Detective shows are as prevalent as a sunrise in the modern era of television, and it’s easy to see why. General audiences are obsessed with the concept of crime, which is why chilling crime documentaries remain such a popular viewing choice on pretty much any streaming service you can think of. Naturally, lots of these detective shows are mainly about murder. After all, what could be a more compelling case to solve than the taking of someone’s life?
I’ve been hooked on more than a few of these shows myself, particularly the more serialized murder mysteries that really build up one case throughout a season or entire series. But I’ve also found myself searching for detective shows that do not rely on murder to hook viewers in. I was surprised to find just how compelling some of these shows truly were.
White Collar
Mundane crimes, compellingly told
I find myself missing the Blue Sky era of the USA Network more and more with each passing day, and shows like White Collar are why. Focusing on conman Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) and FBI agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay) as they solve various lower-stakes crimes throughout New York City, White Collar is the perfect series for viewers who want a compelling comedy drama but with enough thrilling elements to keep them hooked.
It’s like the non-murder version of Psych, and it was a regular part of my viewing experience in my younger years. I recently revisited the series, and it holds up tremendously well. Bomer and DeKay have incredible chemistry, and there’s enough of a long-running plot underneath all the case-of-the-week elements to balance things out. I’ve now added White Collar to my personal list of binge-worthy comfort shows for when life isn’t too great, right alongside Psych. There’s also a reboot in the works, which I’m not convinced is necessary, but I will happily consume should it ever release.
Veronica Mars
Teenage angst and classic noir
Okay, sure, the overarching mysteries of Veronica Mars usually tend to be related to murder, but the week-to-week cases that teen private detective Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) solves are less high-stakes than that. Lots of these cases do a lot to establish the complex world that Mars inhabits. This is all told in a modern noir style, and mixed with teen drama.
These elements sound like they shouldn’t work well together, but they really do. Veronica Mars is one of the best mystery shows around, and there’s a reason that it remains such a beloved classic among fans (give or take the fourth season). Unlike something like White Collar, it’s definitely not an easy-going series to binge, but you’ll be sucked in by the diverse cast of characters and the interconnected webs of corruption and crime that run throughout the fictional town of Neptune. I’m still hoping that we get a proper send-off someday that erases the bad taste of the final season, though.
The X-Files
A detective show with a healthy dose of sci-fi
Yeah, there’s a lot of death throughout The X-Files, and sometimes murders are the central crime that drives a plot, but the hook of the series has little to do with murder mysteries. If you’re somehow unaware, The X-Files is about government conspiracies, discovering the truth around the existence of aliens, and the paranormal butting heads with science and sci-fi in equal ways. FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dan Scully (Gillian Anderson) work together to solve these mysteries, or at least get as close as they can to doing so.
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What makes The X-Files work so well is the characterization of Mulder and Scully, with the former being a believer in all of these far-fetched concepts and the latter being a skeptic. Their chemistry as they work toward meeting in the middle is a joy to witness, and the underlying conspiracies will also keep you coming back. The latter seasons see the mythology go nearly completely off the rails, but the journey is enjoyable enough that the destination doesn’t ultimately matter.
Tracker
I guess we can get a little modern with it
I’ll be honest: basic network shows like Tracker rarely interest me these days. It’s not because I have anything against them or that I only exclusively watch prestige dramas, or really anything like that. I just find that the fun factor is often missing in a lot of these by-the-numbers, case-of-the-week network shows, that seem to only exist to mimic the shows of a decade or two ago without including the souls that made them so watchable.
Tracker is different, though. It has all the makings of your typical CBS-mandated slop, but there’s a surprising amount of depth in its writing, and actor Justin Hartley has finally found a role worthy of his talents in Colter Shaw. The first few episodes are nothing special, and I nearly abandoned Tracker, but that would have been a mistake. Watching Shaw use his skills to track down missing people and become entangled in local events steadily becomes a thrilling experience. It’s nothing that will win awards or set the world on fire, but Tracker is still a worthy watch. There’s a good reason it’s found such a loyal audience.
Detective shows are not going away anytime soon
Murder or otherwise, detective fiction is definitely not on its way out anytime soon. I imagine it’s cheap for networks to produce, and the ratings are usually solid, especially in the modern world where traditional viewership has collapsed. Still, these shows are fine examples of what can happen when you step outside the world of killing and find something relatively fresh to bring to the table.
And since detective fiction will not die, here are some more worthy detective shows that never really found mainstream success, but absolutely need to.
