FanFare

Columbo investigates the death of a TV producer and immediately gets the attention of actor and murderer Ward Fowler (William Shatner), who plays a detective on TV. Fowler immediately sees through Columbo's aw-shucks act ("Why don't we stop pretending that I'm brilliant and you're simple for one moment?") and is among the least visibly rattled of Columbo's opponents. Episode is currently free to stream in the US via Amazon's Freevee (formerly IMDbTV), as is Columbo in general.
posted by brainwane on Sep 9, 2022 - 3 comments

A detective from Tokyo scours London for his missing brother, who's been involved with the Yakuza and accused of murder. [more inside]
posted by Sibrax on Feb 21, 2020 - 15 comments

When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan's dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan's untimely death. [more inside]
posted by the primroses were over on Nov 23, 2019 - 190 comments

In this hotly anticipated follow-up to the smash hit IQ, a New York Times Critics' Best of the Year and winner of the Anthony, Macavity, and Shamus Awards, Isaiah uncovers a secret behind the death of his brother, Marcus. For ten years, something has gnawed at Isaiah Quintabe's gut and kept him up nights, boiling with anger and thoughts of revenge. Ten years ago, when Isaiah was just a boy, his brother was killed by an unknown assailant. The search for the killer sent Isaiah plunging into despair and nearly destroyed his life. Even with a flourishing career, a new dog, and near-iconic status as a PI in his hometown, East Long Beach, he has to begin the hunt again-or lose his mind. A case takes him and his volatile, dubious sidekick, Dodson, to Vegas, where Chinese gangsters and a terrifying seven-foot loan shark are stalking a DJ and her screwball boyfriend. If Isaiah doesn't find the two first, they'll be murdered. Awaiting the outcome is the love of IQ's life: fail, and he'll lose her. Isaiah's quest is fraught with treachery, menace, and startling twists, and it will lead him to the mastermind behind his brother's death, Isaiah's own sinister Moriarty. [more inside]
posted by MoonOrb on Jun 30, 2018 - 5 comments

Winner of the Anthony, Macavity, and Shamus Awards. A resident of one of LA's toughest neighborhoods uses his blistering intellect to solve the crimes the LAPD ignores. East Long Beach. The LAPD is barely keeping up with the neighborhood's high crime rate. Murders go unsolved, lost children unrecovered. But someone from the neighborhood has taken it upon himself to help solve the cases the police can't or won't touch. They call him IQ. [more inside]
posted by MoonOrb on Jun 22, 2018 - 9 comments

A young woman from Kansas hires LA private detective Philip Marlowe to find her missing brother. [more inside]
posted by MoonOrb on Jun 14, 2018 - 1 comment

Things really get moving here. Veronica gets hired to track down a classmate's long-lost (or dead?) father, enlists Wallace to start taking records from the office, dates Troy, and tries to get to the bottom of the mystery around her own mother. Oh, and what kind of medication is Duncan really taking? [more inside]
posted by rikschell on Oct 4, 2017 - 2 comments

Veronica investigates credit card fraud. We see Weevil in a more sympathetic light. Logan is an ass (Logan is always an ass), but Troy seems nice, right? And, oh yeah, a role for Paris Hilton... [more inside]
posted by rikschell on Sep 26, 2017 - 6 comments

Introductions all around! Veronica Mars is a junior at Neptune High, formerly popular with the rich kids, now an outcast. Her best friend was killed, her boyfriend dumped her, she was roofied. Her father used to be Sheriff, but now he's a private eye, and Veronica helps him while solving her own high-school drama mysteries. This week's episode introduces Wallace, a new student at Neptune who is targeted by the local biker gang. Veronica Mars was first broadcast in 2004, just after Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended, and in a lot of ways it directly took up the mantle of kick-ass blonde high school girl empowerment. Never a ratings success, it was a critical darling from the start. [more inside]
posted by rikschell on Sep 18, 2017 - 13 comments

The Last Policeman is a 2012 American soft science fiction mystery novel by Ben H. Winters. It follows a police detective in New Hampshire as he investigates a suicide he believes was really a murder. His efforts are complicated by the social, political and economic effects of preparations for, and anticipation of, an asteroid impact six months in the future. [more inside]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia on Aug 4, 2016 - 7 comments

In the premiere of this drama following a brilliant private pathologist who helps the Miami police department solve its toughest investigations—whether they want his input or not—Dr. Beaumont Rosewood Jr. tackles a case that hits close to home, and teams up with maverick detective Annalise Villa for the first time.
posted by cashman on Sep 25, 2015 - 6 comments

Alice contacts her former Bletchley colleagues when Millie is kidnapped, as she suspects it is linked to black market deals and does not want to involve the police.
posted by isthmus on Mar 16, 2015 - 2 comments

In the concluding part of this story, the team continues to search for proof that Alice is innocent... [more inside]
posted by isthmus on Mar 12, 2015 - 2 comments

When Alice Merren, a former Bletchley Park colleague, is charged with a distinguished scientist's the murder, Jean reunites the women for their second case.
posted by isthmus on Mar 9, 2015 - 4 comments

Thinking she knows the identity of the killer, Susan returns with the police, only to find him gone. [more inside]
posted by isthmus on Feb 27, 2015 - 3 comments

When Scotland Yard dismisses the women’s theories, they realize it’s up to them to stop the killer before he takes his next victim. They identify a suspect and use Lucy to lure him into a trap, but their plan goes badly awry and Lucy is assaulted. Shaken, the women take a different approach, contacting former war department members. Susan plans to meet with a psychiatrist whom she believes has helpful information, completely unaware of the danger that awaits her.
posted by isthmus on Feb 26, 2015 - 3 comments

I liked The Bletchley Circle enough to want to talk about it, so I submitted it and it's been approved. I'll be posting the first episode next week unless someone else is really motivated and beats me to the punch.
posted by isthmus on Feb 18, 2015 - 16 comments

Kamui and his group try to locate the Sibyl System by overloading the network, by using the stolen Dominators on a group of 500 hostages. Kasei realizes the goal and orders Akane to kill Kamui by setting off a detonation that would kill all the hostages, pushing Akane further by showing her pictures of her grandmother's murder scene (actual scenes not visible in the episode). [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Dec 18, 2014 - 1 comment

Mika learns the truth of the Sibyl System and her hue is unchanged. Seeing this, Kasei and Togane decide to use Mika to push the ever-calm Akane into darkness. Meanwhile, Akane and the others learn of one of Kamui's school friends, Koichi Kuwashima, who didn't get on the fateful plane. The young man is now an up-and-coming official who seems to be working with Kamui.
posted by filthy light thief on Dec 13, 2014 - 0 comments

As Mika's group handles the aftermath of the drone incident, Akane tries to determine Kamui's motives behind obtaining Dominators. and confronts Kasei on why she hasn't deactivated Shisui's Dominator privileges. Meanwhile, Mika looks up Togane's background, learning all of the inspectors he had previously worked with became latent criminals, and of his family's medical corporation. As the group examines evidence found in Kamui's hideout, they discover Kamui had used a hologram that was aged up from a child who died in a plane accident 15 years ago. Akane apprehends a surgeon who previously operated on Kamui and has Saiga interrogate him. Pieces start falling together, linking seemingly unrelated events and details together into one complicated web, all connected to Kamui.
posted by filthy light thief on Dec 10, 2014 - 0 comments

The episode opens with the MSWPB tangled in a battle with civilian-controlled drones, through the "Hungry Chicken" mobile game. Akane figures out Kamui's intention behind this event, while Shion and Sho Hinakawa try to handle the mobile game-controlled drones, further stressing out Mika.
posted by filthy light thief on Dec 8, 2014 - 1 comment

The MWPSB (Ministry of Welfare's Public Safety Bureau ) is called to investigate a incident involving an explosion at a busy shopping venue despite no casualties. So far, their main suspect is Akira Kitazawa due to his unstable Crime Coefficient and prior knowledge of demolitions. As a part of Division 1 Inspector Akane and her Enforcers are called in to track and arrest the suspect, who flees from the scene with a female hostage by car. [more inside]
posted by chrono_rabbit on Nov 11, 2014 - 2 comments

Inspector Akane and Enforcer Togane start interrogating the suspect Kitazawa who talks about a person who is able to lower crime coefficients and responsible for the fake hostage. After examining the hologram used in the crime they find out it's extremely elaborate and not the regular run of the mill criminal. [more inside]
posted by chrono_rabbit on Nov 11, 2014 - 1 comment

After interrogating the politician Masuda, Inspector Akane finds herself at a dead end about Kamui other than hearing his name tied to clear HUEs. However, Inspector Aoyanagi does gain some new info related to Kamui's motives and ideals for their society from the criminal. [more inside]
posted by chrono_rabbit on Nov 6, 2014 - 4 comments

The MSWPB continue to investigate the crime scene from earlier that day at the clinic but don't find anything new other than the same mysterious message "WC?" Meanwhile, Inspector Akane is working with other people to continue checking up on potential suspects tied to Kamui and visit one of his a possible secret bases. All seems normal until halfway there is a sudden incident connected to the drone's controls ends up causing another problem. [more inside]
posted by chrono_rabbit on Nov 6, 2014 - 3 comments

Inspector Akane continues to focus on her investigation of the strange message left at the previous crime scene and by meeting with other characters who may or may not have relevant information to the case. Inspector Aoyanagi meets with Ginoza about what it means to be an Inspector before receiving a surprising phone call. [more inside]
posted by chrono_rabbit on Oct 26, 2014 - 9 comments

When the CEO of a private detective agency threatens the wife of a publisher with blackmail and she threatens to expose him, he accidentally kills her.
posted by bleep on Jul 28, 2014 - 7 comments