| rdfs:comment | - Among the various cops, forensics people, etc., working on a crime scene in fiction, there's a good chance that one person on the team will know a lot more about what happened than everyone else present ... because they committed it. In real criminal investigations, it's not uncommon for the offender to somehow attempt to insert himself/herself into the investigation to keep tabs on it, or for ego's sake. In this trope, it happens that the offender is actually an official part of the investigation, and is quite probably cheerfully leading Detective Patsy astray as much as possible.
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| abstract | - Among the various cops, forensics people, etc., working on a crime scene in fiction, there's a good chance that one person on the team will know a lot more about what happened than everyone else present ... because they committed it. In real criminal investigations, it's not uncommon for the offender to somehow attempt to insert himself/herself into the investigation to keep tabs on it, or for ego's sake. In this trope, it happens that the offender is actually an official part of the investigation, and is quite probably cheerfully leading Detective Patsy astray as much as possible. This applies to any crime. The defining characteristic is that one of the investigators is in fact the perpetrator, whether the audience knows it or not. Compare Bruce Wayne Held Hostage, Hired to Hunt Yourself. Examples of Detective Mole include:
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