9 bingeable detective series on Amazon Prime Video that will keep you guessing
9 bingeable detective series on Amazon Prime Video that will keep you guessing
Matt CabralMon, June 15, 2026 at 10:00 PM UTC
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Laurence Fishburne on 'Hannibal'; Gillian Anderson on 'The Fall'; Titus Welliver on 'Bosch'Credit: Brooke Palmer/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty; Des Willie/Netflix; Hopper Stone/Amazon Studios
Television detectives have been crossing the police tape, piecing together clues, and interrogating perps for almost as long as the medium has existed. But since Columbo, Kojak, and Cagney & Lacey cracked their first cases, the genre — and its many variants — has become as crowded as a New York City holding cell.
That said, you'd have an easier time finding a decent cup of coffee in a precinct vending machine than sorting through the best detective shows currently streaming.
Thankfully, Amazon Prime Video is home to some of the most compelling crime shows around, making it easy to sort through the usual suspects and discover the detective shows truly worth your time. Here are Entertainment Weekly's picks for the best detective series on Amazon Prime.
Ballard (2025–present)
Maggie Q as Renée Ballard on 'Ballard'Credit: Greg Gayne/Prime Video
In this unconventional take on the crime procedural, Detective Renée Ballard (Maggie Q) leads a division of the LAPD tasked with cracking forgotten cold cases, though she has far more on her docket than solving dormanthomicides. On top of doggedly tracking a serial killer whose murder spree started decades earlier, our shrewd heroine uncovers a tangled workplace conspiracy that's as sinister as her prime suspect's motives.
Spawned from author Michael Connelly's connected, L.A.-based crime universe, this Bosch: Legacy spinoff is a worthy, torch-passing successor that's also a rich thriller on its own terms.
Cast: Maggie Q, Michael Mosley, Courtney Taylor, John Carroll Lynch
Bosch (2014–2021)
Real cops wear dad jeans: Titus Welliver in 'Bosch'Credit: Aaron Epstein/Amazon Studios
Before Ballard, you can start with Bosch. That would be seasoned Hollywood homicide detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch (Titus Welliver). The tenacious ex–Special Forces vet can be found tracking killers and trading barbs with his partner Jerry (Jamie Hector) in this long-running series drawn from Michael Connelly's crime novels.
Toss in plenty of dirty cops, political corruption, and an absorbing style and structure that's more pulpy L.A. noir than by-the-book procedural, and Bosch is genre storytelling at its best. Of course, heaps of credit go to the fully committed Welliver, whom EW's critic called "mesmerizing in an effortless minimal performance."
Cast: Titus Welliver, Jamie Hector, Lance Reddick, Amy Aquino, Madison Lintz
The Fall (2013–2016)
"Mulder? No, it's not aliens, it's a serial killer from Belfast. I'm hanging up." Gillian Anderson in 'The Fall'Credit: Helen Sloan/Netflix
This riveting psychological procedural turns the genre on its head by immediately unmasking its murderer, Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan), a dedicated family man and serial killer targeting women in Belfast. But while viewers know what's up from The Fall's start, Northern Ireland's unseasoned law enforcement officials haven't a clue who's behind the body count.
Enter Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson), a brilliant, allergic-to-B.S. detective who leverages her authority, expertise, and stone-cold demeanor to take command of the case, building a team to unravel a longer-lasting crime spree than anyone expected. What ensues is a gripping game of cat-and-mouse presented from the preying perspectives of both Gibson and Spector.
EW grade: A (read the review)
Cast: Gillian Anderson, Jamie Dornan, Aisling Franciosi, John Lynch, Stuart Graham
Gracepoint (2014)
David Tennant and his new American partner recreate the dreariness of England in 'Gracepoint'Credit: Ed Araquel/FOX
An American adaptation of the acclaimed British drama Broadchurch, Gracepoint serves up an engrossing whodunit that adds some fresh wrinkles into its familiar murder mystery. David Tennant — who also starred in the U.K. version — is Detective Emmett Carver, a seasoned investigator who gets the senior role his reluctant partner Ellie Miller (Anna Gunn) expected.
On top of the tense, uneasy dynamic created by the duo's pairing, the series is wrapped in a twisty web of peripheral problems. Small-town conflicts, media interference, and dark family secrets all play a juicy role in the central mystery involving a child's body discovered on the beach of the eponymous coastal town.
Cast: David Tennant, Anna Gunn, Michael Pena, Nick Nolte
Hannibal (2013–2015)
Dr. Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) goes through his patient notes (e.g. recipes) in 'Hannibal'Credit: Brooke Palmer/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
While this stylish psychological potboiler is named after Thomas Harris' famous flesh-craving psychiatrist, Hannibal is just as much about FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy). More to the point, it's about the very special relationship that develops between them — a dazzling dual pursuit, both of them hunter, both of them prey.
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Rather than the standard psychological insights of TV's many homicide detectives, Graham possesses a virtually psychic ability to put himself into killers' twisted psyches. Never is his own psyche so fragile as it is in the hands of Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen). The series, which sports the genre's most artistically unsettling crime scenes, was praised by EW as "the most engrossing (and gross) serial-killer drama on television."
EW grade: A- (read the review)
Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Hugh Dancy, Caroline Dhavernas, Laurence Fishburne, Gillian Anderson
Prime Suspect (1991–2006)
Helen Mirren is the queen of solving murders in 'Prime Suspect'Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection
Long before Helen Mirren played tenacious and terrifying matriarchs in 1923 and MobLand, the Oscar-winning icon had already proven her ability to play tough-as-nails characters in the classic British proceduralPrime Suspect. She plays Jane Tennison, a ruthless London-based detective who suffers no fools — including within her own department and the power structure that governs it — while cracking murder cases and uncovering conspiracies.
But while she has a low tolerance for B.S., she isn't just another "strong female character" molded out of a now-familiar modern archetype. Mirren's nuanced performance informs a complicated hero who evolves over the series' seven installments.
Cast: Helen Mirren, Tom Bell, John Benfield, Richard Hawley
River (2015)
Stellan Skarsgard, surrounded by dead people he can see (but we can't), in 'River'Credit: Courtesy Amazon prime
Detective John River (Stellan Skarsgard) sees dead people — notably his recently deceased partner Stevie (Nicola Walker), but also victims of his cases and, sometimes, real-life serial killer Thomas Neill Cream, the infamous "Lambeth Poisoner."
River's "manifests," as he calls them, are both a blessing and a curse as he relentlessly tracks his partner's killer. They also get him in hot water with his superiors, who fear his fragile mental state is affecting his work. River's premise isn't presented as a gimmick or "gotcha!" plot twist, but rather a complex, layered reflection of his grief that informs the entire series, making it unlike any other murder mystery on TV.
Cast: Stellan Skarsgård, Nicola Walker, Lesley Manville, Adeel Akhtar, Eddie Marsan
Three Pines (2022)
Alfred Molina gets his Québécois on in 'Three Pines'Credit: Laurent Guérin/Amazon Studios
Like any village worth its weight in cobblestones, quirky characters, and quaint pubs, Three Pines' titular Quebec town harbors its share of dark secrets. The charming little burg is plagued by a perplexing dead body problem. Thankfully, master detective Armand Gamache (Alfred Molina), an astute clue-cracker with a few of his own ghosts to reckon with, is on the case.
Evoking the eccentric charms and smarts of Hercule Poirot and Benoit Blanc, Gamache is more comfortable wielding his skills of perception than a loaded pistol. This extends to the series as well, which, refreshingly, forgoes the usual guns and gore for a more wholesome, cerebral, and darkly comedic take on the genre.
Cast: Alfred Molina, Rossif Sutherland, Sarah Booth, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Anna Tierney
Unforgotten (2015–present)
Sanjeev Bhaskar and Sinead Keenan in 'Unforgotten'Credit: Sam Taylor/PBS/Mainstreet/Masterpiece/Courtesy Everett Collection
Like so many dread-inducing murder mysteries, Unforgotten begins with a foreboding find: human remains buried beneath a demolished home. That shocking discovery is just the beginning.
It seems the unearthed bones have been buried for nearly 40 years. As detectives Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker) and Sunil "Sunny" Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) search for clues, a surprising lineup of suspects — and their sinister secrets — begin to reveal a dark, twisted history.
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Unforgotten offers a new mystery for each of its six (and counting) seasons while rotating through new detectives and supporting characters. Each season is a slow burn that builds episode by episode into an absorbing, satisfying whole.
Cast: Nicola Walker, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Carolina Main, Jordan Long
on Entertainment Weekly
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