How to watch

Detective Chinatown follows a bumbling yet brilliant detective duo as they solve murder mysteries in different cities around the world. The series pairs slapstick comedy with genuine whodunit plotting, becoming a blockbuster franchise in Chinese cinema. A spin-off streaming series and animated projects have further expanded the brand beyond the main films.

🕐 Release Order

Release order is the best way to follow the recurring detectives and their growing reputation.

1. Detective Chinatown (2015)
2. Detective Chinatown 2 (2018)
3. Detective Chinatown 3 (2021)

Each film sends the detective duo to a new city, Bangkok, New York, and Tokyo, while carrying over their partnership and the larger 'Crimaster' mystery network. An overarching storyline about a global ranking of detectives, the Crimaster network, gradually connects the otherwise separate cases.

📖 Story Chronology

The films follow release order, with the recurring characters and overarching detective-ranking storyline developing across each case. That connective thread, plus the duo's evolving partnership, makes a release-order run more rewarding than picking a single case.

1. Detective Chinatown (2015)
2. Detective Chinatown 2 (2018)
3. Detective Chinatown 3 (2021)

Which Order Should You Choose?

Watch in release order starting with the 2015 original. While each film has a self-contained mystery, the duo's chemistry and the connecting threads between cases build across the series, so following them in sequence gives the richest experience. Each mystery is satisfying on its own, but the escalating cases and recurring characters make a release-order run the most rewarding way in.

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