Sporting his pipe that seems a nod to Sherlock Holmes, the pragmatic, reserved and refined Maigret investigates murders in his singular unhurried manner and inevitably discovers the truth. To crack his cases he peels back the veneer of seemingly idyllic villages and neighborhoods, exposing the criminals who lurk in all levels of society. Against a backdrop of 1950s Paris and the surrounding French countryside, these original feature-length films pay homage to one of the most brilliant detective minds of the twentieth century.

Murder, Venice, relationships… it's a delicious concoction in the hands of crime novelist Donna Leon. Venice provides the backdrop for the lush film versions of the bestselling novels, which feature singular Commissario Guido Brunetti, canal boat rides instead of car chases, fine cuisine and crime investigations in one of Europe's most beautiful locations. Uwe Kockisch stars as Brunetti, a police inspector with a keen mind, razor-sharp wit, and a touch of melancholy.

Being a brilliant investigator is small comfort for Inspector Franco Soneri as he finds himself on the rebound from a tumultuous relationship with his Ukrainian girlfriend, Angela Cornelio. Transferring to Torino, he takes on fresh cases and begins building a new team, but nothing compares with the challenges he faces when he becomes the temporary guardian of a runaway girl, Immacolata.

A passion for the job makes Franco Soneri Ferrara’s best investigator but also its most difficult. He’s brusque and inscrutable, but he and his team manage to discover what others would like to keep hidden: addictions, pedophilia, secret loves, and even injustices left over from World War II. All three seasons now available on DVD.

Private investigator, ladies’ man, hard-drinking pub regular: Jussi Vares is a hero whose laid-back nonchalance belies a rock-hard determination to solve the case. Created by bestselling Finnish crime author Reijo Maki, Vares radiates all the vulnerability and loneliness of a man who may not have found his place in life, but can pretty much do without it.

Before anyone else played the part, Rolf Lassgård established the role of Kurt Wallander in the original Swedish film adaptations of Henning Mankell's bestselling crime novels. With his ragged, very human portrayal of the world-weary detective, Lassgård set the standard for all other actors who would follow.

He’s got no style, he’s got no flash and he’s squarely in middle age. But Swedish detective Martin Beck is good at one thing: methodically catching criminals so that they can be put away… for a long time.

A lifetime of police work has left Detective Kurt Wallander with the look of a man who's seen too much. In a spare and compelling performance, Krister Henriksson does justice to the complicated detective beloved by fans of the bestselling crime novels by Henning Mankell.