37 TV & Movie Detectives That You’d Want On Your Case

Played by Mariska Hargitay, she's the straightest shooter on the Law & Order: SVU team, always going the extra mile and caring (perhaps too much), about her work without punching suspects (Stabler, Tutuola), or sassing higher-ups (Munch).

Don't let the rumply suit fool you (because it sure does throw off everyone he's investigating) — Columbo's feigned ineptitude, as portrayed by Peter Falk, leads the upper-crust he's investigating to pretty much pour out the facts. And just when you think you've gotten away with it, out comes that "just one more thing..."

Now that he's married into high society, Nick Charles (William Powell) is supposed to be a retired private dick. Instead his lovely wife Nora (Myrna Loy) joins him as they guzzle martinis and solve mysteries high and low.

If something terrible happens, you want the kind of dedication Wayne Hays (Mahershala Ali) shows, with cases still haunting him decades later.

The famous Girl Detective has endured through the years, with a movie set for 2019 with Sophia Lillis taking on the role. She's sharp, she's observant, and she's indefatigable.

Despite his The Return record of re-traumatizing those he tried saving, Cooper's deep optimism, romantic streak, intelligence, and gut instinct make him one person you wouldn't mind running into in the Black Lodge (unless that person proves to be his doppelgänger, also played by Kyle MacLachlan).

Sassy, sharp, and studying under her dad, Veronica (Kristen Bell) is able to carry herself through the most awkward social situations and still solve the case, even when they involve those she cares about most (on both sides of the law).

Dame Helen Mirren's character from Prime Suspects battles sexism and crime with equal world-weary aplomb.

A fish who doesn't mind being out of water when it comes to helping a friend, Foley (played by Eddie Murphy) is also a damn fine cop who connects dots and when needed, can bring the pain too. Plus, who else on this list has a theme song that catchy?

Who says private eyes have to be schlubby unshaven dudes in suits? Phryne Fisher (played by Essie Davis) solves crime in high style.

The pragmatic, groundwork half of the X-Files team, it's Scully (Gillian Anderson) who'll point out the hard facts that'll get your case solved while Mulder's still off exploring a deep government psy-op.

Mental Floss points out if Murder She Wrote were all real, Miss Marple's sleepy town would be the murder capital of the world. Still, disarmingly charming Miss Marple (played by Angela Lansbury) manages to bring every criminal to justice.

Take your pick: Basil Rathbone, Robert Downey Jr., Benedict Cumberbatch — any and all of history's most filmed detective capture his seemingly supernatural intellect and observation (and more recently, emphasize his snark too).

You might not want to hire her if you're a dude, but if you're a woman wronged by a man, Lisbeth (played by Noomi Rapace, Rooney Mara, and Claire Foy in different film iterations) will utterly destroy your perpetrator for you.

If this sharp duo, ably played by Philip Michael Thomas and Don Johnson, is on your case, you probably had something sexily terrible happen in warm, sunny climes — not too shabby.

She might be green, but Clarice (Jodie Foster) is determined to protect the innocent, even if that means making deals with the devil himself.

Another Law & Order stalwart who'll do everything he can to solve the case, Briscoe (Jerry Orbach, RIP) has been on the team long enough to see nearly everything.

Who'd suspect a sweet little old lady (played variously by Joan Hickson, Margaret Rutherford, Geraldine McEwan and others) of being a capital crime-solver? Bonus: she's also an excellent knitter.

For those unfamiliar, Baywatch had a spinoff show that lasted exactly two seasons: the first, a standard police procedural, and the second, a hard pivot to sea-themed X-Files knockoff. If you've been attacked by a mer-wolf or harassed by ghost ships, they're your guys.

A single gal (Sharon Gless) and a mom (Tyne Daly) team up to fight crime! While that's likely how the show was pitched, it's as much a genuine buddy comedy as is it police procedural, though as the Huffington Post reports, the show had an uphill battle dealing with suits who thought the leads might be perceived as gay.

Sidney Poitier was so memorable as an investigator teamed with a racist police chief in the film version of In The Heat Of The Night that it became a TV show. His determination, dignity, and instinct absolve not only him, but others falsely accused.

Played by Morgan Freeman in Kiss The Girls and Along Came A Spider and most recently by Tyler Perry in a self-titled feature, this former FBI agent now works as a freelance profiler who chooses to live in a Washington DC neighborhood the rest of the city deems 'squalid'.

Dashiell Hammett's eternal gumshoe (played most famously by Humphrey Bogart) shaped the mold for all his peers, tougher than a 10-minute hard-boiled egg, always ready with a quip, and finding himself at the heart of trouble as often as he takes a drink or lights up a smoke.

Of all the Mystery Mobile crew, tell me it's not Velma you'd want on your case. The rock of the group, she's the one often doing the actual solving.

Another eternal hard-boiled noir detective, played by Bogart, Elliot Gould, Robert Mitchum and others, has been popping up on paper and screen since 1939's The Big Sleep. Underneath the tough front, he's a contemplative stoic.

Another show consigned to the dustbin of TV history, I'll say this slowly because it's a lot. Nick Knight (Canadian actor Geraint Wyn Davies)... is a vampire... who took a job as a cop on the night shift. I mean, they explain it in the intro but it's still A LOT. Couldn't hurt to have a cop on your side with supernatural strength though.

Once he's on the case, Popeye (Gene Hackman) is willing to put his neck on the line, even if it means breaking the rules.

This FBI profiler appeared most recently in the TV show Hannibal (Hugh Dancy), but that's not exactly the iteration you want on your side; he's got a lot on his plate already. Stick with his meticulous and slightly less-broken version from Manhunter (William Patterson) or Red Dragon (Edward Norton).

A cop's cop who's so good he got shipped out, in Hot Fuzz, Angel (Simon Pegg) discovers the sleepy town he's stuck in hides a dark secret. Even off duty, he can't not cop to the extreme.

Brick's protagonist (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) gets drawn in to intrigue, only to discover, as so many gumshoes do, a need to solve and magnetic ability to draw trouble.

Roger Rabbit's top investigator hates toons, but takes on this case when it near-literally falls in his lap. He's good at his job, but he and the toons are up against progress.

Don't underestimate Minnesota nice, even if it shows up extremely pregnant. Marge (Frances McDormand) quietly gets to the bottom of dirty doings in her small town.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang's rat-a-tat dialogue sounds like a screwball comedy, but Val Kilmer's 'Gay' Shrike is the straight man getting to the bottom of the case.

What exactly is a 'holistic detective'? Dirk Gently (Samuel Barnett) will be happy to find out after tying togther a series of absolutely oddball and seemingly unrelated events and pieces.

The guy who literally wrote the book on the Zodiac killer is a puzzle-loving illustrator, but this former cartoonist (played in the film by Jake Gyllenhaal) stuck with the case and came closest to anyone to solving the mystery of the Zodiac killer.

It takes a lot of confidence to be chief of police in a town where costumed villains regularly put the city, if not the entire world, in danger, and to put your faith in a mystery costumed millionaire, but Gordon does so while tackling the day-to-day management of his force.

Ok, Bullit isn't exactly the guy you want solving your case, but he looks so cool while not really doing it! And it's Steve McQueen!

While you'd certainly hope that you won't need to call on their services (or worse, have someone else call to solve your murder), if any of these detectives pick up your case, rest easy knowing it'll be solved.