Television series
Only Murders in the Building
Three mismatched, lonely New Yorkers bond over a true-crime podcast obsession and end up investigating an actual murder in their fancy Upper West Side building. It's a whodunit with the pace of a sitcom — Steve Martin and Martin Short doing warm, aging-actor bickering, Selena Gomez as the deadpan anchor — funny first, mysterious second. Cosy, starry, easy to binge.
If you liked this
Poker Face2023
Natasha Lyonne's human lie-detector solves a fresh case every episode with the same puzzle-box cleverness and character-actor delight as Only Murders, but structured like a classic Columbo — you see the crime, then watch her unravel it.
But No season-long mystery to sink into — if you want the slow-burn conspiracy of a building full of suspects, this scratches a different itch.

Knives Out2019
Rian Johnson's starry, gleefully theatrical whodunit shares the same DNA: a big ensemble of suspicious rich people, a detective having far too much fun, and a plot that rewards paying close attention.
But It's a two-hour film, not a series — you lose the slow accumulation of running jokes and character that Only Murders builds over ten episodes.

The Afterparty2022no page yet
Another murder investigated by a scrappy amateur, but each episode retells the same night through a different genre lens — rom-com, action movie, musical — which is the kind of formal cleverness Only Murders fans tend to adore.
But The gimmick can feel more clever than emotionally grounded; less interested in genuine grief than Only Murders is underneath its jokes.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Rear Window1954
It's the ur-text for 'nosy apartment-dweller solves a murder in their own building' — everything Only Murders plays for laughs, Hitchcock plays for dread.
Hitchcock's classic did the premise first and best: a bored, nosy neighbour becomes convinced someone in his apartment complex has committed murder, and starts investigating from his own window. Tense, elegant, quietly funny.
But Black-and-white, single-location, and genuinely suspenseful rather than comic — a very different rhythm from Only Murders' banter-driven whodunits.

More like this (8)
Search Party2016
Millennial amateur sleuths stumble into a real disappearance and slowly ruin their own lives trying to solve it — funnier and much darker than it first appears, with the same podcast-brain satire running through it.
But Gets considerably bleaker and more morally uncomfortable as it goes; not the cosy hangout the first season promises.

Murder, She Wrote1984
The original cosy amateur-detective template — Jessica Fletcher stumbles into a murder every week and solves it with nothing but nosiness and a typewriter. Gentle, formulaic, endlessly comforting.
But Very much of its era: slow, procedural, and without a shred of the meta true-crime-podcast satire that makes Only Murders feel current.

A Murder at the End of the World2023no page yet
A true-crime-obsessed amateur sleuth investigates a death among eccentrics trapped together, with the same fascination for the mechanics of internet detective work, but wrapped in a colder, tech-thriller mood.
But Chilly and cerebral where Only Murders is warm and silly — the humour is almost entirely absent.
Elsbeth2024no page yet
A disarmingly chatty, seemingly scattered lawyer-turned-detective solves a murder an episode with colour and warmth rather than grit — great procedural comfort food with a genuinely lovable lead.
But Broadcast-network polish means it's tidier and less character-driven than the slow-simmer friendships at the centre of Only Murders.
Veronica Mars2004
A wisecracking amateur detective narrates her own investigations with the same dry voiceover wit and love of the genre's tropes, mystery-of-the-week stacked over a longer serialized case.
But Teen-noir setting and 2000s pacing feel a world away from the Upper West Side comfort of Only Murders.

Death and Other Details2024no page yet
A lush, slow-burn whodunit on a luxury liner with a starry ensemble and a detective who's seen it all — good if you specifically want more glamorous rich-people murder with banter.
But Uneven pacing and a much soapier tone; doesn't have the tight comic timing Martin and Short bring to every scene.
Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer2019
Same engine — amateurs crowdsourcing a murder investigation online out of morbid fascination — but stripped of comedy and shown as the uncomfortable, addictive thing it actually is.
A real documentary about ordinary strangers on the internet who band together, obsessively, to track down a killer using nothing but forums and deduction — the actual, unfiltered version of amateur podcast sleuthing.
But It's a real crime with real victims and no jokes whatsoever — genuinely disturbing where Only Murders is cosy, and it will sit with you afterward.

Barry2018
Both find comedy inside people who treat death as something to be managed, performed, or solved — Barry just refuses to let you off the hook for laughing.
A hitman stumbles into an acting class and tries to build a normal life while bodies keep piling up around him — the same trick of finding real laughs inside murder, but pushed until the laughs curdle.
But Far more violent and morally bruising; the comedy is a Trojan horse for something genuinely dark about self-delusion and guilt.

People
Cast
Writing
- John HoffmanCreator
- Steve MartinCreator
- Ben PhilippeExecutive Story Editor
- Joshua Allen GriffithExecutive Story Editor
- Madeleine GeorgeExecutive Story Editor
- Ben PhilippeStaff Writer
- Jake SchneselStaff Writer
- Noah LevineStaff Writer
- Rachel BurgerStaff Writer
- Ben PhilippeStory Editor
- Joshua Allen GriffithStory Editor
- Madeleine GeorgeStory Editor
- Stephen MarkleyStory Editor
Production
- Tim BarkerAssociate Producer
- Ben SmithCo-Executive Producer
- Elaine KoCo-Executive Producer
- J.J. PhilbinCo-Executive Producer
- Kirker ButlerCo-Executive Producer
- Kristin NewmanCo-Executive Producer
- Matteo BorgheseCo-Executive Producer
- Rob TurbovskyCo-Executive Producer
- Jill RiskCo-Producer
- Shelly WestermanCo-Producer
- Tim BarkerCo-Producer
- Benj PasekConsulting Producer
- Justin PaulConsulting Producer
- Kim RosenstockConsulting Producer
- Valentina GarzaConsulting Producer
- Dan FogelmanExecutive Producer
- Jamie BabbitExecutive Producer
- Jess RosenthalExecutive Producer
- John HoffmanExecutive Producer
- Martin ShortExecutive Producer
- Selena GomezExecutive Producer
- Steve MartinExecutive Producer
- Jane RaabProducer
- Kristin BernsteinProducer
- Madeleine GeorgeProducer
- Nick PavonettiProducer
- Sas GoldbergProducer
- Tess MorrisProducer
- Thembi L. BanksProducer
- Ben SmithSupervising Producer
- Matteo BorgheseSupervising Producer
- Rob TurbovskySupervising Producer
Recommended by
Knives Out, Poker Face, Murder on the Orient Express, Wednesday, Cold Case Files