# Dumbest way a TV detective has solved a crime \[open spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [January 27, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482 "2025-01-27T17:14:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/61 "2025-01-28T23:25:10Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > I mean, Columbo could have just said to the perp that he’s in the process of trying to get a search warrant. But this is more fun. Better yet, Columbo could have mumbled out of the side of his mouth, “_Murderer says what_.” And gotten the confession right then and there! ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/62 "2025-01-29T04:50:07Z")
I forget what detective show it was (A USA network one) but a detective figured out a woman was the suspects wife/girlfriend because she had big boobs and was wearing a low cut top on a cold day, and how nobody would do that unless the woman was deliberately trying to create a distraction so nobody could accurately identify the suspects face when he is was secretly commiting a crime. They grab her and eventually cause her to turn on her partner. Maybe she was just dumb? And it was cold but not winter cold, she could have misjudged the weather. They seemingly only did that so they could load the episode with boob jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/63 "2025-01-29T10:52:20Z")
Yep, as we all know, everyone dresses for the weather 100% of the time. People with a great body always refuse to flaunt it in winter, even if they know they’ll be mostly indoors that day. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/64 "2025-01-29T14:52:06Z")
Well. . . some years ago in a town down the road from me there was a convenience store robbery one night. A nude woman strolled into the store, while her accomplices boosted a case of beer. The clerk called the cops and when asked for a description could not even tell them what color hair she had. Needless to say, no surveillance camera, at least not one that was functioning. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/65 "2025-01-29T15:09:38Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > There would be objections because of you turning the proceedings into a circus There wasn’t an immediate arrest (at least on-scene) but in the television adaptation of the Nero Wolfe story “The Next Witness”, Wolfe, having manipulated the prosecutor into asking a question that allows him to present the results of his impromptu investigation, names the real murderers (who are present). The judge orders the bailiff to prevent the murderers from leaving the courtroom (after Archie Goodwin helpfully points out their presence to the judge). ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/66 "2025-01-29T17:32:48Z")
Columbo question: was he ever depicted in a courtroom situation where he had to testify? ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/67 "2025-01-29T23:14:11Z")
I have the box set and have watched the episodes multiple times. I don’t think so. I’ll say 99 percent sure.(now someone will show me where I’m wrong) ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecc23a/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada_Jr)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/68 "2025-01-30T01:55:52Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > A nude woman strolled into the store, while her accomplices boosted a case of beer. The Nailer! Did they check on the whereabouts of Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/69 "2025-02-01T06:56:46Z")
Nope! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/70 "2025-02-01T08:17:30Z")
I’m fond of the time that Thomas Magnum correctly surmised that a nun repairing a window was actually an assassin in disguise because “nuns don’t work on Sundays”. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/kfFIkOgyf9o/maxresdefault.jpg ""Nuns don't work on Sunday." | Magnum P.I.") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfFIkOgyf9o) ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/71 "2025-02-01T12:56:42Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > You could probably fill a whole thread with examples from the “Encyclopedia Brown” books (he just about qualifies for this thread, thanks to his short-lived TV adaptation), but this one is far and away the most baffling: I don’t remember that one, but I remember an equally stupid Encyclopedia Brown mystery. A guy witnessed a crime while standing on his head (!) and one of the details the guy mentioned was that he could read a sign saying “CHOICE COD”. Encyclopedia Brown deduced that meant that the guy actually witnessed the crime while looking at a mirror because “CHOICE COD” is the same when read upside-down and backwards. Thus some key detail of the crime was reversed (e.g. the crook was left-handed instead of right-handed or something stupid like that). EDIT: I misremembered some of the details of a story I read 40 years ago, unsurprisingly. > **[The Case of the Upside-Down Witness](https://www.tumblr.com/brownencyclopedia/28705483393/the-case-of-the-upside-down-witness)** > > Unlike Caswell Philpott, who did headstands as part of his yoga, Elton Fisk did his for charity. He would stand on his head on the street corner and raise money for the local hospital. Like Caswell,… ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/72 "2025-02-01T18:40:22Z")
I don’t remember that story-- **is there a new Encyclopedia Brown book out**!? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/73 "2025-02-01T20:16:12Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > “CHOICE COD” is the same when read upside-down and backwards. I didn’t believe it, but I checked. it is! Now when that comes up again in real life, I’ll be ready! ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/74 "2025-02-01T20:35:27Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’m fond of the time that Thomas Magnum correctly surmised that a nun repairing a window was actually an assassin in disguise because “nuns don’t work on Sundays”. Wasn’t there also a mystery solved on a show (not Magnum PI) by recognizing that nuns don’t where makeup? ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/75 "2025-02-01T20:49:46Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > The solution to a locked room mystery was that the killer had drilled (with a hand tool, yet, to avoid noise) two small holes in an adjacent wall, and shot through one hole while looking through the other-- the “looking” hole was several inches above the “shooting” hole. > > Anyone who has ever fired a gun can see the problem there. It’s only marginally better than shooting blind. You can look at what you want to hit, and kinda try to point the gun that way, but unless you actually have the target in the gun’s sites, or you are aiming for, say, the side of a barn, you won’t hit it. This would have made a great Mythbusters episode. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/76 "2025-02-01T21:06:38Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Not to mention, it isn’t that difficult to buy a whole 'nother gun, use it for the murder, and dispose of it where it can never be found, even in LA (NYC at least has the east river). Inserting a smaller barrel won’t work, either, any more than subliminal advertising does. (Was it a revolver?) It works just fine and there are production examples made that utilize this feature. You don’t even need an entire new barrel, just a steel version of the larger cartridge with the smaller chamber bored into it. Insert the small cartridge in the adapter and place it in the chamber of the larger bore weapon. It just shoots down the middle of the larger bore. The French used this method to use inexpensive small rounds for training in their MAS 36 rifle. They called it the “tir reduit”. The adapter cartridges are quite collectible today. And modern commercial versions have been manufactured as well. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/77 "2025-02-01T21:55:16Z")
> **[Caliber conversion device](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliber_conversion_device)** > > A caliber conversion device is a device which can be used to non-permanently alter a firearm to allow it to fire a different cartridge than the one it was originally designed to fire. The different cartridge must be smaller in some dimensions than the original design cartridge, and since smaller cartridges are usually cheaper, the device allows less expensive fire practice. > Alternative names sometimes imply the type of dimensional difference. A chamber insert may be used for a shorter cartridge ... An example > **[X-Caliber 11mm Barrel Sleeve](https://shop.pneudart.com/x-caliber-11mm-barrel-sleeve/)** > > Pneu-Dart, Inc. offers the best remote injection equipment for your remote drug delivery needs. Our remote drug delivery \[RDD\] systems are designed to capture or medicate while minimizing stress on the animal. Edit: Okay, the preview on that one indicates it is for a tranquilizer gun? Same principle, though. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/78 "2025-02-01T22:26:15Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > he perpetrator confessing to the detective, for no particular reason. Maybe just to gloat, and because the perpetrator was confident of status > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Detective Goren got a key piece of evidence by getting [the name, address and credit card information from a hotel key card.](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/card-sharks/). Yeah, that is why I cant watch Detective Goren on L&O Criminal Intent. He solves all the murders by his magic tool- he finds some small clue that points to some rich dude as the killer. Not enuf to indict, maybe not even enuf to arrest,but enuf to drag the dude in for questioning. Whereas said rich dude never- ever lawyers up, and always falls for Gorens tricks to get an incriminating statement. The show ran for 195 episodes, and yes, there was a season where Goldblum took over, but having this trick work so many times goes to unbelievable. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/79 "2025-02-01T22:33:58Z")
You could work around some of the problems in the episode - the woman had a tattoo of Trudy’s desth date, after all - and crazy Monk subconsciously saw that and associated her with Trudy _believing_ he recognized her eyes - but since Trudy was blown up, not shot, it still doesnot work. Sigh - it’s like the screenwriter worked to make it unfanfixable ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482/80 "2025-02-01T23:57:57Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yeah, that is why I cant watch Detective Goren on L&O Criminal Intent. He solves all the murders by his magic tool- he finds some small clue that points to some rich dude as the killer. Not enuf to indict, maybe not even enuf to arrest,but enuf to drag the dude in for questioning. Whereas said rich dude never- ever lawyers up, and always falls for Gorens tricks to get an incriminating statement. Yes, there were a lot of episodes like that. Of course you can understand why characters in these shows rarely lawyer-up: you don’t get conflict and confrontation between detective and suspect when there’s a lawyer in the room. And conflict and confrontation are the basics of such shows (along with, one hopes, an intriguing mystery). (I have fond memories of several L&O:CI episodes, but maybe they aren’t based purely on the solutions to mysteries.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-way-a-tv-detective-has-solved-a-crime-open-spoilers/1013482.md?page=5)