Best movies & TV Shows like Spenser: For Hire

A lot of people think I like to get even. They're dead right.

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Spenser: For Hire Starring Robert Urich, Avery Brooks, Barbara Stock, Ron McLarty, and more. If you liked Spenser: For Hire then you may also like: An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, Roaring City, Find the Blackmailer, Harper, The American Side and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

Mystery and suspense series based on Robert Parker's "Spenser" novels. Spenser, a private investigator living in Boston, gets involved in a new murder mystery each episode.

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An Unsuitable Job for a Woman

After finding her boss, a private detective, has committed suicide and has left her his agency, Cordelia Gray is asked to investigate the suicide of the man's son. During the course of her investigation, Cordelia becomes obsessed with the young man's memory and his increasingly suspicious death.

Roaring City

A San Francisco private eye finds himself under suspicion while investigating a prizefighter's murder.

Find the Blackmailer

A private eye is hired by a mayoral candidate to prevent any sort of adverse publicity. It seems that, somewhere in town, there's a talking blackbird who insists upon saying that the candidate will commit a murder. When the killing occurs, the candidate is implicated, and the detective is off on a hectic pursuit of the incriminating crow and the actual murderer.

Harper

Harper is a cynical private eye in the best tradition of Bogart. He even has Bogie's Baby hiring him to find her missing husband, getting involved along the way with an assortment of unsavory characters and an illegal-alien smuggling ring.

The American Side

Following a mysterious suicide at Niagara Falls, a low-rent detective unravels a conspiracy to build a revolutionary invention by enigmatic scientist, Nikola Tesla.

I, the Jury

After his best friend and war buddy is mysteriously gunned down, Mike Hammer will stop at nothing to settle the score for the man who sacrificed a limb to save his own life during combat. Along the way, Hammer rides a fine line between gumshoe and a one-man jury, staying two-steps ahead of the law—and trying not to get bumped off in the process.

Too Late

Private investigator Mel Sampson is tasked with tracking down the whereabouts of a missing woman from his own past.

The Late Show

Over-the-hill gumshoe in Los Angeles seeks to avenge the killing of an old pal, another detective who had gotten himself involved in a case concerning a murdered broad, stolen stamps, a nickel-plated handgun, a cheating dolly, and a kidnapped pussycat.

Missing Pieces

A private detective has to deal with an unpleasant memory, a near-insoluble mystery, and a pursuing murderer inflicted with drugs and political corruption.

Lady Against the Odds

A private detective becomes involved in a new cast when her partner's guardian is murdered.

Thin Air

Frank Belson didn't ask too many questions about the past of his new wife Lisa St. Claire, even after she suddenly and mysteriously disappeared one night. He brings in Spenser to help locate her, who begins to piece together her complete life story while submerged in the Latino shadow world of the town of Proctor.

Guns & Lipstick

A female private investigator's latest client turns up murdered, and she is thrust into a deadly underworld of bi-sexual strippers, a Chinese Godfather with a taste for young girls and the hunt for one very elusive gem.

Lonely Street

Bubba Mabry, a gullible private detective, becomes the prime suspect in a tabloid reporter's murder after being hired to snoop on him by a mysterious celebrity.

Small Vices

Bested on the best-selling novel by author Robert B. Parker, Joe Mantegna is Spenser - Boston's best-known private eye. Called upon to investigate a case of murder, corruption, and betrayal, the super sleuth finds himself marked for death and on the run from a ruthless international assassin.

Spenser: Pale Kings and Princes

When Spenser (Robert Urich), his psychologist girlfriend, Susan Silverman (Barbara Williams), and his right-hand man, Hawk (Avery Brooks), investigate a brutal murder in a quaint New England town, they discover plenty of illegal activity and cocaine. This 1994 made-for-television movie brings many of the beloved characters from the 1980s drama series (based on the books by Robert B. Parker) back to the small screen.

Travis McGee

Travis McGee is a world-weary private eye trying to help boat skipper friend Van Harder salvage his reputation that sank when his boat ran aground, resulting in a death that might have been faked.

Girl on the Run

A Hollywood private eye (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) seeks a singer being stalked by a hired killer.

Banacek

Banacek is an American detective TV series starring George Peppard that aired on the NBC network from 1972 to 1974. The series was part of the rotating NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie anthology. It alternated in its time slot with several other shows but was the only one to last beyond its first season.

Bored to Death

Jonathan Ames, a young Brooklyn writer, is feeling lost. He's just gone through a painful break-up, thanks in part to his drinking, can't write his second novel, and carouses too much with his magazine editor. Rather than face reality, Jonathan turns instead to his fantasies — moonlighting as a private detective — because he wants to be a hero and a man of action.

Cannon

Cannon is a CBS detective television series produced by Quinn Martin which aired from March 26, 1971 to March 3, 1976. The primary protagonist is the title character, private detective Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad. He also appeared on two episodes of Barnaby Jones. Cannon is the first Quinn Martin-produced series to be aired on a network other than ABC. A "revival" television film, The Return of Frank Cannon, was aired on November 1, 1980. In total, there were 124 episodes.

Inch High, Private Eye

Inch High, Private Eye is a 1973 Saturday morning cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The show originally ran from September 8, 1973, to August 31, 1974, on NBC Saturday morning for 13 episodes. Since the 1980s it has enjoyed resurgence on cable television, in repeats on USA Cartoon Express, Cartoon Network and Boomerang.

Veronica Mars

In the fictional town of Neptune, California, student Veronica Mars progresses from high school to college while moonlighting as a private investigator under the tutelage of her detective father.

Remington Steele

Laura Holt, a licensed private detective, opens a detective agency but finds that potential clients refuse to hire a woman, however qualified. To solve the problem, Laura invents a fictitious male superior whom she names Remington Steele. Through a series of events that unfold in the first episode, "License to Steele," a former thief and con man, whose real name is never revealed, assumes the identity of Remington Steele. Behind the scenes, Laura remains firmly in charge.

Simon & Simon

Simon & Simon is an American detective television series that originally ran from November 24, 1981 to January 21, 1989. The series was broadcast on CBS and starred Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker as two brothers who run a private detective agency together.

Mike Hammer, Private Eye

Mike Hammer, Private Eye is an American syndicated television program based on the adventures of the fictitious private detective Mike Hammer, created by novelist Mickey Spillane. The show starred Stacy Keach and was seen as an attempt to revive the character he had played in Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer and The New Mike Hammer - two moderately successful syndicated CBS series from the 1980s. Mike Hammer, Private Eye premiered on September 27, 1997. The show failed to gain a wide audience and, as a result, it was canceled after only one season. The final show of the series aired on June 14, 1998.

Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer

Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer is the title used for two syndicated television series that followed the adventures of fictional private detective Mike Hammer. The gritty, crime fighting detective—created by American crime author Mickey Spillane—has also inspired several feature films and made-for-TV movies.

Hawaiian Eye

Private Eyes Tom Lopaka and Tracy Steele are based out of Hawaiian Village Resort where they work both hotel security and are hired by others to look into various matters. They're helped by their trusty right-hand man Kazuo Kim who runs a taxi company and is always eager to help them.

Charlie Grace

Charlie Grace is a Los Angeles private eye with a daughter named Jenny, works along with other cops, including his partner - Crawford - to solve different multiple mystery cases in each episode.

Buddy Faro

Buddy Faro was the best private detective in the business, until he disappeared in 1978 after a case went bad. Twenty years later, he's brought back to Los Angeles by private detective Bob Jones and they reopen Buddy Faro Investigations.

Mike Hammer

Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, with Stacy Keach in the title role, is a television series that originally aired on CBS from January 28, 1984 to January 12, 1985. The series was 24 sixty minute episodes. The show follows the adventures of Mike Hammer, the fictitious private detective created by crime novelist Mickey Spillane, as he hunts down criminals on the mean streets of New York City.

Case Histories

Case Histories is a British drama television series based on the Jackson Brodie detective novels by Kate Atkinson. It stars Jason Isaacs as Jackson Brodie.

The Dain Curse

Hard-boiled private dick Hamilton Nash is hired to investigate a case of stolen diamonds, which leads him to a lovely and odd young woman named Gabrielle, who believes she has been stricken with the ancient curse of the Dain family. The curse has historically caused its victims to die prematurely.

Strike

A war veteran turned private detective operates out of a tiny office in London’s Denmark Street. Although wounded both physically and psychologically, his unique insight and background as a military police investigator prove crucial in solving complex crimes that have baffled the police. Based on the bestselling novels written by J.K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Whitstable Pearl

With her son grown up, single mom Pearl Nolan decides to pursue her lifelong dream and launches a private detective agency, which she runs from her family's restaurant in the coastal town of Whitstable. Drawn by her caring nature, locals soon flock to her with all manner of cases. But when an old friend dies suspiciously, Pearl finds herself in conflict with gruff new cop in town, DCI Mike McGuire.

Wong & Winchester

An ex-cop turned private eye, Marissa Wong, ends up being forced to work with Sarah Winchester, an inexperienced young woman fresh out of university. Each episode, the unlikely duo to solve their client’s cases, which often end up being far more dangerous than they first appear.

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