Elsbeth and the 7 best "howcatchem" mystery shows on TV to watch

Most TV mystery shows are pretty standard in the setup. It's always a murder, the detective entering the scene and unraveling who did it, how and why. That's a good formula but now and then a TV show will shift it up by showing what's been nicknamed the "howcatchem" or the reverse whodunnit. In short, it shows the audience from the start who the killer is and how and why they committed the crime.

Rather than making this dull, it actually makes for a more fun show. With the audience knowing who the killer is, the fun becomes how the detective figures it out and a delightful cat and mouse game with the murderer. The best ones are a detective clearly knowing who they're dealing with and stringing them along to get to the truth. 

With Elsbeth on CBS joining the ranks, these are the best examples of a TV show that uses the "howcatchem" best. They all boast some great lead detective characters, fantastic guest stars as the killers and clever ways of telling their stories. These eight shows are a wonderful turn on the mystery formula to show knowing who the killer is from the start can be more entertaining than leaving it a mystery. 

Elsbeth

The latest entry in the list is an interesting direction for the character from The Good Wife/The Good Fight. Elsbeth has moved to New York to consult with the NYPD and finds herself pulled into murder cases. The episodes each open with a prominent guest star pulling off this killing and might get away with it thanks to their preparation. 

But Elsbeth's quirky mind allows her to see details that escape regular detectives. Also, as someone who jumps to crazy ideas and conclusions, not to mention new to the city, she can approach things from a new direction. Preston's performance alone makes the show spark beautifully, and with the guest stars adding to the fun, Elsbeth appears to be a worthy addition to the list of new TV crime solvers.

Elsbeth airs Thursdays at 9/8c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Columbo

When it comes to the "howcatchem," the standard bearer will forever be Columbo. Over a whopping 16 seasons (including various TV movies), the series of extended episodes had a great formula. The first act showcased a special guest star actor pulling off what seems to be the perfect murder, absolutely fantastic and no way it can possibly fail. 

Enter the lazy-eyed, ambling, stammering, bumbling cop in the trenchcoat with seemingly no idea what was going on. Over the course of the story, Columbo slowly but surely takes apart the killer's story, leading to the moment where he drops the act and traps them into a confession. It always worked thanks to Peter Falk's beautiful Emmy-winning performance that made fans eager to watch how Columbo took these arrogant killers down. Falk played the role all the way to his death and is still one of the greatest mystery shows of all time.

Columbo streaming on Peacock, Tubi and Prime Video.  

Poker Face

Given his love of murder mysteries with the Knives Out movies, it's no wonder writer/director Rian Johnson would put his unique stamp on a TV show. This Peacock series is a love letter to 1970s detective shows, with Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale, a card shark on the run from the mob. Wherever she goes, Charlie somehow stumbles onto someone trying to pull off a murder, with the opening act showing the crime and then flashing to how Charlie gets involved.

Charlie is no detective but does have the uncanny ability to know when someone is lying. That lets her figure it out, but the show is fun in the twists of why the crime is happening and Charlie stumbling about finding the solution often by accident. Lyonne shines with a stellar guest cast (including Judith Light in an Emmy-winning turn) and makes this one of the best crime shows of 2023 and a gem for lovers of reverse whodunnits.

Poker Face streaming on Peacock.

Motive

This Canadian series (which aired on the USA Network) has a great opening with the first scenes letting you know right off who's the victim and who's the killer. As the title implies, the mystery then revolves around why the murder happened as the cops (led by Kristin Lehman's detective) investigate with flashbacks abounding.

The best part of the series is showcasing how the reasons behind the murder are never what the audience expects. Quite often, it turns out the victim wasn't so innocent, the killer not so bad and the twists leave you honestly surprised. It's a hidden gem among procedural dramas to prove you can never judge a crime by its apparent cover.

Motive Seasons 1-4 available to buy on Prime Video.

Diagnosis Murder

Most of the time, this long-running CBS series was a standard mystery with Dick Van Dyke as a surgeon helping his detective son solve crimes. Yet now and then, it could do the "howcatchem" by showing the murder and then the fun of how Mark Sloan uncovers the crime.

Perhaps the best example is the wonderful "Till Death Do Us Part" as a couple imagines their perfectly planned murder. Cut to the actual murder where nothing goes to plan and seeing them bumble trying to cover it is hilarious. So while not a commonplace plot, this series was clever in how it used the reverse whodunit well. 

Diagnosis Murder streaming on Pluto. 

Monk

Another show that didn't use the "howcatchem" too much, but when they did, it was fun. Indeed, a common bit for the series would be by the halfway point, Monk knows exactly who the killer is. He then says, "I don't know how he did it, but he did it." The rest of the episode then shows how Monk tries to prove his theory correct.

As with other shows on this list, what made this fun was Tony Shalhoub's fantastic performance as he and the writers always found new ways to showcase Monk's obsessive compulsive issues that allowed him to crack the case. That led to the "how they did it" bit of him showing the audience the crime in flashbacks. Like the other shows on this list, it was always how Monk figured out the killer's plot and exposed it that made it more fun than a standard crime show. 

Monk streaming on Peacock.

Luther

This show was rarely a true mystery but did use this formula well. The audience gets to see at the start of each episode who the main crook is, not always a murderer but a thief or smuggler. It's then about how Idris Elba's rough cop gets on the hunt for them.

Elba's star-making turn showcased his stunning charisma with Luther bending or breaking the rules to get his prey. That includes his long strange relationship with Alice (Ruth Wilson), a killer so genius Luther knows what she's done but can't prove it. It could get dark yet the series excelled thanks to Elba's performance making any showdown between Luther and these crooks a brutal end.

Luther streaming on Tubi and BritBox.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

When this spinoff of the iconic franchise premiered in 2001, the idea was to show the crime from the killer's point of view. That shifted over the years yet most of the episodes do let the audience know full well who the culprit is.

Thus, the push is how the cops (especially Vincent D'Onofrio's wildly eccentric Goren) get on their track and unravel their plans. Some later episodes would play on the mystery a bit more in who the killer was and why they were doing it but the show was at its best when the audience could glimpse into the killer's dark mind and celebrate the cops bringing them down.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent Seasons 1-10 streaming on Peacock.