Looking for a new mystery to start watching? Whether you’re craving a slick, contemporary drama filled with twists and turns, a quintessential detective plot, or a period-piece murder mystery, we have just the thing (or 15!) for you. From bucolic villages to metropolitans, you can watch our line-up of murder mysteries on your schedule with PBS KVIE Passport.


PERIOD-PIECE MYSTERIES

From the Roaring ‘20s in Toronto to the zeitgeist of post-war Britain, here are a selection of historical mysteries to stream.

Frankie Drake Mysteries

 

Set in 1920s Toronto, follow the riveting adventures of Frankie Drake (Lauren Lee Smith) and her partner Trudy Clarke (Chantel Riley) at Drake Private Detectives, the city’s only all-female detective agency. The team finds themselves fighting crime in the age of flyboys, gangsters, rumrunners, and speakeasies, as they investigate murders, kidnappings, heists, poisonings, and more.

How to Watch: Stream all 4 seasons now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.


The Hour

Dive into the glamorous and electrifying world of television journalism in 1950s London. Set in a BBC newsroom, renegade journalist Freddie (Ben Whishaw, James Bond), ambitious producer Bel (Romola Garai, The Miniaturist on Masterpiece), and charismatic anchor Hector (Dominic West, Les Misérables on Masterpiece) are the news team behind “The Hour,” an investigative newsmagazine show. As a controversial story breaks, the trio becomes entangled in an intense interplay of politics, ambition, and romance, ignited by a mysterious murder and chilling conspiracy.

How to Watch: Stream both seasons now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.  Watch a preview.


Endeavour on Masterpiece

In this cerebral prequel to the popular Inspector Morse series, rookie Constable Endeavour Morse (Shaun Evans, The Take) is fed up with police work and ready to nip his career in the bud by handing in his resignation. That is, until a murder turned up that only he could solve. Follow the early days of this young Morse, who is a detective in the Oxford City Police, as he unravels mysteries amidst the turning tides of ‘60s and ‘70s Britain.

How to Watch: Stream 8 seasons now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.  Watch a preview.


Prime Suspect: Tennison on Masterpiece

Discover the backstory behind the great detective in this riveting miniseries. Dial back the clock to the ‘70s to spotlight the influences that turned 22-year-old rookie policewoman Jane Tennison into the savvy, single-minded crime fighter beloved by Prime Suspect viewers over the course of seven seasons. Starring Stefanie Martini (Doctor Thorne) in the iconic role immortalized by Helen Mirren.

How to Watch: Stream all episodes now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.  Watch a preview.

 


CONTEMPORARY THRILLERS

Murder, mystery, and dark humor collide in these modern-day mysteries available to stream.

Annika on Masterpiece

 

Take a suspenseful ride with the new crime drama Annika on Masterpiece. The witty police procedural follows DI Annika Strandhed, played by fan-favorite Nicola Walker, the speedboat-driving head of Glasgow’s newly formed Marine Homicide Unit, who juggles baffling cases and a rebellious teenage daughter. Annika confides her thoughts directly to viewers as she and her team face a steady stream of murders.

How to Watch: Stream all episodes now on the PBS App.


Broadchurch

 

A picturesque seaside town in Dorset, seemingly calm and friendly on the surface, becomes the background for this Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery starring David Tennant (Doctor Who, All Around the World in 80 Days on Masterpiece) and Olivia Colman (The Crown, Fleabag). When an 11-year-old boy is murdered and his body found on the beach, Broadchurch becomes the subject of a media frenzy. Soon, the secrets of the locals unravel as nearly everyone becomes a suspect in the murder investigation, forever changing the town.

How to Watch: Stream all 3 seasons now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.


The Fall

A gritty Belfast filled with palpable unease is the backdrop of this nail-biting psychological thriller starring Gillian Anderson (The Crown) and Jamie Dornan (Belfast). The 3-season series is not a whodunnit – it’s clear within minutes that Paul Spector is the killer targeting professional young women – but a complex police procedural pitting Spector against Stella Gibson, an enigmatic and highly driven homicide detective drafted from the London Metropolitan Police to solve the murder. Navigating a complex web of local politics and policing, Gibson is drawn deeper into the deadly underbelly of Belfast as she recognizes the signs of a serial killer, one driven by misogyny and fixation.

How to Watch: Stream all 3 seasons now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.


Unforgotten on Masterpiece

 

Crime-solving duo DCI Cassie Stuart and DS Sunny Khan, played by Nicola Walker (Annika on Masterpiece, Last Tango in Halifax) and Sanjeev Bhaskar (The Indian Doctor) star in this slow-burner, methodological crime series. The London detectives are veterans at uncovering the truth of tangled, complicated murders of the past. They investigate core suspects whose lives have – until now – moved on from the sins of the past. But the deeper the truth lies, the bigger the emotional toll for the suspects, the families left behind, and for Cassie and Sunny to handle.

How to Watch: Stream seasons 1-4 now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.


Van der Valk on Masterpiece

 

Murder, mystery, and secrets aplenty are in store in this adaptation of Nicolas Freeling’s legendary crime thrillers set in 21st-century Amsterdam. Marc Warren (Flack, Beecham House on Masterpiece) stars as the street-smart and unapologetic detective Piet Van der Valk. While investigating high-profile cases and gritty murders, he and his team are immersed in contemporary Amsterdam’s fast-paced worlds of art, politics, addiction, mysticism, and fashion.

How to Watch: Stream seasons 1 and 2 now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.

 


UNLIKELY DUOS

Often brought together under unusual circumstances, the characters in these odd couple detective dramas may not mesh at first – but together they’re unstoppable.

 

Luna & Sophie

 

Meet childhood best friends – and detectives – Luna Kunath and Sophie Pohlmann. Luna is strong-willed, but her penchant for naivety gets her into trouble. Sophie seems more mature, but her desire for harmony and fairness can be her weakness. Working together and with their talented team to solve crimes in Potsdam, Berlin’s picturesque sister city, see how they keep the streets crime-free along with their talented team. In German with English subtitles. 

How to Watch: Stream all episodes now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.


Grantchester on Masterpiece

Follow two unlikely clergyman-cop duos as they solve a series of cases in the Cambridgeshire village of Grantchester in the 1950s. For the first three seasons, James Norton stars as Sidney Chambers, the young vicar who combines his spiritual duties with a love of jazz, complicated relationships with women, and an enthusiasm for amateur sleuthing. Joining the series in season four, Tom Brittney shines as Will Davenport, the new vicar who is soon drawn into solving crimes with Inspector Geordie Keating, the gruff, no-nonsense police inspector played by Robson Green.

How to Watch: Stream seasons 1-7 now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.  Watch a preview.


Guilt on Masterpiece

 

You’ve the seen the whodunnit and why-done-it, but what about the will-they-get-away with it? Affluent and shrewd lawyer Max and earnest, former musician Jake are about as different as any brothers can be – until they’re plunged into a farcical cover-up after an inebriated hit and run. What follows is part-dark comedy, part-neo-noir thriller as the twists and turns of their harebrained schemes entangle the brothers in Edinburgh’s underground crime world.

How to Watch: Stream both seasons now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.


Miss Scarlet & The Duke on Masterpiece

 

A whip-smart female detective in Victorian-era London and her childhood friend become unlikely partners in solving crimes in this drama mixing mystery, romance, and a series of thrilling crimes. Stubborn, headstrong, and determined to make a go of it on her own, Eliza Scarlet (Kate Phillips, Peaky Blinders) inherits her father’s renowned London private detective agency after his sudden death. Inspector William Wellington of Scotland Yard, a.k.a., The Duke (Stuart Martin, Medici), whose brash personality often clashes with Eliza, becomes her occasional partner, while also skirting the line between protector, competition, and potential love interest.

How to Watch: Stream seasons 1 and 2 now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.


The Tunnel

A socially awkward but brilliant French detective and a charismatic, laid-back British cop team up in this chilling Anglo-French crime thriller. When a French politician’s corpse is found on the mid-way point between England and France in the Channel Tunnel, the 31.4-mile railway tunnel connecting the countries, the two police forces must work together to find the elusive killer before they strike again. Elise Wassermann (Clémence Poésy, Harry Potter) and Karl Roebuck (Stephen Dillane, Game of Thrones) are unlikely partners in every sense, but the odd yet endearing couple become a detective duo to be reckoned with.

How to Watch: Stream all 3 seasons now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.  Watch a preview.


Vienna Blood

 

1900s Vienna is a hotbed of philosophy, science, and art, yet beneath the genteel surface, ethno-nationalism and anti-Semitism are brewing. Max Liebermann is a bright young English-born Jewish student of Sigmund Freud. Eager to understand the psychology behind criminal behavior, he is paired with the world-weary Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt, who is struggling to solve a series of particularly gruesome murders. Although the two men clash at first, a friendship and fruitful partnership between the two grows as Max’s extraordinary skills of perception paired with Oskar’s practical experience lead them to take on some of the city’s most mysterious and deadly cases.

How to Watch: Stream both seasons now on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport.

 

Best Mysteries to Stream on PBS KVIE