A 2001 Ben Elton novel set in an expy of Big Brother called House Arrest. A housemate is murdered onscreen in a reality TV show, but which one? And how can a murder be a mystery in a TV set house that's extensively watched by cameras at every moment? Detective Coleridge must find the killer before they strike again.
- Animal Wrongs Group: Woggle is a one-man example. He beat up a teenaged kennel worker while releasing fox-hunting hounds and gets into a fight with people over his refusal to have a flea bath and kill the fleas.
- Be Careful What You Wish For:
- The contestants all hoped the reality show would give them fame and public exposure, only to get more than they could have imagined (and in unflattering ways) as a murder victim and murder suspects.
- Layla, the first person eliminated, finds herself being treated as a joke due to how unflattering the show made her.
- Because of the show, Woggle is publicly exposed as being wanted for beating up a teenaged girl during an animal rights protest, and is beaten up by a group of people who recognize him.
- Bedlam House: Subverted when Moon pretends to have been abused in a mental institution, in order to boost her appeal with the public. The producer knows this is a lie because both of her own parents were institutionalized, and decides not to broadcast the footage.
- Blatant Lies: During the summation, Coleridge assures Sally that she was never a suspect even though he viewed her with strong suspicion in the early sections (although this is partially a Pet the Dog moment, given all of the grief and suspicion the character has gone through).
- Brainless Beauty: The stunning but unimaginative Kelly is a somewhat sympathetic version, although she ends up murdered.
- Butch Lesbian: Played with. Sally, although outwardly the textbook example of this trope, is one of the most sympathetic characters in the book. Also inverted with Trish, who is in the closet and resents people assuming she is heterosexual simply because she's not butch.
- Camping a Crapper: The whole plot of turns out to be based around this. Geraldine realised that at least one of the girls would have to go to the bathroom and planned for the murder to take place there.
- Cannot Convey Sarcasm: Inspector Colebridge can spend a whole paragraph being "deeply sarcastic" during The Summation without the hundreds of millions of people watching the televised event getting it. A good example of this is when he describes a hypothetical scenario where one of the eliminated reality show contestants tunnels back inside to commit a murder out of revenge.The studio erupted. All around the world the press lines jammed. So Woggle had done it after all, the evil kicker of teenage girls had surpassed even his previous levels of brutality. "Of course it wasn't Woggle!" said Colebridge impatiently. "Good heavens, if that highly distinctive fellow had popped up through the carpet I think we would have noticed, don't you?"
- Cheaters Never Prosper: There's public outrage when Dervla is found to have been cheating by secretly communicating with a cameraman; this results in her ultimately not winning (despite previously being the most popular contestant) because people refuse to vote for her. It's also mentioned that something similar happened in a previous series of the show when a contestant found to be tampering with microphones was disqualified. All of this is presented as rather hypocritical given the manipulative tactics used by the housemates and production team alike.
- Contempt Crossfire: However much the other contestants may dislike each other, one thing that often unites them is their hostility towards Woggle, due to his horrible hygiene and pride at taking Social Security payments while being an anti-government anarchist (which rankles the others due to how their taxes help fund Social Security).
- Convicted by Public Opinion: David and Sally are both suspected of the murder by the public and suffer a lot of harassment and stigma for it, but neither is guilty.
- Cultured Badass: Inspector Coleridge is an insightful investigator who had to regularly subdue rowdy drunks during his days as a beat cop. He is also a lay minister, gardens, subscribed to a distinguished poetry and non-fiction publisher, and is an amateur Shakespeare actor who shows some amazing showmanship during The Summation. That said, he can be petulant at times in his dislike and incomprehension of modern pop culture.
- Driven to Suicide: Sally attempts suicide on-camera when she becomes a prime suspect in the murder. She survives thanks to Jazz.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Seems to be the case for Dervla in Dead Famous, as even Sally says she'd like her to be her date at Pride.
- Expy: Almost all the housemates are blatant imitations of notable contestants from the first two series of Big Brother.
- Granola Girl: Layla is an intellectual (at least in her own mind) hippie with several liberal opinions.
- Hidden Depths: Not all of the contestants are quite the shallow twenty-something jerks they present themselves as. Apprentice Chef Jazz, who is mostly one of Those Two Guys with slightly racist lout Garry, makes some smart points about consumerism while discussing toothbrushes in one scene and wants the fame the show is bringing him to help jumpstart a career as a comedian (which is part of why he is always making smart aleck comments).
- Holding the Floor: Inspector Coleridge talks on television for five and a half minutes to delay the end of the show so his colleagues can arrive with faked evidence to prompt a confession from the murderer.
- I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham: Coleridge recalls griping when Hooper first installed a water cooler in their office, as he considered it a dumb attempt to emulate American cop shows. Now, he privately thinks that having drinks of cool water while he ruminates is faster and more enjoyable than having tea all the time.
- I Was Young and Needed the Money: Struggling pretentious actor David pays his bills by appearing in hardcore porno flicks and is terrified that this getting out could ruin him, which is implied to indeed happen after the information leaks.
- Lad-ette: Kelly and Moon fit the trope, with Geraldine referring to Kelly as "the little ladette slapper."
- Noble Bigot with a Badge: Inspector Coleridge makes some Slut-Shaming comments in the climax, can be quite sour when ranting about people who don't share his traditional religious beliefs (Trisha half-seriously compares him to a witch burner) and says that he doesn't get why gay people care about using the label gay even after Trisha points out that he'd just assume everyone was straight otherwise. However, he cares deeply about catching the murderer and is sympathetic and respectful to lesbian suspect Sally for the most part.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: David and Moon try to quit the reality show after the first eviction after the insufferable Woggle pulls an
Elimination Houdini (the public votes on who leaves) and they realize Geraldine is editing the footage to slant events in his favor for the crowd for entertainment value. Geraldine (who needs every contestant to stay until the end of the show) convinces them to stay by hinting that something will happen to Woggle soon and then tips off the police that he is wanted for assault. - Spot the Victim: Invoked. The book focuses on police trying to solve a murder that took place on a reality TV show by watching tapes of the show. The identity of the victim is not revealed until the detectives reach that point in the tapes, about two-thirds of the way through the book.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee : The Inspector clearly (and correctly) has a suspect in his sights well before The Summation but never says who. Even when he comes up with a Bluffing the Murderer plan (about fifteen pages before naming the killer), none of the details are given beyond how the plan involves wigs. Things work perfectly and the murderer is Caught on Tape confessing after the bluff (pretending to have a videotape of the killer preparing for the murder when really it is a disguised Constable Trisha) makes it seem like the police have evidence.
- Villainous Lineage. Sally worries that she may be homicidal and have blackouts because her mother killed her father. She is innocent and the police note insanity is far more likely to be inherited by the child when both parents are insane and not just one. Since both of Geraldine’s parents were mentally ill, Coleridge briefly notes that she could be too, although her murder scheme seems to be motivated by pure Greed.
