Surprised not to see Endeavour mentioned already. One of my current favorites. Again some minor story arcs but certainly qualifies for your list.
Well, not mentioned if you don’t include the OP.
The real problem with Law and Order: Whatever, as far as this thread is concerned, is that they aren’t really detective shows. As said above, they are police/legal procedurals.
Seems they’ve dropped the show; I just looked for it and it’s not there anymore. There’s going to be a feature film opening in Australia in February; no word at this time if it’s going to play elsewhere.
.Spiral - French language
.Wallander - Swedish language
.Luther
.Inspector George Gently
.Prime Suspect
.A Touch of Cloth - a spoof
Grantchester is pretty good. It’s another of those local vicar involved in solving murders, but Robson Green as DI Geordie Keating is worth the price of admission.
Murdoch Mysteries available on Amazon Prime, Ovation and Acorn. Period series taking place ca. 1900 Toronto. Also known as The Artful Detective.
George Gently available on Amazon Prime and probably Acorn or Britbox. Period series taking place in the 1960s.
I don’t think either is serialized, although it’s been awhile since I’ve watched George Gently.
ETA: I see they have both been mentioned. They’re good shows, although Murdoch gets a little old in the later seasons (repetitive)
I’m waiting impatiently for the next seasons of Agatha Raisin, The Brokenwood Mysteries and Shakespeare and Hathaway. Those are series I enjoyed the most. Otherwise, I’ve seen pretty much all of the above mentioned. I’d watch new episodes if they came on, but if they don’t? That’s OK too. Look for anything by Alan Plater. Wrote a lot of single episodes of many many shows and they were all terrific. (First episode of Dalziel and Pascoe for example.) Castle is also pretty damn good for the first six seasons.
I can’t believe I didn’t think to mention Steele. :smack:
Regarding Remington Steele, there is one series-long story arc element, namely the identity of Remington Steele himself. The show’s conceit is that private detective Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) created the entirely fictional “Remington Steele” as a figurehead to make her detective agency more marketable, when a mysterious con artist (Pierce Brosnan) decides to claim to be Remington Steele, which Holt can’t challenge without revealing her initial deception. He ends up being the handsome suave face of the agency while she ends up in his shadow doing the actual detective work. I don’t think it was ever resolved in any meaningful way, but then again we never got to see “Charlie Townsend” as anything more than a voice on a speakerphone, handing out assignments to his team of “Angels”, either.
Everybody knows there wasn’t really a Charlie. Bosley was a highly skilled ventriloquist! 
Yep, and I almost mentioned that. But over 4 1/2 years, it really only comes to the forefront maybe 4-5 times, and in the end, we do at least find out the truth.
I’m incidentally reminded of another series, a short-lived one from the 1980s called Stingray, in which a mysterious adventurer who drives a 1965 Corvette Sting Ray and has apparently limitless resources, skills, and buddies he can call on for specialized favours help a variety of clients with a variety of problems. A Stephen J. Cannell production, it’s more Night Rider than Miss Marple, but all edgy and cool to the extent that mid-1980s network television could be edgy or cool.
Do we? I admit I’d kinda drifted away from the series by then toward more intellectually satisfying fare like The Simpsons.
Yep. Spoilered for those who might wish to enjoy the ride on their own:
After that Earl of Claridge red herring in season 4, it turns out that Daniel is Steele’s father. So in a way, I guess his real name is Harry Chalmers.
Stingray was fun. More like The Equalizer than a true detective show. But I recommend it.
Speaking of SJC, I just remembered Ten Speed and Brownshoe, but I can’t fully recommend it because I haven’t seen it since it was new. But I thought it was great, back then. (I have the DVDs, they are on “the pile”. Someday.)
And speaking of Jeff Goldblum, Raines is a good show. And at only nine episodes, it doesn’t take too long.
Thanks to everyone for the recommendations!
Stumptown is watchable. The cases are different each episode, but character entanglement changes.