I’m surprised at the number of private investigators in movies and shows who have criminal backgrounds. In most US states, obtaining a PI license when you have ANY sort of criminal history (DV, misdemeanor possession, bad checks, criminal property damage, etc.) is virtually impossible.
In my state, it would be extremely unlikely that you could obtain a PI license, alarm systems license, locksmith, or counterintelligence license if you were, for example, convicted of assault 20 years ago because of a bar fight. The licensing board would consider your application, but it would be very unlikely to be granted. If you actually served time for a conviction, forget it.
A more common one is the disgraced former police officer, fired from the force but not criminally charged.
The Rockford Files is highly unusual in that Jim Rockford’s backstory is that he served time for a crime that he was later proven innocent of and given a full pardon for.
I don’t think there is anyway to be sure but I think the instances of two people embracing and then a gun going off and one of them slumping over dead with a surprised expression are exceedingly rare. You can also substitute a knife for a gun (thank you GoT).
The mystery gunshot ‘triggered’ me… and I’d be surprised if I haven’t mentioned this on these boards, because I got so sick of it decades ago. Bad Guy has Good Guy in his/her sights, makes an evil quip (or a full confession), annnd…GUNSHOT!
But… Good Guy is still alive (might even check himself for a hole)!
What a shocker of a plot twist…
Camera switches to POV of hero, Bad Guy is standing all alone, but then slowly falls over, and standing directly behind is the Unlikely Savior with a smoking gun.
Way too often it’s the sidekick/girlfriend who’s never used a gun before.
Sheesh. Might have been clever the first time it was used, but the hundreds of times since…?
Ha, yep, I just saw this on the most recent episode of the revamped ‘CSI: Vegas’ (the 2020s version with Marg Helgenberger and various other original cast members guest-starring).
The detective is investigating a “cold case” death that happened a long time ago. They visit the home of the deceased person and find that the victim’s family has kept their old room exactly as it was five years ago or whenever when the person died. Thus the detective finds an overlooked clue.
Do people in real life frequently leave rooms cleaned but otherwise untouched for years and years after a death?
I’m pretty sure I mentioned the show Cold Case earlier. They had 156 episodes of improbable new evidence and it just so happens everyone important is still alive, living in Philadelphia* and mostly in the same houses. This happened even when the case was improbably old. Just so happens all these 90 year olds are still around. There was also a suspicious lack of Philly accents.
*In the last season somehow they started working for the FBI. It became too improbable than all these cases were being solved in Philly
Untouched rooms after somebody dies? I can beat that. I was thinking about getting a stand-up freezer some years ago, and my (relatively recent) wife mentioned that there was a freezer at her grandmother’s house we could probably have.
Great! It turned out that her grandmother had passed away, so we asked her father if we could get the freezer. Turns out her grandmother had passed away 8 years previously and the family had just shut her house up and left it. There was mail on the kitchen table from 8 years ago. Fortunately, the electricity was still on. The family paid the electric bill every month and stopped by to walk around the house every so often to make sure nothing was grossly wrong.
End of story? No. It’s now almost 26 years later and the house is STILL standing there empty. My BIL cuts the grass around it during the warmer months. There have been several break-ins over the years, but the majority of the furnishings and appliances are still there.
The freezer worked fine for us. Her grandmother and grandfather had won it at a drawing at the local Western Auto in the 1970s.