Shows Like
Shows Like Only Murders in the Building: Ten Comedy Mysteries
By Jordan A. · · Updated · 5 min read
The thing Only Murders in the Building gets right is the ratio. There's a real case with real stakes, and there are three people being ridiculous about it, and neither half undercuts the other. Most comedy mysteries pick one and coast.
So the standard for this list is simple: the mystery has to be solvable and the jokes have to come from character rather than from winking at the genre. Ten shows clear it. Each gets what it shares with Only Murders, where it differs, who it suits, and a fact you can check.
The closest matches
Poker Face is the first recommendation and it isn't close. Rian Johnson built a case-of-the-week show around Natasha Lyonne's human lie detector, driving from town to town, solving one murder per episode in the Columbo shape where you see the crime first.
Peacock, January 2023 to July 2025, two seasons, 22 episodes.
Who it's for: anyone who wants the warmth and the wit without a season-long arc to track. The difference is structural: Only Murders is one case a season, Poker Face is one an hour.
The Afterparty takes a single murder and retells it from each suspect's point of view, with every episode shot in a different genre. Created by Christopher Miller, half of the Lord and Miller partnership behind Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and the Jump Street films.
Apple TV, January 2022 to September 2023, two seasons.
Who it's for: viewers who like the formal games Only Murders plays with podcasts and unreliable narration. The difference is that The Afterparty resets its whole cast in season 2.
A Man on the Inside puts Ted Danson undercover in a San Francisco retirement community to investigate a theft, and it comes from the same comedy tradition as The Good Place. It is the gentlest thing on this list and it lands its emotional punches anyway.
Netflix, premiered November 2024, two seasons so far.
Who it's for: people who watch Only Murders mostly for Martin Short and Steve Martin. Same register, lower body count.
Bigger swing, same DNA
The Residence is a whodunit set in the White House during a state dinner, with Uzo Aduba as a consulting detective who cares more about the birds outside than the diplomacy inside. Eight episodes, one location, a full closed-circle mystery.
Netflix, March 2025, one season, eight episodes.
Who it's for: anyone who wants the Knives Out shape in television length. It's broader and more theatrical than Only Murders.
Elsbeth is the network answer, and it's much better than it needs to be. Carrie Preston's cheerful, chaotic attorney turned observer works alongside the NYPD, and it is unapologetically an inverted mystery in the Columbo mold.
CBS, premiered February 2024, three seasons aired, with a fourth dated for October 8, 2026.
Who it's for: viewers who want a large back catalog to work through and don't mind a broadcast rhythm.
Darker and stranger
Search Party starts with Dory, a bored twentysomething in Brooklyn, becoming obsessed with the disappearance of Chantal, a woman she barely knew in college. What begins as a satire of aimless friends playing detective mutates into something much nastier over five seasons, and each season changes genre.
five seasons, 50 episodes, November 2016 to January 2022, originally on TBS and later HBO Max.
Who it's for: people who want the amateur-sleuth comedy taken to its bleak logical end. The difference is that Only Murders likes its leads and Search Party absolutely does not.
Bad Sisters reverses the format: you know who dies and roughly why, and the tension is whether five sisters get away with it. Sharon Horgan wrote and stars, and the comedy is Irish and pitch-black.
Apple TV, August 2022 to December 2024, two seasons.
Who it's for: anyone who liked the ensemble chemistry more than the puzzle.
The Flight Attendant gives Kaley Cuoco a body in a hotel room, a blackout, and no idea whether she did it. It's frantic where Only Murders is cozy, and season 1 in particular is a very tight eight hours.
HBO Max, November 2020 to May 2022, two seasons.
Who it's for: viewers who want anxiety with their comedy.
Deadloch is an Australian small-town murder comedy pairing a rigid local detective with a foul-mouthed blow-in from the mainland, and it is genuinely one of the funniest crime shows made this decade. The mystery is real. The insults are better.
Prime Video, premiered June 2023, two seasons.
Who it's for: anyone who thinks Only Murders is a bit polite.
If you want films instead
The Knives Out films are the direct cinematic equivalent, and there are three of them now rather than the one that gets recommended. Knives Out (2019), Glass Onion (2022) and Wake Up Dead Man (2025), all written and directed by Rian Johnson, all with Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc, and each a standalone case. Start wherever you like.
Who they're for: anyone who wants the whole shape resolved in two hours. Watch Knives Out first anyway. It's the tightest.
Where these stream
Most of these are platform originals, which makes them relatively stable, but back seasons and international rights do move. Where each show streams changes, so the title page on BingeNext shows current US options.
Start here
If you want the closest tonal twin, Poker Face. If you want warmth, A Man on the Inside. If you want to laugh out loud, Deadloch. If you want the version that gets under your skin, Search Party. If you have two hours rather than ten, Knives Out.
The reason this genre is hard to shop for is that "comedy mystery" covers everything from Elsbeth to Search Party, and the shelf label tells you nothing about tone. BingeNext's TV mode works from titles instead: enter Only Murders and one or two others you loved, and it returns picks with the reason each fits and where it streams, in about a minute.
Topics covered: mystery, comedy, crime, ensemble-cast, dark-humor, hulu
About the author
Jordan A., Founder, BingeNext
Jordan A. is the founder of BingeNext and is responsible for every guide published on this site. He built the recommendation engine after one too many nights lost to the streaming menu. Dates, season counts and where-to-watch details in these guides are checked against official sources before publishing, and corrections are welcome at Jordan@Bingenext.com.