Top 250 Movies Like The Lava Field

Lockdown Follows a police officer who returns to duty after recovering from a gun shot wound to discover incriminating evidence of illegal activities against those closest to him. He quickly finds himself trapped inside his own precinct, hunted and in search of the truth, as the crooked cops stop at nothing to recover the evidence.

Two homicide detectives are on a desperate hunt for a serial killer whose crimes are based on the "seven deadly sins" in this dark and haunting film that takes viewers from the tortured remains of one victim to the next. The seasoned Det. Sommerset researches each sin in an effort to get inside the killer's mind, while his novice partner, Mills, scoffs at his efforts to unravel the case.

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.

A congressional candidate questions his sanity after seeing the love of his life, presumed dead, suddenly emerge.

Texas Ranger Samantha Payne reopens a 15-year-old missing person case, and uncovers evidence that suggests that the boy was likely murdered on a ranch belonging to wealthy family man, Scott Briggs. When Scott’s estranged son unexpectedly returns home during the investigation, Samantha becomes even more convinced that the Briggs family was involved, and will stop at nothing to discover the truth about the boy’s death - even putting her own life in jeopardy.

Intrepid teenage private eye Nancy Drew heads to Tinseltown with her father to investigate the unsolved murder of a movie star in this old-fashioned whodunit based on Carolyn Keene's popular series of books for young adults. But can the small-town girl cut through the Hollywood hype to solve the case?

Nancy Drew, a smart high schooler with a penchant for keen observation and deduction, stumbles upon the haunting of a local home. A bit of an outsider struggling to fit into her new surroundings, Nancy and her pals set out to solve the mystery, make new friends, and establish their place in the community

Matt Lee Whitlock, respected chief of police in small Banyan Key, Florida, must solve a vicious double homicide before he himself falls under suspicion. Matt Lee has to stay a few steps ahead of his own police force and everyone he's trusted in order to find out the truth.

Police officer Patty Butler, alias "Chicklet," is the live-in girlfriend of Thomas 'Stick' Henderson to gather evidence. Detective Bo Lockley is instructed to try to find her, not knowing she's also a cop.

An epic tale about a group of whale watchers, whose ship breaks down and they get picked up by a whale fisher vessel. The Fishbillies on the vessel has just gone bust, and everything goes out of control.

When a gunman takes five lives with six shots, all evidence points to the suspect in custody. On interrogation, the suspect offers up a single note: "Get Jack Reacher!" So begins an extraordinary chase for the truth, pitting Jack Reacher against an unexpected enemy, with a skill for violence and a secret to keep.

A murder opens up a bleak trail of long buried secrets and small town corruption for a worn out police detective and his squad.

Police Chief Jesse Stone now presides over the quiet, seaside village of Paradise, Massachusetts. When the facts don't add up in a brutal Boston-area murder case, Jesse opens an investigation filled with surprises, unlikely suspects and grave danger. Though it's widely believed the murder was committed by an incarcerated serial killer, Jesse suspects another killer is at large and is hell-bent on bringing him to justice.

Tough cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate.

US Army Officer Dan Adams, blinded during the war, is framed for a diamond smuggling rap. Upon regaining his sight, Adams goes after the real thieves in an effort to clear his name. In order to trap the wily criminals, Adams pretends that he's still bereft of his vision.

Emma is an attractive girl in her 20s who has been blind for 20 years. A new type of eye operation partially restores her sight, but she is having problems: sometimes she doesn't "remember" what she's seen until later. One night she is awakened by a commotion upstairs. Peering out of her door, she sees a shadowy figure descending the stairs. Convinced that her neighbour has been murdered she approaches the police, only to find that she is unsure if it was just her new eyes playing tricks on her.

A female police detective returns to work after suffering PTSD from a previous case, only to have her teenage daughter kidnapped by an emotionally disturbed parolee.

A decorated NYPD detective returns to her hometown after her sister is charged with the murder of her boss and attempts to make amends with her estranged family while exposing the dark underbelly of a long-suppressed secret that threatens to tear the town apart.

After her dad is critically injured in a so-called hunting accident, Maggie returns to her hometown in the mountains of Colorado to be by his side. But during her stay, this devoted daughter learns that the shooting was no mistake. As Maggie attempts to unravel the mystery of what really happened, secrets start to surface that put her life in grave danger! Grab some popcorn and kick back for this thrill ride.

A retired lawyer and his daughter investigates a murder that had taken place in their new home. However, the two are unaware of the the dangers they are uncovering with each step closer to the truth.

A detective uncovers a sinister conspiracy when he is sent to research a disintegrating neighborhood for a public relations campaign.

Meet Morgan. At first glance, she's just your average cleaning lady. She has no problem getting her hands dirty, which is a good thing considering it's not fancy houses she cleans for a living - it's gruesome crime scenes. It's at one of these scenes that Morgan discovers a key piece of evidence overlooked by the forensics team. This, and her knack for reading blood splatter, catch Nick's attention, a newbie detective working the case. The pair soon become unofficial partners on what's become a stream of related murders and the closer they get to solving the mystery the closer they get to each other. But while they succeed in getting a confession from their primary suspect, their feelings for each other risk blinding them to the truth and they find themselves dangerously close to the real killer.

Stephanie, a dedicated mother and popular vlogger, befriends Emily, a mysterious upper-class woman whose son Nicky attends the same school as Miles, Stephanie's son. When Emily asks her to pick Nicky up from school and then disappears, Stephanie undertakes an investigation that will dive deep into Emily's cloudy past.

As a seasoned homicide detective, Thomas Craven has seen the bleakest side of humanity. But nothing prepares him for the toughest investigation of his life: the search for his only daughter Emma's killer. Now, he is on a personal mission to uncover the disturbing secrets surrounding her murder, including corporate corruption, government collusion and Emma's own mysterious life.

Steve Grey, reporter for the Daily Star, has a habit of scooping all the other papers in town. When Henry Mander is investigated for the murder of his shady business partner, Grey is one step ahead of the police to the extent that he often dictates his story in advance of its actual occurrence. He leads the police through an 'open and shut' case resulting in Mander being tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Columnist Mary Shannon is in love with Steve but she sees him struggle greatly with his last story before Mander's execution. When she starts typing out the story from his recorded dictation, she realizes why.

No one is safe when seemingly random killings emerge as a deadly pattern intended to usher in the end of the world. A murder victim with the same DNA as Christ. A serial killer mimicking the deaths of the 12 Apostles. Inspector Niemans and a young, rebellious detective team up with a beautiful expert in religion to crack the case before their elusive suspect completes the cycle of terror, paving the way to an even bigger bloody catastrophe.

At night the Mangler stalks the streets of Los Angeles, killing and mutilating random victims. On the trail are a TV reporter, the father of one of the victims, and a police detective, but despite their efforts only the mysterious psychic DeRenzy knows what the killer is and how to stop it.

After the harrowing death of his partner, detective and best-selling author Alex Cross has retreated to the peace of retirement. But when a brilliant criminal kidnaps a senator's young daughter, Alex is lured back into action. Teamed with the Secret Service agent assigned to protect the missing girl, Alex follows a serpentine trail of clues that leads him to a stunning discovery - the kidnapper wants more than just ransom.

Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.

Police Inspector Renko tries to solve the case of three bodies found in Moscow's Gorky Park but finds his attempts to solve the crime impeded by his superiors. Working on his own, Renko seeks out more information and stumbles across a conspiracy involving the highest levels of the government.

A short Arizona motorcycle cop gets his wish and is promoted to Homicide following the mysterious murder of a hermit. He is forced to confront his illusions about himself and those around him in order to solve the case, eventually returning to solitude in the desert.

Detectives use clues from various recording devices to piece together events surrounding a massacre involving bus passengers at an abandoned gas station.

After suffering a personal tragedy, and desperate for justice, Jacob Kanon, a veteran New York City police detective, embarks on the search for a twisted killer who is leaving a bloody trail of elaborate murders across Europe.

Jay Austin is now a civilian police detective. Colonel Caldwell was his commanding officer years before when he left the military police over a disagreement over the handling of a drunk driver. Now a series of murders that cross jurisdictions force them to work together again. That Austin is now dating Caldwell's daughter is not helping their relationship.

An enigmatic young woman has been murdered in a small California coast town. The investigation by the local sheriff uncovers a complex web of relationships centering on the victim; the scattered trail of evidence ranges from a mysterious photograph to the victim's own dog. During the investigation, the sheriff meets and becomes romantically involved with a woman whose connection to the murder is ambiguous.

A big city cop from LA moves to a small town police force and immediately finds himself investigating a murder. Using theories rejected by his colleagues, the cop, John Berlin, meets a young blind woman named Helena, who he is attracted to. Meanwhile, a serial killer is on the loose and only John knows it.

Detective Joe Garvey is called in to a mysterious case: a ballerina has been slayed on stage during a performance, it seems she didn't even fight. At her house Garvey finds her 14 years old precocious sister Tinsel. She's not very cooperative, so he arranges to have her sent to the orphanage -- until she's attacked too. He takes her under his wings, and soon both get the attention of a secret organization.

Action thriller about a brotherhood of friends torn apart by a dangerous secret and an even deadlier conspiracy. When ex-cop Nick Browning is called by his estranged wife (Tara Goudreau), needing his help to find their missing daughter, he comes home to aid in the investigation, only to discover that there's more to the disappearance than his 'friends' are letting on.

Two friends land in hot water when they begin dating twins and one of the women ends up dead.

After an older lady hangs herself in a church, a new psychiatrist discovers she was obsessed with the disappearance of his eight-year-old son, who vanished three years earlier. Meanwhile, three city dwellers are restoring a house when they realize it is haunted.

A small-town police chief investigating a murder is offered help by a self-described psychic. However, when the chief discovers that the "psychic" is in possession of information known only to the police, he suspects that the man may be more involved in the case than he lets on.

A veteran homicide detective who has witnessed his socialite girlfriend kill her husband sees his inexperienced brother assigned to the case.

Merle Kramer works as a stenographer for a psychiatrist. She is casually dating Karl Benson, a private eye and former cop. Merle mentions in passing that one of her boss's patients is an author with recurring dreams of murdering his wife, and she includes the fact that the wife owns valuable jewels. When the wife is found murdered in a manner identical to that of her husband's dream, the husband is naturally the prime suspect. But as the investigation of the police and insurance investigator Joe Cooper proceeds, it turns out that several people in the case, including Merle, are not what they seem.

Tenacious homicide detective Cassie Mayweather and her still-green partner are working a murder case, attempting to profile two malevolently brilliant young men: cold, calculating killers whose dark secrets might explain their crimes.

A New York City model with a troubled past relocates to an apartment in a brownstone building where the only other tenant is a withdrawn blind priest. After experiencing strange occurrences, she begins to realize her building houses a sinister evil.

When his daughter's criminal boyfriend becomes an increasing threat to the family, a father must take action to protect them.

A police lieutenant fights to prove a boy's innocence after he's accused of murder. The fourth of five Ben Schwab productions that starred Bill Elliott as a detective lieutenant in the L.A. Sheriff's department.

Darren McGavin is David Ross, a private investigator playing a game of follow the money. A simple case of embezzling turns bad quickly when bodies start dropping and the savvy P.I. is the primary suspect in an attractive woman's death. This NBC TV movie served as a pilot for the later series.

At the request of his old war time colleague Ailsa Brimley, George Smiley agrees to look into the murder of Stella Rode. Brimley had only just received a letter from her saying she feared for her life at her husband's hand. The husband, Stanley Rode teaches at Carne School, but Smiley is doubtful that he had anything to do with his wife's death. As Smiley investigates, he learns that Stella was a nosy busybody who loved to learn other's little secrets and then gossip about them - or possibly blackmail them. When a student is killed and Smiley unearths a secret, he has the evidence to name the killer.Based on John Le Carré's 1962 thriller (his first) in which George Smiley is brought out of spy retirement to solve a murder in a British public school. The setting is based on Le Carre"s own schooldays in Sherborne and his brief experience teaching at Eton.

An actress and an artist are linked by his brother to deadly smugglers sought by Scotland Yard.

Frontier peacekeeper Sheriff Galt faces a crisis of conscience in The Iron Sheriff. In the aftermath of a robbery-murder, Galt follows the trail of evidence directly to his own son, Benjie. Sworn to uphold the law at all costs, Galt is grimly determined to see that Benjie will receive a fair trial without any coercion on his part. But the townsfolk have already decided that the sheriff will try to spring the boy, and a lynch-mob mentality slows festers its way through the community. As the trial proceeds, it becomes obvious that Benjie is going to hang for his alleged crime, but there's still one or two surprises in store.

After the death of a gangster, those familiar with his million dollar stash start mysteriously dying. Police detectives with the help of a clairvoyant try to determine who, living or dead, is responsible.

A San Francisco airplane bound for South America crashes, and among the scorched debris is found a shrunken native human head, neatly packaged. The perplexed police contact a local anthropology museum about this unclaimed piece of grisly baggage, where they intersect with Jack and Doc, two private eyes, called there to meet a mysterious woman who had a case for them and wanted to meet in private.

A murder mystery movie set in Duluth, Minnesota that follows the journey of a woman navigating her past and a Native American police detective searching for a killer.

Science fiction serial.

A cinematographer and his assistant are attracting aspiring young actors and actresses by getting them to try out for their movie. Once filming, the evil cameraman actually kills them. The detective on the case has his hands full trying to help out runaways with stars in their eyes. When some of the people he knows turn up dead, he takes it personally, and as he gets closer to the truth his girlfriend is endangered.

An ambitious young reporter is granted an interview with one of the FBI's most wanted. While entering his compound she finds one of his prized possessions, a serial killer who murders at call, called HAVOC. Her only hope is a rogue police man searching for his daughter.

After a teenage girl goes missing, her family must figure out her secrets in order to find out the kidnapper’s identity and motive. As more evidence is revealed and a police investigation commences, the truth repeatedly distorts, leading to a shocking reveal.

A detective investigates her father's dying words; the name of a girl who has been missing for 9 years.

Sir Douglas Rolls is a highly respected defence lawyer of many years experience. Now in rapidly failing health, he is advised to retreat from the courtroom and pursue more pleasurable activities. But it is just at this point in his life that his great lost love a woman his own strong sense of duty led him to give up twenty years ago, and whom he still loves deeply walks into his chambers to ask that he defend her adulterous husband, now to stand trial for murder. Reluctantly agreeing to take on the case, Sir Douglas soon finds there is more to the story than meets the eye.

A serial killer is stalking New York. Inspector Edward X. Delaney is an NYPD detective, nearing retirement, who is trying to put together the pieces of the case. Are the victims somehow linked? What does the brutal method of death signify?

An American photographer adrift in a remote Icelandic community becomes entangled in the lives of a mysterious European couple.

Millionaire Richard Trainor is rolling out a new spread featuring a beautiful nude model for each month of the year. However, the party is ruined when Miss January is pushed off a building and later Miss February is knifed to death. Homicide detective Dan Stoner is assigned to the case which leads to the seductive former model Cassie Bascombe. What connection is she to the case and will the killer be caught before they reach Miss December?

While working at a Seattle clinic for women in the 1970s, Ann Rule becomes friends with Ted Bundy. Based on a book by Ann Rule.

A newly blind actor discovers his wife is cheating on him with his best friend and hatches a plot to murder her and frame his friend for it.

A case involving adultery, money and murder threatens a private eye's sobriety.

Homicide cop Rita Cates takes a murder case where the victim is a Las Vegas stripper. The investigation immediately takes a perverse turn when she discovers the prime suspect: a psychotic ex-cop with whom she once had a torrid affair. That initial affair drove Cates' husband to suicide, but it doesn't stop her from picking up where she left off. In the heat of passion, she jeopardizes the case, her career and her life.

A woman uncovers sinister secrets while investigating the apparent suicide of her sister.

A beautiful showgirl, name "the Canary" is a scheming nightclub singer. Blackmailing is her game and with that she ends up dead. But who killed "the Canary". All the suspects knew and were used by her and everyone had a motive to see her dead. The only witness to the crime has also been 'rubbed out'. Only one man, the keen, fascinating, debonair detective Philo Vance, would be able to figure out who is the killer. Written by Tony Fontana

In a series of flashbacks, shows that attorney John Morland has given a lift to a hitchhiker who turns out to be a murderer. As a result, Morland himself is implicated in a killing. A pair of detectives discover that Morland has been having business problems and no end of difficulties with his wife Catherine. The trail of clues leads to a surprising revelation.

Detective Andy Doyle suspects that a suicide is actually a murder. He suspects the victim's son, Wallace who is blind and he pursues him until he gets to the truth.

In the former Czechoslovakia, 1950s, police captain Hakl investigates a jewelery robbery. An opened safe deposit leads to a known burglar. What seems an easy case soon starts to tangle. When he is called off the case, he continues on his own. The investigation leads him onto thin ice. Can he beat a stronger enemy and save his family and his own life?

Dancer June Page is charged with the murder of gangster "Honest Ed" Baker. Allan Perry, an ambitious journalist at the dawn of his career, seeks at all costs to cover the case to obtain exclusivity and impress his hierarchy. He falls in love with the young woman, but Ed Baker's former friends, determined to take revenge, have not said their last word ...

Roy Marsden returns as author P.D. James's indefatigable gumshoe, Inspector Adam Dalgliesh. This time, he's investigating the murder of a famous mystery writer whose body is found in the bottom of a dinghy on the Suffolk coast. To add a further degree of difficulty, Dalgliesh must contend with a colleague on the case, the aptly named Inspector Reckless.

The story of Martha Moxley, a 15-year-old girl murdered in Greenwich in the 1970s. Her murder went unsolved for 25 years.

A famous crime novelist's protigie disappears before the release of author's first new book in years. Is the seeming crime an elaborate publicity stunt, or was this author so desperate for material that he created his own sinister inspiration? Despite his cunning defense on trial (the trial that made his book a best seller), Detective Cooper suspects the latter. She's determined to separate fiction from reality, but the deeper she gets in the story, the more twisted the plot becomes.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his team arrive in Three Pines to solve the unusual murder of a much-loved woman and find dark secrets shadowing this usually peaceful village.

Psychiatrist Dr. Lila Colleti is divorcing her husband and is devastated when he wins custody of their two little girls, whom he gets largely because Lila's job, being a psychiatrist for the criminally insane at the local prison, is a potentially dangerous one that forces her to keep long, erratic hours. When one of Lila's patients, Ed Baikman, is released into a half-way house, he decides under the delusional influence of his psychosis to help her out by murdering her ex-husband and his girlfriend, and then threatening to tell the cops they'd planned it together when she refuses to become romantically involved with him. Though Lila's lover, police detective Macy Kobacek, stands by her loyally, Baikman does such an ingenious job of implicating Lila in the crime that even Macy begins to have his doubts about Lila's innocence

Two San Francisco detectives investigating a murder committed on one of the city's famous cable cars discover that the victim was the son of a shipping tycoon. The trail leads to a drug dealer, a shady physician and a nervous police captain

Mary meets Paul, marries Paul and when Paul is murdered becomes the number one suspect. While the police are preparing their case against her she begins her own investigation which takes her to the seedy parts of town and begins to expose her husbands very secret double life.

Navy detective Dave Passenger is assigned to investigate the murder of a sailor's girlfriend. Dave follows the trail of evidence to a small Arizona community where polygamy is still being practiced. Along for the ride is Passenger's estranged 15-year-old daughter Erica who has been invited to participate in the investigation by Dave in the hope that he can mend a few family fences while tracking down the culprit.

An Oregon woman vanishes. In her wake remains a single black rose & a note reading gone but not forgotten. Now a man stands accused: a private eye has gone missing: a detective knows more than she lets on: & a tough female attorney has entered a web of duplicity revenge & multiple murder.

Two girls disappear from a playground and the two best detectives in the police force try to solve the case.

Laid-back private eye Jim Rockford and his brown Pontiac Firebird become embroiled in another case when he runs across an old flame, blind book editor Megan. Her no-good playboy cousin Patrick is involved with the Russian Mob, which puts everyone's life in danger. The weary Rockford must also deal with his old friend Angel, who is painting Jim's trailer to work off a debt.

During a séance at an elderly millionaire's house, the millionaire is murdered. The detectives investigating the crime discover that everyone who was at the séance had a motive for killing the man.

A detective assigned to protect a pop singer gets romantically involved with her twin sister after the singer is murdered.

Just as her life is coming together, Allison experiences a terrible tragedy when her boyfriend is murdered by an intruder from whom the woman herself barely escapes. The police capture a man they believe to be the killer, but Allison, still unsettled, has her doubts. Things take a frightening turn when she meets her friend's new boyfriend and suspects him to be the killer.

Lamont Cranston, a psychiatrist on retainer to the police department, is asked to assist in the Case of the Cotton Kimono murder investigation. Lamont and his girlfriend Margot Lane are not satisfied with Detective Harris' analysis and call on the two prime suspects: the victim's voice instructor and her boyfriend. When Harris, convinced that the boyfriend is guilty, frames the young man for the crime, Lamont is forced to assume his secret identity as "The Shadow", and cloaked by his power of invisibility, seeks to force the true killer to reveal himself.

Detective Burt Williams has been on the trail of the infamous "Poe killer" for nearly three years. The most recent abduction of fashion model Heather Makepiece prompts state authorities to bring in the FBI. Burt's daughter Kris Williams, a homicide agent for the FBI, along with her partner Sean Michaels take over. Burt reluctantly steps down from the case and retires. For the next seven months the "Poe Killer" continues his murderous rampage, until Kris discovers that the killer uses internet chat rooms to seduce his prey. She logs in as Annabel Lee and sure enough, he contacts her. With the help of Larry the tech guy, she sets up a meeting at a nearby bowling alley. But, when things go wrong and Kris is abducted and her partner Sean is slaughtered, it becomes a race against time for Burt and ex-partner Grace Andrews to find Kris before she becomes the next victim of the "Poe Killer".

Time of Fear is a taut psychological thriller thrusting an FBI agent and a grieving father into the dark world of a demented killer. FBI Agent Cheryl Hammer, arrives in a small California town to catch an elusive killer. Seeing no help forthcoming from the Sheriff, she turns to the only other person who can help her, Jack Barone, a grieving father whose daughter, Lisa, was the victim of a similar slaying ten years prior. The killer's clues are a perversion of Biblical punishments for sins: stoning, burning, decapitation. Jack and Agent Hammer turn to Father Patrick, a Catholic priest, for help. As the clock ticks down, a young female friend of Jack's is kidnapped and may become the next casualty. The harrowing rescue of the young woman opens the door to a dark history hidden below the surface, revealing the true identity of the killer and answering the mystery of who killed Jack's daughter.

When Bússi, Iceland's toughest cop, is forced to work with a new partner to solve a series of bank robberies, the pressure to close the case as soon as possible proves too much for him.

When an escaped circus gorilla appears to have gone on a murderous rampage, a threatened attorney calls on the detective trio of Garrity, Harrigan and Mullivan to act as bodyguards. In short order, we discover that there is more to the attorney than meets the eye, and the ape may be innocent after all. When a pretty young heiress faces peril, it's up to our heroic trio to save the day.

An investigation by Óðinn on decades old deaths at a juvenile treatment center, as he proceeds he suspects that the sinister secrets are connected to his ex-wife's mysterious suicide.

A small town detective while investigating the disappearance of a local woman comes across an unassuming Sociology professor who is hiding a secret life.

A private eye and her sidekick solve the case of a dead client.

A corporate lawyer's interest in a decade-old murder case is piqued by a new confession that could clear the convicted killer, who sits on death row.

Set in Brittany, a detective called Nicolas Luhel is asked to unravel the circumstances of a teenage boy's death. The main suspect is the boy's father. Shattered by the suicide of the main witness, Nicolas lets himself get snared by the strange and fascinating influence that the father exerts on everyone around him. Eventually, Luhel discovers the truth about the murder and feels that the law is inadequate to deal with it. As a consequence, he decides to destroy the evidence and keep it a secret.

After the death of his father, a private investigator in Iceland leads his own search to discover what really happened.

Ralph Bellamy makes the third of four appearances as "master detective" Ellery Queen in Columbia's Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime. The principal villain is crooked stockbroker John Mathews, whose Wall Street manipulations render Ray Jarden penniless. Mathews' chicanery seems particularly coldblooded, inasmuch as his daughter Marian is engaged to Jarden's son Walter. When the latter disappears, Mathews asks Ellery Queen to locate the young man.

When Jennifer Pan calls 911 to report that her parents have been shot, she becomes the primary focus of a captivating criminal case.