5 Best Howcatchem Detective Shows Like Poker Face Beyond Columbo
These projects are intriguing not because of the identity of the killer, but because of something else – the circumstances of the crime, the criminal's motive, and the detectives' attempts to get the investigation on the right track.
Like the first season, the second chapter of Poker Face belongs to the detective subgenre of howcatchem: the viewers know who committed the crime, but the detective needs to find the criminal and prove their guilt.
Although the detective genre has been experiencing a renaissance in recent years, there are still not so many projects following the path of howcatchem. We found the best ones so you know what to watch after Poker Face and Columbo.
1. Elsbeth, 2024-...
Poker Face follows the path of Columbo, but since the premiere of Rian Johnson's brainchild, another project with a similar dramatic structure has appeared on the screens – Elsbeth.
A spin-off of The Good Wife and The Good Fight, the show tells the story of Elsbeth, who moves to New York and becomes a police assistant, solving even the most elaborate murders.
The fact is that Elsbeth, like Columbo, confuses those around her with the image of a simpleton – especially the criminals themselves, who relax and give away small but very important details.
2. Luther, 2010-2019
Luther is a kind of the other side of Sherlock Holmes – also a British detective, also with an unconventional mind, but with completely different methods.
Luther takes the viewer to the parts of London where tourists don't go, reveals at the beginning of each episode who is a murderer or a crook, and makes its main character solve dirty cases, sometimes using methods that are also very dirty.
3. Motive, 2013-2016
An ideological sister of Columbo, the Canadian Motive tells viewers in the first minutes of each episode who committed the crime. How does it keep the intrigue going?
First, by showing how the insightful detectives Angelika Flynn and Oscar Vega gradually tighten the ring around the criminal, and second, by hiding the motives of the crime until the finale, forcing viewers to guess why, for example, a respected police officer killed a famous prosecutor.
4. Diagnosis Murder, 1993-2001
Dr. Mark Sloan is an outstanding medical specialist. Sometimes unusual events occur in his practice, forcing him to take on the role of a detective.
When he suspects a possible crime, the doctor cannot ignore it. In such cases, he turns to his son, who works for the police, for help.
From time to time, Diagnosis Murder starring Dick Van Dyke departed from the classic detective story and went the way of the howcatchem trope – and such episodes were the most intriguing in the series.
5. Criminal Minds, 2005-...
Jason Gideon leads one of the best criminal profilers teams in the world. Together, they help other FBI teams identify serial killers based on their psychological profiles.
Instead of carefully studying the evidence, they try to find and understand the motives for the crime, delving into the criminal's every step and trying to think like him.
Not all, but most episodes of Criminal Minds begin with the crime itself, leaving the rest of the running time for the most interesting part – how the BAU team analyzes the criminal and creates his profile.
