By Jocelyn Buhlman
Calling all aspiring gumshoes and detectives! Need to flex your clue-finding skills? We’ve got just the thing for you: a watchlist of series and movies full of devious deeds and mysterious circumstances, perfect for solving whodunnits before the characters on the screen can! But before you start streaming, don’t forget to solve the ultimate mystery: Which one do you watch first?
Death and Other Details (2023)
Hulu’s latest whodunnit takes to the high seas, where a murder mystery unfolds on a glamorous Mediterranean ocean liner. Imogene Scott (Violette Beane) finds herself the prime suspect of the crime, and the only way she can clear her name is to team up with the world’s greatest detective—and Imogene’s least favorite person—Rufus Cotesworth (Mandy Patinkin). From spoiled guests to overworked crew members, everyone is a suspect. Will they find the culprit? The first two episodes of Death and Other Details are now streaming on Hulu, with new episodes debuting every Tuesday.
Only Murders in the Building (2021)
One building, three unlikely friends, and a string of unsolved murders. Sounds like the setup for a must-watch mystery series… and, perhaps, a podcast? Only Murders in the Building follows the unexpected trio of retired actor Charles (Disney Legend Steve Martin), struggling director Oliver, (Martin Short) and young artist Mabel (Selena Gomez) who all share one common interest: true crime podcasts. After a suspicious death is uncovered in their apartment building, the three team up to get to the bottom of the mystery—sharing everything they find on their own whodunnit podcast.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
This groundbreaking blend of live-action and animated filmmaking presents a mystery like no other. The owner of Toontown, Marvin Acme, has been murdered. The main suspect? Sweet, fun-loving cartoon star Roger Rabbit (voiced by Charles Fleischer). Roger seeks the help of private eye (and overall Toon hater) Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins), as Roger insists that he’s—you guessed it—been framed. The mismatched pair must act quickly to clear Roger’s name, as the terrifying Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) has a warrant for Roger’s arrest, a squad of devious weasels, and “dip”—the one thing in the world that can kill a Toon. The path to solving Marvin Acme’s murder isn’t smooth… but it can sometimes be very, very silly.
Haunted Mansion (2023)
Welcome, foolish mortals, to a most supernatural mystery. Inspired by the Disney Parks attraction of the same name, Haunted Mansion follows Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) and her son, Travis (Chase Dillon), as they try to get rid of the supernatural squatters haunting their new (and strangely affordable!) mansion in New Orleans. They enlist a crew of spiritual experts to unravel the murder and mayhem behind the mansion—but they must solve the most chilling challenge of them all: finding a way out this mysterious manor!
A Haunting in Venice (2023)
No one knows super sleuthing like Agatha Christie! The third in a series of adaptations of her iconic Poirot mysteries, A Haunting in Venice brings famed detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) to a séance in the City of Canals. While the palazzo hosting the séance is already allegedly haunted, the location soon gains a new ghost when one of the guests is murdered! Once again, it’s up to Poirot to save the day and find the culprit amongst a star-studded list of suspects, including Michelle Yeoh, Tina Fey, and more.
Coco (2017)
The biggest mystery in Miguel’s (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez) life is figuring out why his family detests music. All Miguel wants is to become a musician himself, but his family forbids it. While trying to prove his own musical heritage on Day of the Dead, Miguel accidentally enters the Land of the Dead. Before he returns to the living world, Miguel decides to once and for all solve the mystery of his family’s musical hatred, hoping to finally reverse their ban and follow his dreams. Soon, he discovers there’s more to the mystery than he could have ever imagined.
The Black Hole (1979)
In space, black holes are gravitational powerhouses, sucking in anything in their path. Except… the long-lost spaceship USS Cygnus, which floats nearby in seeming defiance of gravity’s power. Cygnus was lost for 20 years before the crew of USS Palomino stumble upon the seemingly abandoned craft. Soon, mysteries upon mysteries stack up when Palomino captain Dan Holland (Robert Forester), expedition leader Dr. Alex Durant (Anthony Perkins), and their crew discover the ship’s sole survivor: Dr. Hans Reinhardt (Maximillian Schell). According to him, the rest of the crew returned to Earth, and Reinhardt created robot drones to replace them and continue studying the nearby black hole. But the longer Holland, Durant, and the crew stay on Cygnus, the more suspicious Reinhardt’s story becomes.