Drink and Be Buried: Police Procedurals

Mystery type:

In police procedural mysteries, a police detective, officer, or crime scene technician serves as the protagonist and must find the killer. These stories tend to switch between the investigator's and the criminal's viewpoint.

Drink pairing:

French press coffee

Why they go together: 

Police procedurals have a clear structure, but there's a lot of leeway in how to get from point A to point B. Do the protagonists need to recreate the crime scene in a small scale model, or do they simply need to go back and have another look? There are many methods for these investigators to go about finding their criminal. Likewise, French press coffee is an art all its own. Variations in the amount of coffee used, the size of grounds, the time allowed to steep, and even how hard you press down all create different flavor profiles.

Where to start:

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

A dedicated group of forensic investigators at the Las Vegas Crime Lab works to solve often-grisly crimes in Sin City. Heading up the graveyard shift (an appropriate term in this case) is supervisor D.B. Russell, a "Left Coast" Sherlock Holmes who devours crime novels.

The Black Echo

For maverick LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch, the body in the drainpipe at Mulholland Dam is more than another anonymous statistic. This one is personal… because the murdered man was a fellow Vietnam "tunnel rat" who had fought side by side with him in a hellish underground war. Now Bosch is about to relive the horror of Nam. From a dangerous maze of blind alleys to a daring criminal heist beneath the city, his survival instincts will once again be tested to their limit. Pitted against enemies inside his own department and forced to make the agonizing choice between justice and vengeance, Bosch goes on the hunt for a killer whose true face will shock him.

The Bone Collector

Lincoln Rhyme was once a brilliant criminologist, a genius in the field of forensics—until an accident left him physically and emotionally shattered. But now a diabolical killer is challenging Rhyme to a terrifying and ingenious duel of wits. With police detective Amelia Sachs by his side, Rhyme must follow a labyrinth of clues that reaches back to a dark chapter in New York City's past—and reach further into the darkness of the mind of a madman who won't stop until he has stripped life down to the bone.

Along Came A Spider

A missing little girl named Maggie Rose… A family of three brutally murdered in the projects of Washington, D.C.… The thrill-killing of a beautiful elementary school teacher… A psychopathic serial kidnapper and murderer who is so terrifying that the FBI, the Secret Service, and the police cannot outsmart him—even after he's been captured.

The Surgeon

A killer who targets lone women breaks into their apartments and performs terrifying ritualistic acts of torture on them before finishing them off. His surgical skills lead police to suspect he is a physician—a physician who, instead of saving lives, takes them.