The 25 Best Murder Mystery Movies For the Detective in You

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

A thief on the run stumbles upon an audition for a role as a detective in an upcoming film—and gets mistaken for an actor. The lines resemble his reality a little too closely and the thief nails the delivery. To prepare him for the role, the casting directors pair him up with a private detective. Antics ensue!

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The Third Man

This British noir is often referred to as one of the greatest films in history, thanks to its striking cinematography. The Third Man follows an American in post-war Vienna who, upon arriving to the city to work with his friend, discovers that he has been murdered.

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Charade

A murder mystery that opens with Audrey Hepburn having a love affair with Cary Grant in Aspen before returning home to Paris—can you say glamorous? Well, the glitz stops a bit there as she soon returns home to find her husband dead and herself embroiled in the consequences of his stolen wealth. Charade offers a perfect combination of thrills and rom-com, as well as another stellar soundtrack from renowned composer Henry Mancini.

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Memento

Christopher Nolan’s Memento follows a man who, after being attacked, loses both his wife and his short term memory. Determined to avenge the murder of his wife, he sets out to track down the killers — keeping track of his clues by tattooing them onto his body.

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Knives Out

Director Rian Johnson and his all-star ensemble cast (Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Daniel Craig) revive the Agatha Christie-style murder mystery in this whodunit about a wealthy family whose crime novelist patriarch has suspiciously died. It’s a delightful, winding story combining elements of Succession and Clue, where millions of dollars are at stake and everyone is a suspect.

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Gone Girl

Based on Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel, Gone Girl is the kind of film that leaves you utterly stunned once it’s over. Ben Affleck plays Nick Dunne, a college professor and writer whose seemingly-perfect marriage with his beautiful wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), begins to unravel when Amy mysteriously disappears. Nick quickly becomes a suspect, and as perspectives shift throughout the narrative, you won’t know what to believe. It’s a dark and thrilling tale about love, respect, sex, violence, and modern American marriage.

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Scream

The original film in Wes Craven’s iconic 1990s slasher franchise, Scream follows a high school girl, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), and her friends as a masked killer terrorizes their small California town. Clever dialogue and frequent meta-references make Scream more than your garden-variety bloody slasher film. Even dedicated students of the horror movie genre will find themselves falling prey to jump scares and speculation over who could be hiding beneath the ghostface mask.

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The Long Goodbye

Robert Altman’s 1973 take on the Raymond Chandler classic mystery novel is a total Los Angeles ‘stoner-noir’ trip. Private investigator Philip Marlowe does a favor for a friend and finds himself entangled in an intertwining web of suspicious deaths. Featuring a jazzy soundtrack, naked yogi-hippie neighbors, a finicky orange cat, and an early uncredited Arnold Schwarzenegger cameo The Long Goodbye is a worthy addition to your watchlist.

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Brick

Long before Knives Out, Rian Johnson tried his hand at neo-noir in the 2005 cult classic Brick, starring a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt as high school student-turned-detective Brendan. After a troubling call with his terrified ex-girlfriend Emily, Brendan follows a trail of strange clues throughout his suburban California neighborhood to get to the bottom of Emily’s case.

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Se7en

Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman star as detectives following the twisted trail of a serial killer who targets his victims based on the seven deadly sins. Featuring Pitt in one of his most iconic roles as the short-fused rookie detective, Se7en is a dark, brutal, and exciting crime tale.

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The Nice Guys

Shane Black’s neo-noir comedy thriller follows struggling private investigator Holland March (Ryan Gosling) and hired muscle Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) as unlikely partners working together on the case of a missing girl (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s Margaret Qualley) and the death of a porn star. As everyone involved in the case is killed off one by one, March and Healy realize they may be in over their heads.

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Clue

Based on the board game, this 1985 black comedy follows a group of seven strangers who become suspects after one of them is murdered. As the body count rises, you’re invited to play the game and figure out just who’s responsible—Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick? The film features three different endings, just to keep you on your toes.

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L.A. Confidential

Set in 1950s Los Angeles, L.A. Confidential is a neo-noir about three police officers (Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe, and Kevin Spacey) whose investigation of a series of murders unravels into a mysterious web of corruption and lies. It all makes for an award-winning film about corrupt cops, the Hollywood scene, and the crime hidden beneath the surface of sunny California.

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Fargo

Frances McDormand gives an Oscar-winning performance as a pregnant Minnesota cop hot on the trail of two murderers in this classic Coen brothers dark comedy. If you don’t immediately think of Fargo when you see a woodchipper or hear “You betcha,” you should give it a watch right now. With its strong cast (Steve Buscemi, William H. Macy) and icy white backdrop, Fargo is an apt movie to cozy up to.

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Zodiac

Is Ted Cruz the Zodiac killer? Maybe. This film doesn’t address it. Nonetheless, director David Fincher’s 2007 film is a gripping take on the story of the infamous serial killer who terrorized San Francisco in the late 1960s and ’70s, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., and Mark Ruffalo.

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The Maltese Falcon

The 1941 film noir stars Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade, a private investigator who takes on a case after his partner is murdered. From the dangerous and beautiful femme fatale (Mary Astor) to the a valuable falcon statuette at the center of the mystery, The Maltese Falcon is a Hollywood classic well worth a watch.

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Murder on the Orient Express

In this award-winning adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel, Detective Hercule Poirot is on a journey home when a wealthy American businessman is murdered aboard his train. Halted on the track by a snowstorm with an unknown killer hiding aboard in plain sight, every eclectic passenger is a suspect and Poirot must solve the mystery.

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Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Daniel Craig is Mikael Blomkvist, a financial journalist with his career on the rocks in this psychological thriller. Along with the help of a young computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander (Roony Mara) he is tasked with solving the murder of a wealthy girl who went missing 40 years prior. Her uncle believes the murder was made by a member of the family and seeks Mikael’s help to finally get some answers.

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The Girl On The Train

Emily Blunt stars in this thriller about Rachel Watson, a recent divorcee who watches the life of a seemingly perfect couple from the train every day on her way to work. One day, after witnessing something shocking, she becomes caught up in a missing person investigation.

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Shutter Island

In this psychological thriller directed by Martin Scorsese U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his new partner (Mark Ruffalo) find themselves at Ashecliffe Hospital, an institution for the criminally insane. They are there to investigate the death of a patient, but soon find themselves wrapped up in so much more.

Shutter Island

Lettermark

Anna Grace Lee

Anna Grace Lee is an editorial fellow at Esquire, where she covers pop culture, music, and entertainment.

Lettermark

Ammal Hassan is a writer and Esquire’s Snapchat Editor. She covers all things culture with a focus on music and pop culture. She is from Nairobi, Kenya and lives in New York City. 

Lettermark

Chantal Vaca is a writer living in New York City. She covers culture, politics and gender. 

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