Mystery and crime fiction revolves around solving a crime or puzzle. The reader follows detectives, investigators, or ordinary people as they piece together clues.
Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl follows Nick Dunne, who reports his wife Amy missing on their fifth wedding anniversary. As police investigate, clues point to Nick as a suspect, while Amy’s diary reveals a troubled marriage.
Bordertown is a Finnish crime drama series. It aired on Yle from 16 October 2016 to 2020. Miikko Oikkonen created it. Ville Virtanen plays Kari Sorjonen, a brilliant detective with an unusual mind who moves his family from Helsinki to the quiet border town of Lappeenranta, near the Russian frontier.
The Bridge is a Swedish-Danish crime drama series. It aired on SVT1 and DR1 from 21 September 2011 to 18 December 2018. Hans Rosenfeldt created it. A body is found on the Øresund Bridge, exactly on the border between Sweden and Denmark, forcing detectives from both countries to work together.
Modus is a Swedish crime thriller series. It aired on TV4 from 19 September 2015 to 2017. Based on the novel by Anne Holt. Melinda Kinnaman plays Inger Johanne Vik, a psychologist and criminal profiler whose young autistic daughter witnesses a murder.
Wallander is a Swedish crime drama series. It aired from 2005 to 2013, based on the novels by Henning Mankell. Krister Henriksson plays Kurt Wallander, a tired but driven detective in the small city of Ystad on the southern coast of Sweden.
A junk tells De Cock that his addicted girlfriend has promised fifty thousand euros to whoever kills her wealthy father. Soon that father is found dead in the canal.
In a heatwave, De Cock finds the body of an animal activist with six small dead dogs beside him. The motive is a puzzle.
A young woman reports her brother missing, and De Cock finds him dead at the clubhouse of a charity. The dead man held five hundred thousand euros and a dark secret.
De Cock and Vledder find fashion house director Verbruggen dead with a note pinned to his lapel. A jealous mistress and a rumoured merger both seem to matter.
Arendje van Nijmegen reports her husband missing, and he is soon found dead. When her lover dies too, De Cock stops believing in coincidence.
Soon after a young widow reports being stalked by a former lover, her new partner is found murdered. Money, blackmail and jealousy all seem to play a part.
A painter who is De Cock's friend fears for his life and asks him to lead the case if anything happens. Soon after, the man is shot dead while walking his dog.
The Mentalist is an American crime drama series. It aired on CBS from 23 September 2008 to 18 February 2015. Bruno Heller created it. Simon Baker plays Patrick Jane, a former fake psychic who now works as a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation.
On his last day before a forced holiday, De Cock hears of the murder of Alexander de Rijke, a charismatic leader with many followers, and people soon arrive asking for his help.
Jasper van de Gouwenaer is found dead in his flat with a dagger in his back, and a newspaper claims De Cock helped arrest him the day before.
A young man tells De Cock that his former girlfriend found her new lover dead, strangled and branded on the forehead. It is the start of a series of identical killings.
A young woman asks De Cock for help, but she is too late: her husband has hanged himself. It is the start of a grim case with no official support.
De Cock gives a newly widowed woman a well-meant piece of advice, and seems to set off a case in which three murders follow in quick succession.
A plastic surgeon vanishes from the Clinic of the Healing Masters. It is not his colleagues who call the police, but a woman who had grown close to him.
A young man is shot dead in his doorway in what looks like a criminal settling of scores. Before De Cock can act, a woman is strangled.
A young man reports that his wealthy, unmarried great-uncle has disappeared. A collection of small statues turns out to matter to the case.
A body with a dagger in its back is found in the basement of a house for sale. The murder seems linked to a secret group called the Brotherhood of the Cross.
A young woman reports that her boyfriend has gone missing. It looks like a simple break-up, but it turns into a far harder case.
The body of an Antwerp diamond dealer is found in a squat. There are no signs of crime, but valuable diamonds are missing. De Cock is asked to help.
A member of a drug gang has vanished and seems to have been killed and hidden with care. De Cock investigates whether it is a contract killing.