Just about everyone enjoys a good murder mystery. Audiences love to follow the main characters as they search for clues, make connections, and pursue suspects. These compelling, often suspenseful stories with their twists and turns make viewers feel like detectives themselves.
But when watching a murder mystery set in a different era, the audience gets treated to other elements — historical backdrops, political intrigue, and classic aesthetics.
From following an elderly woman sleuthing around her village to shadowing a 1930s detective in a trench coat, there are several shows that fit those elements in. But in the wide world of television, it’s sometimes difficult to find shows that stand out. Ones that tell exceptional stories and keep viewers on their toes.
Here is an unranked list of series that any fan of period piece murder mysteries should check out.
Miss Marple
When it comes to murder mysteries, it would seem like a crime itself to not include something from Agatha Christie on this list. “Miss Marple” aired on BBC One from 1984 to 1992, centering on the elderly spinster Jane Marple (Joan Hickson) as she solves murders in the fictional village of St. Mary Mead in the 1940s and 1950s.
Agatha Christie, the English countryside, and the era make this series a perfect recipe for fans of murder mystery period pieces. But another appeal of the show is how most viewers can relate to the titular character because she is not a professionally trained detective. Like them, she is an amateur sleuth trying to solve the mystery before the credits roll.
In 1946, Hickson appeared in a stage adaptation of Christie’s novel “Appointment with Death,” which featured Poirot, another popular sleuth. Christie herself enjoyed the play and wrote to Hickson expressing hope that she would play Miss Marple in the future.
The Alienist
Fans of “Criminal Minds” are sure to enjoy TNT’s “The Alienist.” Set in a gritty, cobblestoned New York City at the turn of the 19th century, it portrays an early historical example of criminal profiling that shows like “The Mentalist” and “Mindhunter” utilize.
The first season centers on psychiatrist Laszlo Kreizler (Daniel Brühl), who teams up with New York Times illustrator John Schuyler Moore (Luke Evans) and NYPD secretary Sara Howard (Dakota Fanning) to solve a series of child murders.
“The Alienist” is a must-watch for murder mystery fans who like glimpsing into a different era, but also enjoy compelling, character-driven drama. Kreizler is complex and flawed, but it’s still easy to relate to his empathy towards the murdered victims. Brühl received help preparing for the role from his wife, a licensed psychotherapist. When speaking to amNewYork, he said, “She put me in touch with other psychologists, with a criminal psychologist. It changed our relationship because all of a sudden I understood so much more about what she’s doing.”
Boardwalk Empire
While it’s enjoyable watching characters like Kreizler and Miss Marple, it can’t be denied that viewers sometimes like rooting for the bad guy. Such is the case for “Boardwalk Empire,” HBO’s five-season period drama set in Atlantic City during Prohibition. It features Steve Buscemi as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, the county treasurer and a crime boss who uses his political influence to profit off of bootlegging.
The show is not what we’d generally consider a detective story, but the plot and historical backdrop share a similar atmosphere to those featured in classic detective noir work.
The smoke-filled, jazz-blaring offices and ballrooms of the 1920s and 1930s showcased unfortunate intersections between crime and politics. Many people benefitted from bootlegging during the era, and it set a stage for murder and betrayal. Nucky and his associates are at the center of this stage throughout the series.
Peaky Blinders
As with any murder mystery, crime is the heart of the story. It is also the heart of “Peaky Blinders,” a BBC series set in Birmingham between World War I and World War II. It centers on Thomas Shelby (Cillian Murphy), the leader of his family’s gang.
Like “Boardwalk Empire,” “Peaky Blinders” does not follow a whodunit formula, but with each season a different murder kicks off a storyline. In the fourth season, Thomas’ younger brother John (Joe Cole) is gunned down in front of his family outside his home on Christmas. This escalates a feud with an Italian crime family into a war.
While Thomas Shelby’s business centers on crime and murder, he is fiercely protective of his family and community and carries vulnerabilities that aren’t as present in characters like Nucky Thompson. Traumatized from fighting in World War I, he struggles with addiction to opium and alcohol.
Perry Mason (2020)
HBO’s prequel series to CBS’ legendary “Perry Mason” has everything a fan of classic murder mysteries could want — smoky atmospheres, dark fedoras, and despicable killings. It takes the famous lawyer and rewinds him all the way to 1930s Los Angeles in the midst of the Great Depression. Having not yet become an attorney, Perry Mason (Matthew Rhys) is a private investigator dealing with PTSD from World War I. The series kicks off with the kidnapping of a newborn baby, which he is called upon to investigate.
The series showcases the charm associated with detective dramas through its time era and setting. Los Angeles has famously been a haven for noir and murder mystery
“Perry Mason” can be appreciated by different generations of fans alike. Older viewers get introduced to a younger version of the character they originally watched years ago, and younger viewers can appreciate the darker atmosphere of the prequel series that wasn’t present in the original.
