Red herring

A red herring is a misleading clue or detail that diverts attention from the truth in a mystery, argument, or other line of reasoning.

The Hound of the Baskervilles: Arthur Conan Doyle's 1902 novel follows Sherlock Holmes investigating a supposed supernatural hound and a Baskerville family curse. Its apparent supernatural threat masks a human plot, making misdirection central to the mystery.
Foreshadowing: Foreshadowing is the use of earlier details to hint at events that occur later in a narrative. Unlike a red herring, it points toward developments that actually matter.
Red herring (food): A red herring is a heavily salted and smoked herring whose curing turns its flesh reddish. The literal fish supplied the image behind the figurative phrase.
Non sequitur: A non sequitur is a conclusion or statement that does not follow logically from what came before. It is an irrelevant inference, not necessarily a deliberate diversion.
And Then There Were None: Agatha Christie's 1939 novel traps ten people on an island as they are killed one by one. Shifting suspicions and misleading evidence keep the killer's identity uncertain.
MacGuffin: A MacGuffin is an object or goal that motivates a story's characters while mattering little in itself. A MacGuffin drives pursuit; a red herring misleads about what explains the mystery.
William Cobbett: William Cobbett was an English journalist and political writer known for his radical commentary and Rural Rides. His 1807 account helped popularize the phrase as a metaphor for political distraction.
Confirmation bias: Confirmation bias is the tendency to favor information that supports existing beliefs over information that challenges them. It can make someone follow misleading clues without anyone planting them.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: Agatha Christie's 1926 detective novel recounts Hercule Poirot's investigation of a wealthy man's murder. Its narration manipulates assumptions about what counts as reliable evidence.
Chekhov's gun: Chekhov's gun is the dramatic principle that a conspicuous story element should matter to the plot. It captures the expectation that plot details pay off, which red herrings deliberately frustrate.

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