Starring legendary comedians Steve Martin and Martin Short and the delightfully deadpan Selena Gomez, Only Murders in the Building is a charming and bright murder mystery that can be enjoyed by everyone, so long as they appreciate some good old-fashioned comedy.

Not old itself, the comedy crime show premiered its first season on Hulu in August 2021, following the story of three strangers who become citizen investigators and podcasters after a neighbor is found brutally murdered in their fancy New York apartment building. Gomez plays Mabel Mora, a snarky introvert who's renovating her aunt's apartment in the building, while Martin stars as Charles-Haden Savage, a former actor who is known for his once-popular detective show Brazzos, and Short portrays Oliver Putnam, a financially struggling Broadway director and the first to suggest that the trio create their own crime podcast when the murderer strikes. The series was created and written by Martin and John Hoffman and features other such prominent comedians and actors over its two seasons (so far) as Tina Fey, Jane Lynch, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Shirley MacLaine, and Cara Delevingne.

The first season of Only Murders in the Building was nominated for 17 Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (for both Martin and Short), Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (for Jamie Babbit and Cherien Dabis), and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (for Martin and Hoffman).

The second season just wrapped up, revealing not only who killed Bunny Folger (Jayne Houdyshell), but also who the new case in Season 3 would center on. (Read more about that here.)

Only Murders in the Building offers audiences the sweet escape of a murder mystery podcast packaged neatly into a heartwarming television series, still chock full of gruesome crimes, pleasantly unexpected twists, and the human touch that every murder mystery needs. If you're looking to keep the investigation going, here, we highlight 10 shows to watch next if you like Only Murders in the Building, ranked by Metascore.

The Good Place

Metascore: 82
Best for: Fans of forks, philosophy, and absurdism
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Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) finds herself in the afterlife at the start of this sitcom, but she is relieved to find that she made it into the Good Place, especially considering the fact that she wasn't a nice person while alive. Unfortunately, eventually she does confirm that she was placed there by mistake, which leads her to do everything within her power to avoid being found out by her mentor Michael (Ted Danson). That is just the start, though, as very quickly Michael and Eleanor's afterlife home are revealed to not be what they seem. This show is bright and playful in the same ways Only Murders in the Building often is, while also balancing an underlying darker mystery and emotional character relationships at its core.

"The Good Place manages to tackle thorny issues like morality and religion while still delivering laughs. ... In short, it's a godsend." — Dave Nemetz, TVLine

Search Party

Metascore: 78
Best for: Self-obsessed 20-somethings
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Dory (Alia Shawkat) is deeply unfulfilled, both in her boring relationship and her dead-end career as a personal assistant. When a girl she knew from college goes missing, Dory makes it her own mission to find her, with the help of her friends. Just like Only Murders in the Building, Search Party creates its own unlikely heroes, by the heroes determinedly — albeit at times obsessively  taking matters into their own hands.

"An unusual holiday trip. Fortunately for us, it's one worth taking." — Melanie McFarland, Salon

Veronica Mars

Metascore: 78
Best for: Fans of Bell and teenagers wise beyond their years
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Veronica Mars is a murder mystery television series that offers audiences the quirkiness and lightness of a 2000s teen drama. The series began in 2004 and stars Bell as the titular character, an intelligent high schooler who helps her father with his private investigation work. Everything changes for Veronica when her best friend Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried) is murdered. Using the skills she's acquired, Veronica attempts to solve the mystery and clear her father's name. Over the course of the series, the show mixes season-long crime and mystery arcs with shorter cases for Veronica to tackle.

"A quirky mix of light and dark, humor and grit, sentiment and substance — The O.C. if scripted by Raymond Chandler." — Gail Pennington, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Monk

Metascore: 75
Best for: Fans of phobias and Tony Shalhoub
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Monk follows Adrian Monk (Shalhoub), a once esteemed San Francisco police detective who has a nervous breakdown after the tragic death of his wife, causing him to lose his job as well as develop a number of phobias (312 to be exact). After several years and with the help of his assistant, he reenters the workforce as a private detective for the police, but his extreme obsessive-compulsive disorder poses a challenge not only to the detective, but also to his colleagues. Like Only Murders in the Building, Monk explores the world of crime-solving but through the romantic lens of a quirky and lovable protagonist. 

"Occasionally the show mysteriously falls into a rut of old cop-show cliches. But there's enough potential and quality elsewhere to make you forgive and forget." — Tim Goodman, San Francisco Chronicle

Elementary

Metascore: 74
Best for: Fans of Sherlock Holmes and flirtatious professional relationships
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This gritty and modern take on Sherlock Holmes follows a recovering drug addict iteration of Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) who is relocated from London to New York by his wealthy father. In an effort to maintain his sobriety, Holmes is assigned a live-in sober companion named Dr. Joan Watson (Lucy Liu). When Holmes decides to work as a consultant for the New York police, Watson has no choice but to follow, revealing the pair to be an effective investigative team. The show turns the famous crime story on its head, playing with the tension of two strong leads who drive each other crazy. Originally airing on CBS, it follows the crime procedural format of solving a case per episode, relying on Holmes' unique observation skills to pick up on clues often invisible to the average naked eye. It's the dysfunctional function of this pair of detectives that rings similar to the unlikely trio in Only Murders in the Building.

"Elementary will probably infuriate Sherlock Holmes purists, but other viewers are likely to find it gripping and well cast." — David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Metascore: 71
Best for: Fans of Jill Scott and neighborly kindness
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Set in Botswana, Africa, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency follows detective Mma Precious Ramotswe (Scott), who, after the death of her father, uses her inheritance to open the first female detective agency in the country. Though the series only ran for one season, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency was commended for exploring such themes as national identity and women's rights set on an underrepresented backdrop. Similar to Only Murders in the Building, this touching series deals with tough matters and difficult situations with a kindness and a levity that humanizes the detective process.

"I can't say you'll want to follow The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency religiously, like so many other HBO efforts, but it is an easy-to-like distraction." — Matthew Gilbert, The Boston Globe

The Resort

Metascore: 70
Best for: Fans of vacation settings and genre-bending twists to mysteries
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William Jackson Harper and Cristin Milioti star as an unenthused husband and wife who travel to a Mexican resort for their 10th wedding anniversary. Their marriage appears to be losing its spark until she happens upon an old cellphone owned by a previous resort goer that went missing 15 years earlier, marking the beginning of their own investigation of one of Yucatan's most bizarre crimes. The Resort capitalizes on the humor of two normal people attempting to play detective and explores the human relationships that make the characters tick, very similar to Only Murders in the Building but with a few more genre-bending twists.

"The delightful ensemble makes The Resort a breeze, even if the payoff leaves something to be desired." — Saloni Gajjar, The A.V. Club

Bored to Death

Metascore: 66
Best for: Fans of Jason Schwartzman and hipsters
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Bored to Death chronicles the ongoings of struggling writer Jonathan Ames (Schwartzman) who pretends to be a private detective in Brooklyn, sourcing his methods from the detective novels he's read. Attempting to live a kind of double life, Jonathan must balance his messy personal life with his new pseudo career. Off-beat and rooted in the want to help people, Bored to Death explores themes of messy people trying to clean up other's lives.

"Not all the tweaks in the plot work well, but most of the series' flaws are masked by the excellent casting and the good writing for three central characters." — Nancy Franklin, The New Yorker

Psych

Metascore: 60
Best for: Fans of '80s references and quirky behavior from male protagonists
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Psych chronicles the story of Shawn Spencer (James Roday), an intelligent and detail-oriented man who tricks the police into believing that he has psychic abilities that can help them solve crime. In order to keep the ruse up, Shawn enlists the help of his best friend Gus (Dulé Hill) to continue to successfully solve the crimes presented to them. The show is beloved for its characters, their various catch phrases, and the witty remarks of the "psychic." Like Only Murders in the Building, Psych uses charisma and absurdity in the world of procedural crime to draw audiences in, one case (per episode) at a time. 

"The writers deploy the savant protagonist's gift so cleverly in moving the plot along, we wonder why they can't lend more nuance to the characters." — Nancy Franklin, The New Yorker

Castle

Metascore: 56
Best for: Fans of flirty banter and detective dramedies
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Castle follows mystery writer Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) who finds himself uninspired and stuck with writer's block. After a serial killer copies the crimes committed in his novels, Richard joins forces with detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) to catch the killer. What follows is an eight-season banter-filled relationship that eventually turns romantic as he consistently tags along. Most cases are specific to single episodes, but as the show goes on, it plays more with season-long "big bads" that taunt our heroes. Though Castle isn't that well regarded by critics, fans of Only Murders in the Building will surely appreciate the notably lighthearted tone that made Castle a more refreshing watch for crime-drama enthusiasts.

"The series uses that shockingly durable Remington Steele DNA — peacock dude, furrowed-brow femme — to build neat puzzles out of human suffering." — Emily Nussbaum, Vulture