Kate Jameson is a rookie police detective in the Vancouver Police Department homicide division. She is introduced right after making a major error-leaving her gun in her car unlocked, where it's promptly taken and used to commit a murder.
Her partner Mike Huntley covers up her error, with him and Kate tracking down the killer, but Mike is killed while protecting her from him. Wrestling with her guilt over this, Kate struggles to prove herself with her new partner Nolan Wells while issues in her past also trouble her.
Though not officially canceled, it only had one season.
The Murders provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Kate, as a trained police detective, displays her skill with a gun or in unarmed combat on multiple occasions.
- Badass in Distress: Kate is an Action Girl, though she gets in danger from criminals more than once and needs help from her colleagues.
- Bank Robbery: In "Heist", Kate investigates a bank robbery, with a guard killed by the two robbers. One of the bank employees it turns out also was an accomplice with the robbers, but was also shot (the motive is unclear at first).
- Bar Brawl: Nolan gets arrested for a bar fight, though he's released due to being a police detective.
- Bisexual Love Triangle: This turns out to be the root of the rivalry between rappers Lil Rex and DB Kane. Lil Rex was publicly dating Ayanna, but he also had feelings for DB Kane. However, as both men were still in the closet fearing backlash to their careers, no one but the three of them knew. This worked for a while, until Lil Rex accidentally got Ayanna pregnant, and feeling he had to step up broke it off with Kane. Heartbroken and humiliated, Kane started a feud with Lil Rex. Following Lil Rex having a breakdown, Kane and Ayanna agreed that he needed both of them, and finally came out with the truth, deciding to see how polyamory worked for them.
- Broken Pedestal: Kate was always closest to her father, and followed him into the police force. She's devastated to learn he went along with his partner planting evidence, crying as her mother confesses what he'd done.
- Casting Gag: Venus Terzo and Ian Tracey are both well known as two police detectives who were partners along with close friends on the show Da Vinci's Inquest. Here Terzo is a former prosecutor who prosecuted Tracey's character successfully for murder and he comes back for revenge on her when he's released.
- Closet Gay: In "Black & Blue", a black rapper turns out to be a bisexual man who's closeted for his career. He remains in the closet at the end, though Kate says there's some out queer male rappers nowadays, but Meg (an open lesbian) replies they came out after they got successful enough for it not to matter anymore.
- Consulting a Convicted Killer: In "Stereo" after some similar murders to ones he committed happen, Kate speaks to Evan Walker, the "audiologist" serial killer from "The Long Black Veil" (the pilot) who's serving a life sentence, hoping he will help them catch the other guy.
- Cop Killer: In the last episode, "Stereo", the Theme Serial Killer murders two cops.
- Criminal Mind Games: The Theme Serial Killer who Kate pursues in "Stereo" turns out to have already been stalking her, delivering various clues as to his identity and location.
- Daddy's Girl: From her uniformly positive mentions and the fact she followed him into the police force, it seems Kate was closer to her deceased dad. This contrasts with her more contentious relationship with her mom. Kate later admits she was always on her dad's side when they divorced, and says regretfully that she'd never really given her mom a chance.
- Damsel in Distress: Kate is about to be killed in "Stereo", helpless to stop this. Nolan shoots the killer Just in Time however.
- Damsel out of Distress: "In My Feelings" has Kate's mother taken hostage, then Kate joining her at the hostage taker's demand. They manage to take him down together (Kate's at least a police detective).
- Date Rape: In "Toxic" a young woman involved with the case tells Kate and Nolan that she'd been raped by a friend at her workplace. Even worse, it turns out this was filmed for others to watch.
- Disappeared Dad: Kate's father was also a police officer killed on duty. This overshadows her, as her mother opposes her career choice fearing that she'll end up the same way, and fellow cops frequently mention him positively in relation with her.
- Domestic Abuse: "Toxic" involved a protected witness who, after discovering that her mobster husband was torturing someone, confronted him and was beaten by him severely. She testified against him after the federal authorities approached her following this.
- Following in Relative's Footsteps: Kate is a police detective like her father was. Her mother is worried that she'll end up killed on duty as he'd been, and so she doesn't approve of Kate being in the force.
- Frame-Up:
- In "The Long Black Veil" to cover up Kate letting her gun get stolen and used in a murder, her partner Mike planted bullets from a different gun against a suspect in the case, so her mistake wouldn't get revealed. This leads to his death later helping Kate, which she blames herself for.
- "In My Feelings" reveals that Kate's father had gone along with his partner planting evidence against a murder suspect, so he'd been convicted.
- Freudian Excuse: Kate tells Nolan that generally serial killers have suffered child abuse or neglect. In the case of the Theme Serial Killer who they're hunting in "Stereo" it's revealed his father had murdered his mother and then shot himself while he watched as a boy. This resembled a song by Bob Dylan, with him later becoming fixated on murder ballads, recreating murders from them while he targeted people who had suffered severe losses like him, believing that by murdering them he's ending their pain.
- The Gambling Addict: In "Queen of Hearts" it's revealed a person's gambling addiction instigated the murder that's the episode's focus. Daria, the fiancée of the victim, was a gambling addict who'd gotten deep into debt over her losses. She put up her car as collateral, but then ran away instead of handing it over after losing again. The winner tracked her down, running her car off of the road, but it was actually her fiancé inside whom he killed instead. She started getting help for this, but relapsed when her loss occurred.
- Hand Signals: Meg's wife Emily is deaf, so she communicates in sign language along with speaking, while Meg and their son use the same dual methods.
- Hates Their Parent: "In My Feelings" has a hostage taker with a daughter who had disowned him for killing his wife, her mother, refusing to see him and not even calling him her dad as a result over it. She only relents, speaking with him and addressing him as "dad", in hopes that he'll free the hostages.
- Home Porn Movie: Played for Drama when Kate gets sent a recording of her having sex with Pete (audio only), and initially thinks he made this, angrily ending their relationship because he didn't ask permission for doing that. However, it turns out he didn't do it, and she becomes anxious that she's the victim of a stalker. It turns out to be even worse, as it's a serial killer who recorded them.
- Honor-Related Abuse: "Queen of Hearts" has the father of the victim be revealed to have once previously been acquitted on a conspiracy to commit murder charge in India because he was alleged to have aided in a relative's murder for running away from the marriage the family arranged. As his own son was with a white girl in Canada after they immigrated, at first the police think he may have done the same thing. However, it turns out to be a red herring, since he was a cop while in India and attempting to help his relative, with him being exonerated due to his innocence.
- Hostage Situation: "In My Feelings" sees Kate's mom taken hostage with her staff. As she's a candidate for mayor (she and they are held at her campaign's headquarters), along with being a former prosecutor there are many possible motives that the hostage taker could have, but he refuses to simply say what his beef is, instead making her (literally) play a game of 20 Questions, initially with no demand made. She prosecuted him, it turns out, with the man feeling she demonized him to the jury in his case. It turns out that he wants her to admit that he'd been wrongly convicted of his wife's murder on false evidence that she'd presented to the court, with her husband at the time (Kate's father) gathering this.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: In "Never Kissed A Girl" it turns out Jeremy revealed to Bo that he murdered Sadie (after raping her) by mentioning she liked an album that she'd been introduced to just that night, so he must have been the last person to see her while alive.
- Innocently Insensitive: Kate dislikes how her white mom upholds her as her biracial cop daughter while running for mayor, or discussing her and Kate's dad being black people in the police force. She realizes her mom does mean well however.
- It's All My Fault:
- Kate, after her partner Mike's killed by a suspect, blames herself as he was aiding her. This occurred because she'd left her gun in her car unlocked, which was stolen and used in a murder, with Mike covering that up after, leading them into the situation. She tearfully confesses the fact to her psychiatrist much later after she's finally opened up about it.
- In "Never Kissed A Girl" the father of a murder victim has blamed himself ever since her death. He'd locked her out when she missed curfew, leading her to the killer. After hearing this, Kate expresses her sympathy and she empathizes due to her own past.
- "In My Feelings" has Kate's mother (rather than use the sympathy votes she garnered) decide to drop out of the race after being held hostage, as her campaign manager David died at the hostage-taker's hands, feeling that she doesn't deserve it since this was revenge against her. Kate convinces her to stay in the race however, saying David would want that.
- Just in Time: Kate is about to be shot dead in "Stereo" when Nolan shoots the killer instead.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: A suspect in "The Long Black Veil" was murdered with it staged to appear like a suicide by hanging.
- Mercy Kill: The theme serial killer in "Stereo" believes that he's doing his victims a favor by killing them, as they'd all suffered from extreme guilt over something.
- Minority Police Officer:
- Kate is a biracial detective in a nearly all white police department. Her father (who's dead by the time of the show) was black and a fellow police officer. Kate's mother is white and currently running for mayor, with a part of her platform being to foster greater diversity in the force, with Kate being in a photo op by her side. This annoys Kate, seeing it as her mom just using her to score some points as her biracial cop daughter. She later apologizes however. When talking with her mom too the latter notes that black people often dislike them being in the police force, as Kate's father had also experienced when serving.
- Kate works under Bill Chen, a Chinese-Canadian detective.
- Miscarriage of Justice:
- In "Never Kissed A Girl" the victim had been wrongly convicted of rape and murder, but released after he was exonerated. His murder turns out to be connected with the original case, and so the cops investigate both. The real killer killed him too, it turns out, when he learned what happened.
- "In My Feelings" has Kate's mom taken hostage by a man whom she put in prison for murder coming back after getting released for revenge, stating she used false evidence. She admits it's true, her husband had planted it but she wasn't aware at the time, failing to reveal this later so Kate wouldn't know what her father did. This is zigzagged as he later admits he'd killed his wife, although his conviction wasn't valid.
- Murder by Mistake: In "Queen of Hearts" the murder victim turns out to have been killed because he was mistaken for his girlfriend, a reformed criminal, being targeted due to her past, with the killer thinking it was her in the car.
- Mutual Kill: In "The Long Black Veil", Mike and the suspect end up fatally shooting each other.
- Naughty by Night: Kate is a reserved and professional detective who it turns out often has BDSM sex with Pete when off duty.
- Not Staying for Breakfast: In "Queen of Hearts", after sleeping with Pete the night before Kate leaves early in the morning after declining an offer to stay longer with the excuse she has work, but is heavily implied to not want more than having casual sex.
- Outliving One's Offspring: In "Never Kissed A Girl" one suspect is the father of the young women who a man was convicted then later exonerated for murdering, as he's never really gotten over her loss.
- Police Procedural: The show follows Kate Jameson, a homicide detective, with her colleagues as they investigate murders. Each episode has a different case.
- Polyamory: In "Black & Blue" it turns out that a rapper is a bisexual man, who'd formely had a relationship with his supposed rival. At the end of the episode he starts seeing them both, at her instigation. Nolan expresses surprise, and Meg explains a lot of modern young people are into it, especially the queer ones.
- Posthumous Character: Kate's father was also a cop, killed on duty two years before the series starts. He's still mentioned frequently, and Kate gets respect from other cops when they learn she's his daughter. She's clearly still struggling to deal with her loss, and discusses his death with her psychiatrist.
- Queer Establishing Moment:
- Meg is shown to be a lesbian pretty early on when she mentions her wife, who makes an appearance later.
- In "Black & Blue" a rapper turns out to be secretly bisexual when his sister is revealed to have recorded as he'd spoken to his ex-boyfriend, planning to sell it for tabloid fodder.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: "In My Feelings" has Kate's superior, Bill Chen, berating her for giving herself up to save her mother as a hostage. She first offers to turn in her badge, but since she and her mom saved the day, Kate's actually getting a commendation from the police chief. Chen warns her to not engage in any more theatrics though, since next time this might not work out.
- Shout-Out: In "The Long Black Veil" and "Stereo" Evan Walker ("the audiologist") and his friend reference famous murder ballads in committing murders, with the cops looking into many different ones to catch them.
- Slipping a Mickey: In "Toxic" a young woman reveals a friend of hers slipped a date rape drug into her drink, waking up only after he was raping her.
- Tattooed Crook:
- One of the bank robbers in "Heist" sports tattoos.
- In "Queen of Hearts" a woman also has prison tattoos. As a result the cops think that her boyfriend's murder might have been gang-related at first.
- Theme Serial Killer: "The Long Black Veil" and Stereo feature two who are committing murders based on different famous murder ballads.
- There Are No Therapists: Averted, as Kate has to speak with a police psychiatrist to deal with the death of her partner Mike. She's "well defended" however as the doctor puts it, and doesn't ever open up much, thus it's no help at first. Kate admits to faking it later so she can just get through the process, saying the therapist will never understand. She later goes back however to get help after she's admitted it's necessary.
- Token Minority: One of the supporting characters, Detective Bill Chen, is of East Asian ancestry. He's the only person on the police force shown with his background.
- Twofer Token Minority:
- Kate, the main character, is a biracial young woman with a black father and white mother, who feels she's being used as a token during her mom's campaign for mayor at one point when pledging she'll make the police force more diverse, to her annoyance. She later apologizes however, realizing that her mom does mean well.
- Meg's wife Emily is a deaf lesbian, as we learn during her sole appearance in "Toxic".
- In "Black & Blue", a rapper and his friend, both of them young black men, are revealed to have been involved before (the latter bisexual as he's with his girlfriend now]]). They [[all get together with her instigation.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: It's never said where in Canada the show takes place specifically. It's filmed in Vancouver and background materials have confirmed this as the location however.
- Who Murdered the Asshole: In "Toxic" the police have to find who murdered the victim, who's revealed as being a Serial Rapist.
