What TV detective has solved the most murders?

[Batman]

Saw this question on a Facebook post and it really did get me wondering — of all the great TV detectives, which one has solved the most murders?
I was thinking Lennie Briscoe from Law & Order was a strong contender. Jerry Orbach did 274 episodes over 11 seasons, some of which had multiple homicides, so his total has got to be somewhere between 350 and 400. Plus, he didn't spend much if any time investigating cases that didn't involve a homicide somewhere along the way, and by the nature of the show he always found the perp even if they later beat the rap in court. There weren't many L&O cases that went totally unsolved.

Some of the other greats like Colombo didn't have enough episodes, and others like Gannon and Friday from Dragnet mixed in other beats. Maybe one of the CSI or NCIS folks have racked up a better total, I'm not sure.
For this discussion, we'll limit it only to TV or movie versions of detectives (so someone like Sherlock Holmes or Poirot only get to count their on-screen cases), and only count verifiable cases (Briscoe, for example, obviously had a lot more that we didn't ever see but those don't count here).
So who ya got?

 

[I Should Coco]

If he's allowed to take credit for his team members, Steve McGarrett probably has a pretty good tally. Just on the original series of Hawaii 5-0, which was on the air for a dozen years.

And if you combine the reboot, you can add to that tally (although I believe Alex O'Loughlin's character was supposed to be the son of Jack Lord's character).

 

[Spartan Squad]

Jessica Fletcher. 264 episodes over 12 seasons.

Brisco may have had multiple murders in some episodes, but he also had non murder episodes and cases where the suspect got off. So his number must be high, but I wonder if he’s so much higher than Fletcher.

 

[DanOregon]

If he's allowed to take credit for his team members, Steve McGarrett probably has a pretty good tally. Just on the original series of Hawaii 5-0, which was on the air for a dozen years.

And if you combine the reboot, you can add to that tally (although I believe Alex O'Loughlin's character was supposed to be the son of Jack Lord's character).

Weird thing about 5-0 though, not a lot of murder cases since they were state police. A lot of drugs and other organized crime stuff though.
There has to be some "mass" event or hospital/pharmaceutical deal that skews the number in favor of someone or another.
Amazing how many of the murders of the week are "crimes of passion" - one-offs meant to conceal some other shady business.

 

[JimmyHoward33]

Jethro Gibbs had 435 episodes on the original NCIS, plus the prequel, plus the one he solves on Jag for the spinoff launch. That’s a lot.

 

[TigerVols]

The Barnaby cousins have combined to solve about 3 Midsomer murders a week for 144 episodes since 1997.

 

[qtlaw]

If he's allowed to take credit for his team members, Steve McGarrett probably has a pretty good tally. Just on the original series of Hawaii 5-0, which was on the air for a dozen years.

And if you combine the reboot, you can add to that tally (although I believe Alex O'Loughlin's character was supposed to be the son of Jack Lord's character).

“Book ‘em Danno”. Still cool….

 

[Slacker]

"Book 'em, Danno. Murder 1."

 

[wicked]

Lenny Briscoe was my first guess. That show hasn’t been the same without him Orbach and Steven Hill. It would’ve been even better if Michael Moriarty hadn’t gone off the deep end.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Jessica Fletcher. 264 episodes over 12 seasons.

Brisco may have had multiple murders in some episodes, but he also had non murder episodes and cases where the suspect got off. So his number must be high, but I wonder if he’s so much higher than Fletcher.

Has anyone ever wondered if Jessica committed all those murders herself? How did so many people get killed in such a small town?

 

[Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.]

Father Brown. How so many murders happen in the Cotswolds in the 1950s is beyond me.

 

[Driftwood]

Has anyone ever wondered if Jessica committed all those murders herself? How did so many people get killed in such a small town?

Not just Cabot Cove, Maine, but everywhere she traveled people turned up dead.

 

[justgladtobehere]

Has anyone ever wondered if Jessica committed all those murders herself? How did so many people get killed in such a small town?

"The "Jessica Fletcher serial killer" theory is a long-running pop-culture joke suggesting that the mild-mannered mystery author from Murder, She Wrote is actually a deranged mass murderer. Fans and commentators frequently note that wherever Jessica Fletcher travels, bodies inexplicably pile up.Across the show's 12-season run, Fletcher was linked to well over 260 homicides. While the television series portrays her as a brilliant amateur sleuth who helps outwit local police, the dark humor theory on platforms like Reddit suggests her persistent presence at crime scenes is actually because she is the perpetrator. The running gag implies she is either a deeply cursed individual or a highly calculated serial killer testing out the plots for her best-selling novels in real life."
Google Search

 

[brn623cl]

Briscoe would be my choice too. Not a murder every week, but he had more than a few multiple murder story lines.

 

[sgreenwell]

Jethro Gibbs had 435 episodes on the original NCIS, plus the prequel, plus the one he solves on Jag for the spinoff launch. That’s a lot.

Jessica Fletcher probably deserves extra credit for mostly solving them solo, but yeah, Gibbs probably has the team title right now.

 

[Batman]

Lenny Briscoe was my first guess. That show hasn’t been the same without him Orbach and Steven Hill. It would’ve been even better if Michael Moriarty hadn’t gone off the deep end.

It had peaks and valleys like any long running show, but was mostly fine up until it was first canceled.
The reboot is a dumpster fire, though.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

At some point, wouldn't some perp have had the common sense to kill Jessica Fletcher, once she got too close to the truth?

 

[sgreenwell]

At some point, wouldn't some perp have had the common sense to kill Jessica Fletcher, once she got too close to the truth?

I think in one or two episodes, someone does threaten to kill her, and backs off at the last minute because the sheriff or another person is there to protect her. Columbo has a similar dynamic - Almost nobody tries to kill him or run.

MSW also has a bizarre first or second season episode where a guy in his 20s or 30s has the hots for Jessica Fletcher. Lansbury was 58 when the show started, so it was certainly A Choice by the show. He's presented as a red herring suspect in the episode, IIRC. If the show was made nowadays, he would probably keep recurring in episodes until he actually killed someone, but nope, it's just that one episode and then he's never seen or mentioned again.

 

[Batman]

I think in one or two episodes, someone does threaten to kill her, and backs off at the last minute because the sheriff or another person is there to protect her. Columbo has a similar dynamic - Almost nobody tries to kill him or run.

MSW also has a bizarre first or second season episode where a guy in his 20s or 30s has the hots for Jessica Fletcher. Lansbury was 58 when the show started, so it was certainly A Choice by the show. He's presented as a red herring suspect in the episode, IIRC. If the show was made nowadays, he would probably keep recurring in episodes until he actually killed someone, but nope, it's just that one episode and then he's never seen or mentioned again.

Now I'm picturing a massive CBS crossover where that guy's serial killer gimmick is kidnapping and torturing famous mystery writers.

The team from CSI investigates the crime scene in Vegas, the ones from FBI and Criminal Minds do the investigation, NCIS gets in on the act because the guy served in the Navy, and then they find out he took her to Los Angeles so SWAT saves Jessica, makes the collar, and wraps it up.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

If it was crimes and not murders, the leader in the clubhouse is Scooby and the Mystery Machine gang.