After making its premiere in July 2022, Peacock's dark comedy mystery series The Resort has slowly built its fair share of fans thanks to its tropical setting, underlying whodunit premise, and the hilarious interplay between married couple-turned amateur sleuths Emma (Cristin Milioti) and Noah (William Jackson Harper). Indeed, much of the amusement derives from the fish-out-of-water ineptitude Emma and Noah demonstrate in trying to solve a cold case murder on their paradise vacation.
As such, The Resort s a highly entertaining group of darkly comedic murder mystery shows that often feature a swanky tropical setting and/or hysterical amateur sleuths doing their best to solve a rash of violent crimes.
The White Lotus (2021-)
Stream On HBO Max
The first show that instantly leaps to mind when watching The Resort is The White Lotus, Mike White's scathingly hilarious glimpse at the ultra-wealthy elite coming apart at the seams when a ridiculous pineapple-knife murder occurs. The show concerns several guests at the swanky eponymous Hawaiian resort, where the audience must backtrack and reverse engineer a murder mystery explained to them from the onset and figure out who will die and why.
Much like The Resort, The White Lotus uses the central murder mystery as a springboard to explore the dark side of various characters' motivations, and personalities, and how the elite can use their immense privilege to skirt the law without consequence. In of the darkly absurd tone and tenor, The Resort and The White Lotus are part and parcel with one another.
Outer Banks (2020-)
Stream On Netflix
For those specifically drawn to the tropical vibe and younger characters of The Resort but want even more action and adventure, Netflix's Outer Banks is an ideal destination. The acclaimed mystery drama follows a bevy of teenagers who discover a treasure map in coastal Carolina and get swept up in the cryptic disappearance of the gang leader's father.
Equal parts The Goonies, Outer Banks marries fun, feel-good summer vibes with amateur-sleuthing and juicy teenage melodrama sure to resonate with The Resort fans, especially in the way both shows juxtapose their sunny settings with shocking sinister subtext.
Death In Paradise (2011-)
Stream On Britbox
The most definitive and consistently entertaining island-based comedic murder-mystery show on record, Death In Paradise is the gift that keeps on giving. Aside from boasting a wry British wit and hilarious deadpan humor, the premise of a grumpy beach-averse detective sent to the French Caribbean to solve a spate of unsolved murders is too good to miss for The Resort fans.
Beyond the acerbic British humor and hilarious fish-out-of-water conceit that proves to be a running gag, Death In Paradise manages to stay fresh over 11 seasons and counting by changing actors in the lead role and constantly tweaking the formula to contemporize the material. It could even be argued that, without Death In Paradise, there'd be no The Resort to speak of. It's that influential.
My Life Is Murder (2019-)
Stream On Hoopla
TV icon Lucy Lawless stars as Alexa Crowe in the delightful comedic-mystery show My Life Is Murder, a bread maker and deliverer by day and whip-smart amateur sleuth by night who, despite her brilliant crime solving, can't seem to get out of her own way at home in New Zealand. Something's got to give, right?
Aside from investigating several exotic locales across New Zealand, it's the enchanting yet mysterious nature of Alexa herself that makes the show so compelling and why fans of The Resort ought to check it out. Like Emma and Noah, Alexa's true nature is just as cryptic as many of the crimes she solves, which proves to be an endlessly fascinating counterpoint.
Search Party (2016-2022)
Stream On HBO Max
One of the Search Party follows four wayward and disillusioned twentysomethings who band together to investigate the strange disappearance of an old college friend. Like The Resort, Search Party show fuses dark comedy and mystifying crimes to make larger statements about the characters themselves.
With a star-making turn from Alia Shawkat, a blisteringly caustic sense of humor, and a truly compelling mystery at its core, Search Party actually has a much more exhaustive storyline and far more satisfying conclusion than The Resort. The only thing missing is the tropical upscale setting, which is replaced by the glitzy East Hamptons in Season 3.
Agatha Raisin (2014-)
Stream On Hoopla
Agatha Raisin is a hilarious British series streaming on Acorn that concerns the titular plucky PR guru (Ashley Jensen) who retires and decides to leave London for the idyllic Carsley village, where she becomes a novice detective after being implicated in a ludicrous death involving a quiche-making cook-off.
Hailed for its delectable charms, campy one-liners, slapstick silliness, and sumptuous setting, Agatha Raisin is another ideal comedic mystery series to watch alongside The Resort. While it may not be as mordantly dark in its humor, the show is fun, breezy, and has enough intrigue to keep fans guessing until the end. As such, it's perfect for the tail end of summer.
Murderville (2022-)
Stream On Netflix
While it doesn't feature a lavish vacation setting, Murderville is one of the funniest and most excitingly unpredictable comedy mysteries currently on TV. The Netflix original follows Terry Seattle (Will Arnett), a bumbling detective is who annoyed to be paired with an untrained celebrity in each episode, resulting in an improvisational scenario where the two must work together to solve the central crime at hand.
With zero foreknowledge of the crime, each celebrity inevitably stumbles and fumbles their way through the investigative procedure as Terry holds their hand and makes fun of them the entire time. It's one of the most interactive comedic mystery shows that, very much like The Resort, challenges the audience to do the detective work in lockstep with the characters.
Bored To Death (2009-2011)
Stream On HBO Max
From the singular vision of comedic mind Jonathan Ames, Bored to Death remains one of HBO's most underrated original series. The show tracks Ames (Jason Schwartzman), a wannabe writer moonlighting as an amateur detective in order to find inspiration for his novels, only to be swept up into a dark, devious, and morbidly hilarious web of murder along with his two bumbling pals.
Oddly meta and whimsically strange, what Bored to Death lacks in a sunny vista setting it more than atones for with its rich characters, unpredictable plotting, electric chemistry between Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis, and ridiculous fish-out-of-water detective ineptitude that shares a lot with The Resort.
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (2008)
Stream On HBO Max
This criminally underrated HBO comedic mystery show is set in a sunny location and The No. Ladies Detective Agency will turn The Resort fans into instant converts. Jill Scott soars as Precious Ramotswe, a cheery and pragmatic woman who opens a female-only detective agency in Botswana following her father's death.
Along with her hilariously nerdy friend and secretary Grace (Anika Noni Rose), the two begin cleaning up their small village of big and small crimes alike. A radiant breath of fresh air that combines compelling character-driven plots that uncoil germane mysteries, few shows capture the specific regional humor and rich, colorful culture of Africa in the way the HBO/BBC original does.
Only Murders In The Building (2021-)
Stream On Hulu
The most-viewed Hulu original comedy in history, it's hard to compile a litany of the funniest and twistiest comedic mysteries without mentioning Only Murders in the Building. Armed with the combustible comedic chemistry of Steve Martin and Martin Short as two paranoiac true-crime enthusiasts hell-bent on proving foul play in their luxury apartment complex, few shows tap into the current zeitgeist of true-crime podcasting.
Unlike the open-world expanse of The Resort's swanky location, Only Murders in the Building wisely uses its enclosed setting to heighten the sense of claustrophobic dread as each crime puts a larger target on the backs of Charles-Haden (Martin), Oliver (Short), and their friend Mabel (Selena Gomez). Still, despite death at their center, both shows are hilariously hypnotic enough to make fans want to check into both the Bahia de Paraiso in The Resort and The Arconia in Only Murders.
