyvar, who went on to spy ''on'' Loras Tyrell.

* In the ''Series/{{House}}'' episode “A Pox On Our House,” House hires a camgirl for a private session, which it turns out is for her to translate a document from Dutch without going through the official hospital channels. Geerte is quite bemused at such a prosaic request, but turns out to be a skilled translator.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'': [[NaughtyNuns Sister Teodora and her "congregation"]], a local brothel who pays lip service to the Church's rule over Florence and serve as allies and a spy network for the Assassins.
* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedFreedomCry'': Bastienne Josephe is the local madame who runs an informant network comprised of her prostitutes on behalf of the Maroon rebellion.

-->'''[[TheBrute Killbane]]:''' ''[[WhatWereYouThinking HOOKER ASSASSINS?!]]''
-->'''Viola:''' They came highly recommended!
-->'''[[EvilBrit Matt]] [[TheCracker Miller]]:''' Ladies, it was a pretty [[PrecisionFStrike shit]] plan.

-----

* Literature/KushielsLegacy: This is {{Invoked}} when Delaunay buys Phedre's indenture and that of Alcuin. He raises them both to be [[HighClassCallGirl courtesans]] ([[DeliberateValuesDissonance which is considered an honored and almost priestly profession in their country]]) but adds plenty of other lessons in observation, languages, acrobatics, escape, and other espionage tricks of the trade so that he can use them to spy upon and report the goings on of the DeadlyDecadantCourt. Delaunay's methods are shady but his intention is benign; [[spoiler: The late prince was his boyfriend, and he swore to protect his lover's young child, the heir to the kingdom, from internal intrigues that would harm her.]]

* ''Film/ParisJeTaime'': A lighthearted variation occurs in the "Pigalle" segment. A middle-aged man goes to a strip club and is in the middle of hiring a prostitute when another woman--his wife--storms into the room. As they talk, though, it's revealed that the married couple are both actors, and the man deliberately hired the woman not to have sex with her, but as a private test audience for a script they're working on. In one funny moment, the prostitute gets bored and looks away while the couple is fighting.

Often they are commissioned to kill or steal from somebody: usually someone important, e.g. a politician or [[TheMafia a crime leader]]. The main idea is that when politicians and crime leaders take the services of a prostitute (that is, the sex part) they allow her to get intimate with them (of course) and are [[FemalesAreMoreInnocent unsuspecting]] her of any ill will. Especially if this girl is a [[HighClassCallGirl courtesan]], and her clients treat her like their girlfriend, then they are all the less suspective of her, when say, she [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink drops a few spills of something in the food]], or brings handcuffs to "have fun" in the bed, or asks a great amount of money for a new bracelet.

She is hired to do criminal, or...''shady'' activites.

Often they are commissionied to kill or steal from somebody: usually someone important, e.g. a politician or [[TheMafia a crime leader]]. The main idea is that when politicians and crime leaders take the services of a prostitute (that is, the sex part) they allow her to get intimate with them (of course) and are [[FemalesAreMoreInnocent unsuspecting]] her of any ill will. Especially if this girl is a [[HighClassCallGirl courtesan]], and her clients treat her like their girlfriend, then they are all the less suspective of her, when say, she [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink drops of a few spills of something in the food]], or brings handcuffs to "have fun" in the bed, or asks a great amount of money for a new bracelet.

In a military setting, this can be possible because of [[CampFollower Camp Followers]].

A lot of times these prostitutes are asked to be an informant on someone: yes, those politicians and crime leaders, who aren't suspective of her enough, and will talk about their activites with their friends right in front of her.

Compare PredatoryProstitute. A PredatoryProstitute is always an evil person, no matter what. A ShadyLadyOfTheNight can have any moral alignment. They ''are'' paid to harm someone, but this can range from the least harmful (e.g. giving out sensitive information) to the most (i.e. killing them).

May overlap with the HoneyTrap, FemmeFatale and OutWithABang.

* PlayedWith in ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone: The Soft World''. At the Border Crossroads Inn, George and John need to get some information from a waitress. While she's not willing to go up to their room with them to have sex, she agrees to come when they explain they just want information and will even pay her. However, for a complicated reason, another woman is sent along with her, and the woman is a known tattler who will immediately report any shenanigans to the persons currently running the inn. So George has to have sex with the tattler to distract her, while John, who ''can't'' have sex with human women any more, has to fake it while he telepathically interrogates the waitress. HilarityEnsues.

* In ''Film/DirtyWork'', Mitch gets back at a {{jerkass}} owner of a used car lot by hiring a bunch of prostitutes to get in the trunk of his cars and pretend to be dead during the broadcast of a live television commercial. Later in the film Mitch hires the same prostitutes to act as security while getting revenge on the BigBad.
* ''Film/LethalWeapon'': Dixie the prostitute was hired to seduce Amanda Huntsacker and giver her barbiturates laced with drain cleaner, which would have killed her if she hadn't taken a swan dive while on a drug high, ending her life in a very visible way, and getting the police involved well ahead of when the drug syndicate planned for.

* ''Literature/TheAscendantKingdomsSaga'': Female lead Kestel Falke was a highly sought-after courtesan in Donderath, but also moonlighted as an assassin who [[SympatheticMurderer specialized in killing unfaithful or abusive husbands]]. She was eventually caught and exiled to Donderath's PenalColony Velant, [[YouAllMeetInACell which is where she met the other protagonists]].

* In ''Series/FilthyRich'', after relocating to New Orleans and becoming enmeshed in the Monreaux family, Ginger Sweet orders her webcam girls to start keeping recordings of any high-powered religious men who visit their cams, in case she needs to blackmail one of Margaret Monreaux's wealthy, powerful friends, as she suspects that Margaret is looking for any excuse to shove her out of the family. This backfires terribly when Margaret finds out that the Governor of Lousiana is a regular on Ginger's site; Margaret is in a feud with the Governor, and thus leaks incriminating footage to the press, which ruins him but also ruins Ginger, as no one's going to visit her website if they think they're being recorded.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones:'' Littlefinger runs a brothel whose prostitutes often spy and collect information on their wealthy clients. Ros, for example was actually a spy ''of'' Varys, which made Littlefinger dismiss her [[spoiler:([[CruelAndUnusualDeath horribly]])]] and replace her with Olyvar, who went on to spy ''on'' Loras Tyrell.
* In the ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'' episode "The Assassin", the eponymous assassin would hire call-girls to do small errands for him, such as picking up a suitcase in the park. He would later kill them.

-->'''Viola:''' They came highly-recommended!

[[folder: Films - Live-Action]]

Often they are commissionied to kill or steal from somebody: usually someone important, i.e. a politician or [[TheMafia a crime leader]]. The main idea is that when politicians and crime leaders take the services of a prostitute (that is, the sex part) they allow her to get intimate with them (of course) and are [[FemalesAreMoreInnocent unsuspecting]] her of any ill will. Especially if this girl is a [[HighClassCallGirl courtesan]], and her clients treat her like their girlfriend, then they are all the less suspective of her, when say, she [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink drops of a few spills of something in the food]], or brings handcuffs to "have fun" in the bed, or asks a great amount of money for a new bracelet.

!!Indices:TheOldestProfession, {{Criminals}}, OrganizedCrimeTropes, AlwaysFemale, HiredGuns, EspionageTropes