Cherchez la femme () is a French phrase which literally means 'look for the woman'. It is a cliché in detective fiction, used to suggest that a mystery can be resolved by identifying a femme fatale or female love interest. The phrase embodies a cliché of detective pulp fiction: no matter what the problem, a woman is often the root cause. Thus, it has come to refer to explanations that automatically find the same root cause, no matter the specifics of the problem.
Origin of the phrase The expression comes from the novel The Mohicans of Paris (Les Mohicans de Paris) published 1854–1859 by Alexandre Dumas (père).Horn, Pierre L., ed.(1991). Handbook of French Popular Culture. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 41. . Excerpts available at Google Books. The phrase is repeated several times in the novel; the first use reads:
Dumas also used the phrase in his 1864 theatrical adaptation:
See also Cui bono "Follow the money"
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