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I love a cozy murder, always have, give me a Midsomer Murder (vote) episode I'm in my happy place, plonk me in front of a Poirot and watch me smile, Miss Marple oh yeah, as for Lovejoy, what's not to love. The finest is Sherlock Holmes as he and Watson solve the trickiest of crimes.

TV shows are best, radio plays rock, audio books are excellent, theatre plays are such fun. The books themselves can be delightful however I prefer TV, radio, audio, and theatre - weird aren't I.

Once you've binged what you know, then what? The following are 'old' posts but they list some cracking shows that are out there, somewhere.

Brenda Blethyn and Jon Morrison in ITYV's Vera

Quaint English Village Murder Mystery TV Shows with a Million Seasons, for Your Binge-Watching Pleasure During These Hard Times

Olivia Rutigliano, March 24, 2020
  • Inspector Morse (33 two-hour-long episodes)
    In this beloved program, loosely based on the novels by Colin Dexter, Chief Inspector E. Morse (John Thaw) is an uptight, erudite, and thoroughly brilliant detective who likes to do things his own way (no one even knows what his first name is—well, for a while). Slightly cranky, but always professional, he and his unlikely partner, the thoughtful Detective Sergeant Lewis (Kevin Whately), solve impossible murders in and around Oxford.
  • Endeavour (29 hour-and-a-half-long episodes)
    In this endearing prequel to Inspector Morse, which tells of the origins of Morse’s career in the Oxford police department), the young detective (Shaun Evans) is not yet the well-respected crime-solver we know he’ll become, but a similarly uptight wunderkind (a dropout from Oxford University, because of a scholarship loss) whose general disobedience in the name of intuition causes great consternation to his superiors, especially the senior partner who is gunning for him, DI Fred Thursday (Roger Allam).
  • Lewis (33 hour-and-a-half-long episodes)
    This sequel to Inspector Morse centers on Morse’s partner, the unassuming Inspector Robert Lewis (Kevin Whately again), who takes over for Morse after Morse’s career is over.
  • The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (24 hour-and-a-half-long episodes)
    Genteel Oxford man Inspector Thomas Lynley (Nathaniel Parker), who also happens to be the 8th Earl of Asherton, must solve crimes with his total opposite: an untidy detective with a blue-collar background, Sergeant Barbara Havers (Sharon Small).
  • Midsomer Murders (124 hour-and-a-half-long episodes [and counting])
  • Foyle’s War (28 hour-and-a-half-long episodes)
    Foyle’s War takes place during World War II in Britain and while the war rages on abroad and the Blitz ravages London, DCS Christopher Foyle of the Hastings Police department (Michael Kitchen) must fight his own battle on the southern coast of England—a battle against crime.
  • Grantchester (33 45-minute episodes)
    Reverend Sidney Chambers (James Norton) is a young, bicycle-riding clergyman who tends a parish somewhere in 1950s Cambridgeshire, who begins to take up amateur mystery-solving.
  • Inspector George Gently (25 hour-and-a-half-long episodes)
    Broadly based on the Inspector Gently novels by Alan Hunter, this show, set in the 1960s, follows the eponymous detective as he solves crimes for the North East constabulary.
  • Father Brown (90 one-hour-long episodes)
    Based on the novels by G.K. Chesterton, this new series, begun as a one-off in 2012 and renewed basically every year since, stars Mark Williams (you know him as Mr. Weasley) as the nosy Catholic priest turned amateur sleuth who solves mysteries in his local village.
  • Vera (40 hour-and-a-half-long episodes [and more])
    In this series, Brenda Blethyn, a genius who is never praised enough for her work, plays crotchety, sarcastic, messy DCI Vera Stanhop, who just turns out to be an incredible detective, solving crimes in beautiful Northumberland.
  • Agatha Raisin (16 one-hour-long episodes)
    Agatha Raisin (the supremely talented and often under-sung Ashley Jensen) is a PR consultant turned amateur sleuth who solves murders in the Cotswolds.
  • Marple (23 hour-and-a-half-long episodes)
  • Hamish Macbeth (20 one-hour-long episodes)
    A young Robert Carlyle stars in this hit series from the 90s, about a rule-bending police officer in the small Scottish town of Lochdubh. 

The Best Crime and Mystery TV Shows of 2021

Olivia Rutigliano, December 21, 2021
  • Mare of Easttown
  • The White Lotus
  • The Underground Railroad
  • Only Murders in the Building
  • The Mosquito Coast
  • Lupin
  • Squid Game
  • You
  • Search Party
  • Reservation Dogs
  • Succession
  • Landscapers
  • Philly DA
  • Midnight Mass
From this relatively old (2020) list my standout is Lupin, which is still going.

The Best Crime TV of 2023

Olivia Rutigliano, December 8, 2023
  • Poker Face
  • Perry Mason
  • Happy Valley
  • A Murder at the End of the World
  • Barry
  • Full Circle
  • Mrs. Davis
  • Justified: City Primeval
  • Deadloch
  • Dead Ringers
  • The Afterparty
Mrs. Davis is quite the ride, loads of fun!

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