History Main / TheCoroner

* Asklepiodes in John Maddox Roberts's ''SPQR'' series, a Greek physician attached to a gladiator school in ancient Rome. Thanks to his position he knows more about violence-related injuries than any other doctor in Rome, and is also an avid collector of exotic swords and other melee weapons. Because physicians are considered "philosophers", he is technically forbidden from practicing medicine with his own hands, but he has a number of well-trained slaves, and when he does get his own hands bloody, his employers and the detective always look the other way.

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!!Other examples:

* Dr. Harashaw of ''[[Anime/GhostInTheShell1995 Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence]]''. Notable for being a cybernetic pathologist -- she's called in by Section 9 to look at "dead" cyber-bodies and determine how they, er, terminally malfunctioned.
* The rather depressed Dr. Knox of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' averts the usual attitude of this trope. A former surgeon, he was forced to perform horrific medical experiments on Ishvalans during the war and chose to become a coroner after the war out of shame. Though he would never admit it, he is grateful that he gets to save [[spoiler:Lan Fan and May Chang]].
* Though not officially a Coroner, Sakurako of ''Literature/BeautifulBonesSakurakosInvestigation'' effectively serves this role. In the first episode, she is able to determine that a couple found dead on the beach were, in fact, murder victims and not a double suicide as the police had initially suspected. In another episode, she comforts a young woman by pointing out that her grandmother's death was an unfortunate accident, and not a suicide (Sakurako was the one to discover the skeleton). And in another episode, she quickly determines that a man's "accident" was actually a suicide attempt.

* For a few years, Mortimer Gunt in the Franchise/{{Batman}} comics.[[note]]He was a bit character even during his creator Doug Moench's heyday on Batman; his biggest role might actually be in Moench's prose collection ''The Forensic Files of Batman''.[[/note]]

* In ''Fanfic/StarlightOverDetrot'', due to the general lack of homicides within Equestria - as well as the fact that it's quite a distasteful task - the job of forensic pathologist is very difficult to fill. In fact, Detrot only has one coroner ([[ItMakesSenseInContext plus or minus an oversized hamster]]): Slip Stitch, a pony who starts out [[CloudCuckoolander on the strange side]], then [[CrossingTheLineTwice jumps right off]] [[BlackComedy that slippery slope.]] Add to that the fact that he occupies the Detrot Morgue and Ice Cream Parlor, and, well...

* In ''Fanfic/ChrysalisVisitsTheHague'', the Bosnian Edith Saric fills this role... though she gets in trouble early on for trying to break out of it by going intrepid.
* ''FanFic/TrollCops'' has Dr. Kanaya Maryam, Medical Examiner for the Alternia City Police Department, who also serves as TheMole in the APD for [[TheOrder S.E.E.R.]]
* In the ''Central Shadow Realm'' universe, the coroners for the Central Shadow Realm Police Department are Injection Fairy Lilies. They're known for two things: sarcasm and chain-smoking.

* In ''Film/DraculaDeadAndLovingIt'', Van Helsing, played by Creator/MelBrooks, manages to make interns faint out of pure disgust as he works on a body... and keeps '''''SCORE''''' of the interns that fainted!!!
* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'': "As coroner, I must aver, I've thoroughly examined her...and she's not only merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead!"
* In the spoof movie ''Film/LoadedWeapon1'', Dr. Joyce Brothers is the coroner investigating York's killing. In an amusing twist, she's portrayed as surly and insensitive:
-->'''Dr. Brothers:''' All right. This loser has taken the chicken shit way out and punched her own ticket.

* Jim from ''Film/MysteryRoad'' may look and act like a quirky FrontierDoctor, but he is sharp as a tack and nothing escapes his forensic examination.

* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'':
** The first seven films have Dr. Adam Heffner of the Metropolitan Police Department. While he first appeared in ''Film/SawIV'' and doesn't get much screentime to know his personality well, he was the one who examined the cause of death of all the victims in the Jigsaw killings found by the police from the [[Film/SawI first movie]] to ''Film/Saw3D'' (where he ends up getting killed by Hoffman).
** Logan Nelson and Eleanor Bonneville are the two medical examiners who are involved in the case of the new Jigsaw killing spree in ''Film/{{Jigsaw}}''.

* Dr. Kay Scarpetta, of the series by Creator/PatriciaCornwell. Before the series degenerated into total WriterOnBoard, she served as the Chief M.E. of Virginia, and had the MD/JD to back it up.

* The coroner, Doctor Hugel, in Jed Rubenfield´s ''Interpretation of Murder'', has been given the nickname 'The Ghoul' for the eagerness with which he performs his postmortems. He also gets this line:
-->"Altogether a fine female chest. The heart and lungs - the perfect example of healthy asphyxiated tissue. Why - it was a pleasure to hold them in one´s hands!"
* Acatl, High Priest of the Dead in the Literature/ObsidianAndBlood Trilogy. As High Priest of the Dead, part of his job is to examine the bodies of people dead under unusual circumstances for probable cause, then help figure out who did it. Granted, he does the figuring out using BloodMagic, but still.

* Asklepiodes in John Maddox Roberts's ''SPQR'' series, a Greek physician attached to a gladiator school in ancient Rome. Thanks to his position he knows more about violence-related injuries than any other doctor in Rome, and is also an avid collector of exotic swords and other melee weapons. Because physicians are considered "philosophers', he is technically forbidden from practicing medicine with his own hands, but he has a number of well-trained slaves, and when he does get his own hands bloody, his employers and the detective always look the other way.
* Polina, the young pathologist from Martin Cruz Smith's ''[[Literature/GorkyPark Red Square]]''. She is hardworking and honest, which is a rarity in the Moscow militia (police forces), and jaded and cynical far beyond her years, which is not. As the novel is set in the last few months of the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion, the militia have to make do with dwindling resources. Case in point: she arrives at a theory that the victim of the book was killed by an incendiary device of copper sulfate and red sodium separated by a permeable barrier like paper or cheesecloth; when the sodium soaks through and comes in contact with the copper sulfate the device ignites. So to test her theory, she invites the lead investigator to come with her to the car junkyard, where her test equipment consists of a stopwatch, a paintboard and brush, various membranes to be tested, and a bucket each of red sodium and copper sulfate. (When the investigator points out, rather gingerly, that they have militia technicians with body armor, bunkers, and very long brushes for this, she answers that she's quicker and better--and she is.)
** She also accounts for the unusually large amount of blood she found at the crime scene, by testing the blood and finding that it's not human - the killer made improvised napalm by mixing gasoline with cattle blood, adding that liquid soap and egg yolks can be used for the same purpose.
* ''Literature/TheManyLivesOfStephenLeeds'': Liza from ''Skin Deep''. In her late fifties, she works as the city coroner, although she prefers to be called "medical examiner". According to Stephen Leeds she spends most of the time playing internet games and prefers the dead to the living - but then again, he might be a little biased.

--> Wagner eyed the four deep furrows running diagonally across the man's chest. They'd cut through tissue and bone as cleanly as a saw. Four guys couldn't have done that at the same time. No way.
--> Not four assailants, Detective. Feingold raised his left hand to the light. [[TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken Four fingers. These are claw marks.]]
* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Mysteries'' has templates for Medical Examiner and Forensic Specialist, noting that in different jurisdictions, either might be a coroner.

* Membrillo from the game ''VideoGame/GrimFandango'' is a traditional example, down to the dark sense of humor. Well, aside from the fact that since he works in the Land of the Dead, the "corpses" he deals with are those who've been "sprouted" and are thus DeaderThanDead...
-->'''Membrillo:''' The secret to my happiness, Manuel, is I have the heart of a 12 year old child. [[HavingAHeart I keep it in a jar over here.]] Would you like to see it?
-->'''Manny:''' ''No.''
-->'''Membrillo:''' Sorry, old coroner joke.
-->(Membrillo translates as "Quince" - surely a nod to Quincy?)
* In a skit, Jade in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' will mention that as a boy, he wanted to become a doctor... of pathology. As an adult, he joined the military instead, but still retained the coroner's unflappability and dark sense of humour.
* Naomi Kirishima's specialty in ''[[VideoGame/TraumaCenter Trauma Team]]''.
* John Dresden from ''VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns''. Although his actual job is more like running a chop shop for humans, he gets subcontracted by Lone Star to do autopsies as well.
* Kai Kalaba in ''VisualNovel/CauseOfDeath''. He's ''much'' younger than the usual (he isn't even 30!), and is also a [[BunnyEarsLawyer near-impulsive nerd]]. And he's kind of a CloudCuckooLander ''on top of that''.
* In ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', [[ExtremeDoormat Mikan Tsumiki]] helps out by examining the corpses of the murder victims, determining how they died, which often provides vital clues for the trials. [[spoiler:When she reverts to her [[AlternateSelf old self]] as a member of [[ApocalypseCult Ultimate Despair]], she uses her expertise to help cover up the times her own victims died]].

* Dr. Laurel Weaver from ''Film/MenInBlack''.

* Dr. Ito in the ''Literature/SanoIchiro'' series, a position that is especially tricky in [[JidaiGeki Edo-period Japan]] as performing autopsies violates UsefulNotes/Shinto practices of the time, under which only members of the ''burakamin'' ("untouchable") caste can touch dead bodies, animal or human. In addition, he uses forbidden Western medicine knowledge and techniques to do them, an issue which has already gotten him "exiled" to Edo Jail.
* Asklepiodes in John Maddox Roberts's ''SPQR'' series, a Greek physician attached to a gladiator school in UsefulNotes/AncientRome. Thanks to his position he knows more about violence-related injuries than any other doctor in Rome, and is also an avid collector of exotic swords and other melee weapons. Because physicians are considered "philosophers', he is technically forbidden from practicing medicine with his own hands, but he has a number of well-trained slaves, and when he does get his own hands bloody, his employers and the detective always look the other way.

* Dr. Ito in the ''Literature/SanoIchiro'' series, a position that is especially tricky in [[JidaiGeki Edo-period Japan]] as performing autopsies violates Shinto practices of the time. In addition, he uses forbidden Western medicine knowledge and techniques to do them, an issue which has already gotten him "exiled" to Edo Jail.

* Subverted in the book ''Literature/TheWestingGame''. [[spoiler:The dead man isn't really dead--in fact, the "corpse" is a wax dummy--and the coroner is in on the whole thing.]]
* Dr. Kay Scarpetta, of the series by Patricia Cornwell. Before the series degenerated into total WriterOnBoard, she served as the Chief M.E. of Virginia, and had the MD/JD to back it up.
* The coroner, Doctor Hugel, in Jed Rubenfield´s ''Interpretation of Murder'', has been given the nickname 'The Ghoul' for the eagerness with which he performs his postmortems. He also gets this line:
-->"Altogether a fine female chest. The heart and lungs - the perfect example of healthy asphyxiated tissue. Why - it was a pleasure to hold them in one´s hands!"
* Dr. Ito in the ''Literature/SanoIchiro'' series, a position that is especially tricky in [[JidaiGeki Edo-period Japan]] as performing autopsies violates Shinto practices of the time. In addition, he uses forbidden Western medicine knowledge and techniques to do them, an issue which has already gotten him "exiled" to Edo Jail.
* Dr Waldo Butters from the ''Literature/DresdenFiles'' series is a medical examiner (mostly on the night shift because of [[ContinuityNod an incident]] when he filed a bunch of vampire corpses as "humanoid, but not human"). He gives [[OccultDetective Harry]] (and sometimes [[FriendOnTheForce Murphy]]) information on suspicious or just plain weird cases that end up in the morgue. He [[SurgeonsCanDoAutopsiesIfTheyWant can do surgery if he wants]] when Harry can't go to the hospital because of those pesky mandatory reporter laws and the fact that he's a WalkingTechBane thanks to his magic, though unlike some examples of this trope, he hates operating on living people. He has a thing for polka, and as of ''Literature/SkinGame,'' is a [[spoiler: Knight of the Cross]].

* Acatl, High Priest of the Dead in the Literature/ObsidianAndBlood Trilogy. As High Priest of the Dead, part of his job is to examine the bodies of people dead under unusual circumstances for probable cause, then help figure out who did it. Granted, he does the figuring out using BloodMagic, but still.
* Polina, the young pathologist from Martin Cruz Smith's ''Red Square''. She is hardworking and honest, which is a rarity in the Moscow militia (police forces), and jaded and cynical far beyond her years, which is not. As the novel is set in the last few months of the Soviet Union, the militia have to make do with dwindling resources. Case in point, she arrives at a theory that the victim of the book was killed by an incendiary device of copper sulfate and red sodium separated by a permeable barrier like paper or cheesecloth; when the sodium soaks through and comes in contact with the copper sulfate the device ignites. So to test her theory, she invites the lead investigator to come with her to the car junkyard, where her test equipment consists of a stopwatch, a paintboard and brush, various membranes to be tested, and a bucket each of red sodium and copper sulfate. (When the investigator points out, rather gingerly, that they have militia technicians with body armor, bunkers, and very long brushes for this, she answers that she's quicker and better--and she is.)
* ''Literature/TheManyLivesOfStephenLeeds'': Liza from ''Skin Deep''. In her late fifties, she works as the city coroner, although she prefers to be called "medical examiner". According to Stephen Leeds she spends most of the time playing internet games and prefers the dead to the living - but then again, he might be a little biased.
* ''Unnatural Causes:'' a memoir by Dr Richard Shepherd. Shepherd is one of Britain's leading forensic pathologists, and in the book he talks about various cases he has been involved with, some famous, some lesser known but important to his career.
* ''Literature/TheCemeteriesOfAmalo'': Ulzhavar, the Master of the Mortuary, is a distant relative of an ImpoverishedPatrician and is often found conducting autopsies for investigative purposes and/or to instruct his new subordinates in how it's done. Thara consults him in multiple cases when he needs to exhume a body and determine if someone was poisoned. In an interesting coincidence, one of those victims turns out to be Ulzhavar's own great-aunt by marriage, and Ulzhavar's report helps catch her killer.* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** The Ankh-Morpork City Watch has [[TheIgor Igor]], who can not only tell you how someone died, but, on occasion, can fix it.
** Mr Waynesbury in ''Literature/{{Thud}}'' is Ham-on-Koom's coroner, as well as the magistrate. He spends his afternoons fly-fishing in the peaceful waters of the lower Koom River. Given the extremely treacherous nature of the upper Koom, and its attraction to treasure seekers, this often leads to discoveries that require him to go back to work.

--> '''Hardy:''' Have you been into the embalming fluid again?
--> '''Slip Stitch:''' Oh! Yes, I have. Goes down smooth, gives a heady rush.

-->'''Dr. Bedpan:''' We've got painters in the flat. It's my son's eighth birthday, so we've moved the party here.
-->'''Inspector Even Longer:''' Why here? Where's your wife, then?
-->'''Dr. Bedpan:''' Over there, slab 207.

[[folder:Web Original]]

A staple of the PoliceProcedural. Also known as the Medical Examiner or ME, the Coroner tells the detectives how the victim died and hands them any interesting trace evidence. Typically, this professional is the detectives' first stop depicted after examining the crime scene such as in ''Franchise/LawAndOrder''.

* Dr. Harashaw of ''Anime/GhostInTheShell: Innocence'' Notable for being a cybernetic pathologist - she's called in by Section 9 to look at "dead" cyber-bodies and determine how they, er, terminally malfunctioned.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':

** Cadfael himself, as the abbey herbalist, is the one to examine dead bodies and determine how they died. While he shares his findings with sherrif Hugh Beringar, he does mots of the questioning.

* In the ''Literature/BrotherCadfael'' series, Welsh boatman Madog knows every inch of the Severn so well that he's the go-to person to advise investigators about when and where bodies have wound up in the river, or where they're likely to turn up after a drowning or water-dumping. He's also hauled so many corpses out of the river that he's widely known as "Madog of the Dead-Boat".

** Logan Nelson and Eleanor Bonneville are the two main medical examiners who are notified about the new Jigsaw killing spree in ''Jigsaw''.

* The ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' franchise has Dr. Adam Heffner of the Metropolitan Police Department. While he first appeared in ''Film/SawIV'' and doesn't get much screentime to know his personality well, he was the one who examined the cause of death of all the victims in the Jigsaw killings found by the police from the [[Film/SawI first movie]] to ''Film/Saw3D'' (where he ends up getting killed by Hoffman).

* The rather depressed Dr. Knox of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' averts the usual attitude of this trope. A former surgeon, he was forced to perform horrific medical experiments on Ishbalans during the war and chose to become a coroner after the war out of shame. Though he would never admit it, he is grateful that he gets to save [[spoiler:Lan Fan and May Chang]].

* The coroner, Doctor Hugel, in Jed Rubenfield´s ''Interpretation of Murder'', has been given the nickname 'The Ghoul' for the eagerness with which he performs his post mortems. He also gets this line:

* In the film ''Film/MenInBlack'', Dr. Laurel Weaver (Linda Fiorentino).