Thanks Steve. I actually forgot about Nancy Drew. I have a DVD with some of the Nancy Drew movies with Bonita. Good movies. I also have the first and second season of The Hardy Boys which I love since I grew up reading those books.

I will definitely check out the other series. I've heard of The Thin Man, but never seen it.

Thanks again.

In addition to Steve F's great suggestions, you might also enjoy the various mystery series produced by Columbia pictures. These also show up on TCM occasionally, but none are commercially available on DVD yet:

The Crime Doctor - Warner Baxter as a crime solving psychologist. Great fun & well written and helped by the lack of unnecessary comic relief.

The Whistler - based on the radio series. Unique in that there isn't a continuing character, although Richard Dix is the main actor in most of these.

Boston Blackie and the Lone Wolf - both are very much a formula series with the hero, comic sidekick, and an occasional annoying cop all very much present.

Another series to be on the lookout for on TCM is Red Skelton's "Whistling" series of films. Only 3 were made, but they are a lot of fun. I'm a huge Skelton fan so I'm admittedly biased here.

For TV series, you might check out Jim Hutton's Ellery Queen series from the 70s (on DVD). It only lasted one season which is amazing since it was first rate all the way. Great scripting and a plethora of recognizable character actors.

Another couple of series that I like are the six Perry Mason movies done in the 30s (they are not court roomy, Gardiner HATED them), and the Miss Withers movies (there are at least three separate stars, to my knowledge, but I really like them).

I will keep thinking. Also, I really would like to chime in on the "Whistling" movies with Red Skelton. They are great.

Steve O and DMC, thank you both for your suggestions. I've written down all your recommendations and will definitely check them out when I get the chance. It's always great to find new mysteries.

OOPS!

Forgot to tell you about two more of my husband and my favorites. Philo Vance and Bulldog Drummond!

Can't forget them!

Diana

Oh, I thought of some more good ones.

There are the Joel and Garda Sloan movies (where they sell rare books), Nick Carter (I've only seen a couple, they are more secret agent-y), Mike Shane, and Torchy Blane (9 movies from '37-'39, she's a reporter).

Sorry you asked yet?

heh I'm not sorry at all I really do appreciate the list of movies. I just hope I can get the chance to watch them all but if you do think of more, please do post them. I'm compiling a list of mysteries in hopes to find them all eventually.

Thanks again DMC!

There is also The Snoop Sisters with Helen Hayes (as a mystery writer) and Mildred Natwick (her sister who puts the stories to paper). It was a tv series in the seventies and had Vincent Price and Roddy McDowell in one episode. Would you belive a young Alice Cooper with Cyril Richard in another?! Great one for Halloween!

Then there was William Conrad and Lee Horsely in Nero Wolfe from about 1982. Conrad was the perfect Wolfe, imho.

Plus Medicos if you're interested:
Has anyone mentioned the Crime Doctor series with Warner Baxter. Definitely B movie material but fun to watch, especially if you like Baxter as I do.

There were several Nurse Sarah Keate movies made from Mignon Eberhart's books: The Murder of Dr. Harrigan (Kay Linaker's first movie), The Patient in Room 18 and Mystery House (both with Ann Sheridan) are all good!

At least you might be able to find the Keate movies on TCM.

Thanks for the suggestions Virginia, I've added them to my list The episodes with Vincent Price and the other with Alice Cooper does sound interesting!

Thanks again to everyone for their suggestions. I'd like to share two movies that I've watched recently. Both of which are in public domain and can be watched freely online or downloaded if you'd like from archive.org. While not detective movies in the form of Charlie Chan, they are pretty interesting mysteries. I thought they were pretty good.

The first is Rene Clair's "And Then There Were None" (1945) based on the Agatha Christie novel "Ten Little Indians". A group of people are invited to a house on an island where they're stranded and mysteriously disappear one-by-one.
You can watch it at:
http://www.archive.org/details/AndThenThereWereNone

The second movie is a british movie called The Ghost Train from 1941. A group of strangers on a train are stranded and must spend the night in a supposedly haunted train station.
You can watch it at:
http://www.archive.org/details/TheGhostTrain

The Bulldog Drummond's are one of the longer series... and almost all available from Alpha Video at very reasonable prices. The two early Ronald Colman versions are excellent.. as are all the John Howards..
Enjoy

How could I forget one of the most interesting and fun mystery series from the 1960s.

In four delightful British films, Margaret Rutherford as Miss Jane Marple. These films are shown on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and are available in a DVD box set.

There was also the Disney Hardy Boy serials of the 50s as well as Canadian series of The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew in the mid 90s. Jim Hutton stared as Ellery Queen and George Peppard as Banajek in two fine early 70s series. Tim Hutton played Nero Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin about 10 years ago and Gene Wilder did a couple of really good "Cash Carter" TV mysteries. I should also mention the great PBS Mysteries in the early 1970s, Lord Peter Wimsey, Father Brown, Joan Hickson's Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence, Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes and Derek Jacoby's "Cadfiel." Kelly Martin did a good "Mystery Woman" series a few years back with Clarence Williams III as her sidekick. I found the Encyclopedia Brown series quite likable. Father Dowling was a bit light, but I was rather fond of Tom Bosley and Tracey Nelson in the lead roles.

Although un-Chan like, I always have loved The Avengers, especially the episodes with Diana Rigg

Dear Lin,

I, too, enjoyed that series.

Sincerely,
Rush Glick