8 TV Detectives Better Than Harry Bosch

While Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) is a great detective, these characters are better. As the protagonist of Bosch solves cases throughout all seven seasons of the Prime Video crime drama for the Los Angeles police, we get to know his self-assured personality and belief he can handle anything.

His personal life also becomes an integral part of his story, including his relationship with his daughter Maddie (Madison Lintz). And the character’s ability to fascinate us even as the protagonist of the spinoff Bosch: Legacyproves he’s an intelligent and impressive detective.

But whether the memorable investigator on a short-lived Netflix series or a quirky character on a long-running procedural, these other characters are much more intriguing.

Cordelia Cupp

The Residence

The Residence unfortunately didn’t get more than one season on Netflix, and that’s even more upsetting when we consider the fantastic Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba). Through her work advising the Metropolitan Police Department, Cordelia is swept up in a murder mystery at the White House.

Cordelia is given more distinct character details than Bosch, who comes off as your typical procedural detective with a hardened personality and feelings he doesn’t want to delve into. She loves birdwatching, which proves she has a full life that isn’t just about solving cases and being obsessed with her job.

And since the White House setting is more compelling than any of the locations on Bosch, which takes place in Los Angeles, Cordelia is more interesting to watch in general. It’s also impressive how she puts together the pieces of the case, such as figuring out the relationship between some of the characters involved in the mystery.

Harry Ambrose

The Sinner

Titus Welliver is excellent as Bosch, but Bill Pullman gives an equally solid performance throughout all four seasons of The Sinner. When comparing Harry Bosch and Harry Ambrose, it’s easy to consider Ambrose more fascinating and accomplished since he deals with particularly bleak, disturbing, and difficult cases.

Since the premise of The Sinner is that you already know who committed what crime, Ambrose’s work lies in figuring out the reasons why someone killed each victim and what caused them to go on this dark journey. That’s more interesting than Bosch, which has a more traditional procedural feel.

Most of all, Ambrose is a better detective than Bosch because he’s more open to admitting when he’s struggling, and he knows his vulnerable moments are an important part of the job. After being buried alive in The Sinner season 3, which he did on purpose, he shows his emotions and fear.

Joan Watson

Elementary

Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) is more compelling than Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) since she’s a doctor who becomes a detective, and that diverse background also helps her bring something different to the job than Bosch. She uses her attention to detail and love of research and throws herself into her new career.

While Bosch is a pro and often comes off as someone who never makes mistakes, Watson is more relatable. Near the end of Elementary season 1, she’s arrested when breaking and entering a suspect’s car. This gives her a crisis of confidence, but she still saves the day.

Watson is perfectly suited to this career, and it’s inspiring seeing her excel in the role. Bosch is always impressive, but since you see him when he’s already good at his job, it’s not the most nuanced portrayal.

Mickey Fitzpatrick

Long Bright River

Mickey Fitzpatrick’s (Amanda Seyfried) personal connection to the case she’s working on allows her to bring a unique perspective. It also proves that the Long Bright River detective is more compassionate than Harry Bosch, who you can tell wants to help people but has a more old-school, harsh, no-nonsense approach to detective work.

Mickey shows how determined and smart she is when she wants to figure out what happened to her sister while trying to find women who have disappeared. While diving into the tragic world of sex workers who struggle with substance abuse and live on the streets of Philadelphia, she thinks more about her own family trauma.

Spencer Reid

Criminal Minds

Thanks to Matthew Gray Gubler’s popular portrayal, Dr. Spencer Reid is not only a stand-out Criminal Minds character, but also smarter than Harry Bosch. He’s a quirky person who does things his own way and knows a lot about almost any topic that becomes relevant when investigating cases.

There’s no doubt that Bosch is intelligent, and he always figures out potential suspects and how the pieces of a case fit together because of his years of experience.

Still, Bosch isn’t quite as dynamic to watch as Spencer, who calls himself a “genius” and explains, “I do have an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, can read 20,000 words per minute.” Many viewers were sad that Spencer didn’t get more than a cameo in the revival Criminal Minds: Evolution because it’s fun seeing how clever he is.

Renée Ballard

Ballard

Renée Ballard (Maggie Q) is more caring than Harry Bosch, and that makes her seem more capable from the start of the Bosch spinoff series, Ballard. She’s also not afraid to share her opinions, even when her superiors or coworkers don’t think that she’s right.

Ballard is so much fun to watch thanks to her belief in herself and confidence that she can get through anything. When watching her work on a murder case with other detectives, it’s clear that she has the best ideas and can excel in this field.

Even the shocking ending of Ballard season 1 doesn’t take away how smart Ballard is since we know someone is out to get her, and we also can tell that this was setting up season 2.

Rust Cohle

True Detective

True Detective season 1’s Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and his partner Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson) are investigating a particularly brutal murder, and Rust’s ability to put clues together is impressive from the start. Their methods are morally questionable and even violent at times, and people praise them instead of knowing the truth.

That makes Rust a more complicated detective than Bosch. And since we learn that he doesn’t see the scars on Errol Childress’s (Glenn Flesher) face, Rust is also a fascinating example of how even the smartest detectives can’t observe every detail of a case.

True Detective season 1 dives into the ups and downs of a professional partnership, and we find out early on that Rust and Marty didn’t always get along and even currently have a terrible relationship.

Mare Sheehan, Mare of Easttown

Kate Winslet’s beloved and brilliant Mare of Easttown protagonist is a bigger part of her community than Harry Bosch. She lives and works in a Pennsylvania suburb, and that enables her to figure out clues and feel confident that she can handle whatever she comes across.

Ultimately, Mare Sheehan shows us a more complex portrayal of the challenges of being a detective than Bosch because she’s not always right, and she doesn’t always excel. Although Bosch is involved in a tragedy at the beginning of the show, that feels more like just bad luck that happens in the course of a career.

In contrast, Mare hasn’t solved the case of missing Katie Bailey (Caitlin Houlahan) when Mare of Easttown begins, which is hard since she’s a caring person who doesn’t want anyone to suffer. She also has a real interest in the case since she’s dealing with a tragedy that happened to her own child.

It’s definitely more interesting watching a detective who doesn’t always figure it out than a character like the Bosch protagonist, who you feel will always crack the case by the end of the episode or season.