Cozy Mystery · Acorn TV · 2026

Blue Murder Motel

Married couple Vinny and Cole trade in their careers as Sydney detectives for early retirement, sinking their savings into a seaside motel in a sunny New Zealand town. The peace doesn't last — barely a week into their new life, a guest turns up dead, and the pair find their old investigative instincts kicking back in as one baffling case follows another.

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About the show

Blue Murder Motel comes from New Zealand, created by Kate McDermott and Steven Zanoski, with Lucy Lawless among its directors. Michala Banas and Brett Tucker star as Vanessa "Vinny" and Peter "Cole" Coleman, reuniting on screen after both appearing in McLeod's Daughters years earlier. Banas is also known for Upper Middle Bogan, while Tucker has built a US career with roles including Station 19 and The Americans. Jayden Daniels plays Constable Jamie Haira, the newly graduated local officer who keeps getting pulled into their amateur investigations, alongside Stephanie Tauevihi as permanent motel guest Maxine and Jaime McDermott as motel employee Saffron. Filming took place in Orewa, on Auckland's Hibiscus Coast, standing in for the show's fictional Mōwai Bay.

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New episodes weekly through September

Season 1 runs eight episodes, with new installments continuing to premiere weekly on Acorn TV throughout September before wrapping up in October. Each episode centers on a new case at or around the motel, in the same easy-going, character-driven register as the site's other cozy mystery picks.

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