amateur sleuth

Hitchcock repeatedly featured ordinary people thrust into detective roles, forced to uncover mysteries themselves in films like Rear Window and Vertigo.

Lumet directed Murder on the Orient Express, bringing Christie's amateur detective Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot to life, exploring how civilians solve crimes.

De Palma's thrillers like Blow Out and Body Double center on protagonists who accidentally become amateur investigators, uncovering conspiracy through their own initiative.