Watch and read these mysteries all Summer long
It’s officially summertime and who DOESN’T like a good mystery to read poolside or at least under an umbrella somewhere. In honor of the best kind of summer reading, we pulled together a long list of mystery series based on books to keep you reading & watching all summer. Some are truly novels on the screen and some feature iconic characters inspired by famous novels.
Happy watching, happy reading, and welcome summer!
If Scandinavian crime fiction in a small picturesque coastal community is your jam, then MHz Choice has another big one for you with The Sandhamn Murders based on the popular 10 book series by Vivica Sten. The body count seems to always grow during the summer tourist season on the Swedish archipelago and Thomas (Jakob Cedergren) and Mia (Alexandra Rapaport) are always there to solve the crimes.
The bestselling mystery novels by Maurizio de Giovanni come to life on screen with a ragtag team of detectives who take over the small Pizzofalcone precinct police station in the aftermath of a scandal. The Bastards are all brilliant yet outcasts in their own way which presents plenty of enjoyable dramedy over the course of 2 (soon to be 3) seasons.
Sicily is the perfect setting for the coming sun-drenched season and Detective Montalbano is the motherload of a perfect page-to-screen adaptation. Both the blockbuster book series by Andrea Camilleri and the blockbuster TV mystery series hit just the right balance of intrigue and humor. We dare you not to delight in watching Luca Zingaretti as Montalbano.
Summertime looks even more appealing on the Tuscan coast in the idyllic town of Pineta. Based on the Italian mystery novels by Marco Malvadi, Murders at Barlume is named for the charming local watering hole owned by Massimo Viviani. Massimo both spars and partners with his eccentric septuagenarian regulars who moonlight as amateur detectives.
Annika Bengtzon is a journalist always on the search for truth. Her investigations are chronicled across 11 books by bestselling author Liza Marklund, and 8 feature-length episodes on MHz Choice. Annika is a formidable protagonist with her own suite of personal struggles.
MHz Choice has not one, but TWO series based on novels by the Swedish Queen of Crime. First start with Camilla Läckberg, a collection of TV movies based on the author’s bestselling mystery novels The Preacher, The Stonecutter, and The Stranger. Detective Patrik Hedström and his fiancée, the novelist Erica Falck become enmeshed in complex crimes in their tiny coasty community on Sweden’s west coast. These movies are a prequal of sorts to Camilla Läckberg’s Fjällbacka Murders based on the book series of the same name.
At 20+ years and counting, Beck is the longest running Nordic noir franchise and is as beloved as The Martin Beck novels that inspire the series. Kristofer Hivju (Game of Thrones) and Peter Haber as Martin Beck lead the cast of Sweden’s most popular crime drama through seven seasons (soon to be eight).
MHz Choice has a trilogy of suspenseful movie-length tales based on Charlotte Link’s bestselling crime novels. While the books originate in German (also available in English) and the series is in German, they each respectively take place in the United Kingdom and are heavily inspired by English crime fiction.
Detective Jurre de Cock is already a seasoned detective in the hugely popular novels by A.C. Baantjer, of which there are over 50! It’s the start of his illustrious career was the inspiration for Amsterdam Vice, a critically acclaimed mini-series that serves as a prequal to the novels in 1980s Amsterdam.
Praise for Amsterdam Vice:
“The buddy-cop formulas play out with energy and wit against [a] colorful backdrop” – Mike Hale, The New York Times
The bestselling novel Time is a Killer gets the small screen treatment in this eight-part mini-series. This noir thriller follows Clotilde as she returns to Corsica 20 years after being the sole survivor of a car accident that killed her parents and brother. This seminal event in Clotilde’s life is revisited as mysteries surrounding her family, and seemingly everyone who inhabits this small Corsican town, begin to unfold.
Arguably the most widely known mystery author is the inspiration behind Agatha Christie’s Criminal Games. Inspiration is the key word since the series has the loosest connection to its literary foundation compared to any other on this list. That doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. The 1950s costumes and sets are a visual feast while the mysteries themselves are as clever as ever.
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