Crime TV - My favorite

As any detective can tell you, investigating missing property or deaths is comparatively easy compared to elusive missing people. However in New York City, there is a special unit of the FBI that is designed to find them. Using the vast resources of their bureau, the team, lead by Agent Jack Malone, race against time in the tight 72 hour window after a disappearance while hope for a recovery is still typically possible.

A superstar magician Cameron Black whose career is ruined by scandal has only one place to turn to practice his art of deception, illusion, and influence, the FBI where he'll become the world's first consulting illusionist, helping the government solve crimes that defy explanation, and trap criminals and spies by using deception.

Former CIA operative is lured back to his old life when the NYPD needs his help to stop a serial killer. Dr. Dylan Reinhart (Alan Cumming) is a gifted author and university professor living a quiet life teaching psychopathic behavior to packed classes of adoring students. But when top NYPD detective Lizzie Needham (Bojana Novakovic) appeals to him to help her catch a serial murderer who is using Dylan's first book as a tutorial, Dylan is compelled by the case, comes out of retirement and taps into his old skill set. Though Dylan and Lizzie initially clash, when it comes to catching killers, they realize they will make an ideal team if they both trust their instincts. Based on the James Patterson book.

Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), now retired from the N.Y.P.D., joins the District Attorney's office as an investigator. Through him, and the various lawyers, jury members and court officials we meet along the way, the show explores the intricate workings of the jury system.

Special agent Avery Ryan works to solve crimes as a CyberPsychologist for the FBI.

On the streets of San Francisco a team of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Behavioral Analysis Unit use profiling to catch some of the most horrific serial killers and unidentifiable subjects.

Facing an existential threat that could bring down the Crime Lab, a brilliant team of forensic investigators must welcome back old friends and deploy new techniques to preserve and serve justice in Sin City.

The best private pathologist in Miami, Dr. Beaumont Rosewood, Jr., whose rare heart condition that could kill him at any moment fuels his lust for life, gives a second opinion when friends or family of the deceased are not satisfied with official police findings. His state-of-the-art laboratory equipment, Sherlock Holmes-like powers of deduction and quick wit are his main tools. He also relies and depends on his trusty assistants and cute couple, Pippy and TMI, and works with no-nonsense detective Annalise Villa, who doesn't always go strictly by the book, to see the case to its conclusion.

Richard "Rick" Castle is a millionaire playboy who recently killed off his main character when a serial killer starts killing people like he does in his books. He teams up with New York police detective Kate Beckett to solve the case. He finds inspiration in Detective Beckett and starts shadowing her for his next book.

Dr. Daniel Pierce is an eccentric neuropsychiatrist who uses his unique outlook to help the federal government solve complex criminal cases.

CBS's successful CSI franchise gets transplanted to the Big Apple. Cases involving sewer rats as witnesses, a victim whose head was slammed in a pizzeria oven, and murders of commodities traders, and--of course--a Red Sox fan. CSI: NY is a bleaker, grimmer version of its Las Vegas and Miami cousins. The team is made up of a pleasantly New Yawk but indistinct cast of characters. The teams leader Detective Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise), is a former Marine from Chicago. Mac is a veteran of the NYPD who lost his wife on 9/11, and as such must work to rebuild his personal life while supervising his team. He is organized, efficient, dedicated, and very proper in his management style. His second in command for the first 6 seasons is Detective Stella Bonasera (Melina Kanakaredes), Stella is half-Greek, half-Italian, and entirely New York City. She helped Mac through the impact of his wife's death and has been by his side ever since. She is a savvy investigator, yet she often speaks before she thinks. Stella leaves New York to head a crime lab in New Orleans and is replaced by Detective Jo Danville (Sela Ward). Jo is a former FBI criminalist and an experienced psychological profiler. She and Mac quickly form a strong friendship and an even stronger working rapport. Jo is still haunted by her ousting from the FBI after blowing the whistle on improper lab procedure, so she works to regain her professional reputation. Joining them is younger CSIs Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo), Aiden Burn (Vanessa Ferlito, who has since left the show), Aiden's replacement Lindsay Monroe (Anna Belknap) and medical examiner turned CSI Sheldon Hawkes (Hill Harper). Rounding out the cast is the teams legal muscle Homicide Detective Don Flack (Eddie Cahill), Medical Examiner Sid Hammerback, M.D. (Robert Joy) and lab tech Adam Ross (A. J. Buckley).

Dr. Mark Sloan is a doctor at Community General Hospital, and he is a consultant for the police department. His son Steve Sloan is a detective for the department. He and his father, along with emergency room resident Dr. Jesse Travis and Dr. Amanda Bentley, who is the pathologist at the hospital help to solve some very strange murder cases in Diagnosis Murder.

A homicide detective, a medical examiner, a newspaper reporter and a young assistant district attorney work together to solve homicide investigations.

Brilliant LAPD detective Charlie Crews has survived the extreme abuse befalling an innocent cop in prison, and was exonerated for the murders and released after 12 years of hell in jail. He could retire on his settlement, but chooses to resume police work. Nevertheless, the grim experience has made him more philosophical and tempted to put justice - especially for the innocent - above chasing the presumably guilty and legally by-the-book, as his new partner Dani Reese must experience and learn to cope with.

Dr. Cal Lightman teaches a course in body language and makes an honest fortune exploiting it. He's employed by various public authorities in various investigations, doing more when the police etc. fail to go the extra mile. So he can afford to constitute a team of his own, which like clients and others has to put up with his mind-games.

Horatio Caine (David Caruso), a former homicide detective, heads a group of investigators who work crimes amid the steamy, tropical surroundings and cultural crossroads of Miami. His team includes Calleigh Duquesne (Emily Procter), a bilingual Southern beauty with a specialty in ballistics; Tim Speedle (Rory Cochrane), a cocky yet disarming investigator who is well connected on the street, and Eric Delko (Adam Rodriguez), an underwater recovery expert who knows all the twists and turns of the Florida waterways. Rounding out the team is Alexx Woods (Khandi Alexander), the no-nonsense, know-it-all coroner. And, after Speedle is killed in action, former Patrolman Ryan Wolfe (Jonathan Togo) joins the team. Together, these investigators collect and analyze the evidence to solve the crimes and to vindicate those who often cannot speak for themselves - the victims.

After the unsolved murder of his wife, Trudy, Adrian Monk develops obsessive-compulsive disorder, which includes his terror of germs and contamination. His condition costs him his job as a prominent homicide detective in the San Francisco Police Department, but he continues to solve crimes with the help of his assistant and his former boss.

Filmed on location in New York, the drama showcases the sometimes-complex process of determining guilt or innocence, while lives hang in the balance. Often inspired by the latest headlines, the plots highlight legal, ethical or personal dilemmas to which people can relate.