Some of the most intriguing partnerships in crime fiction began not on the dark streets, but at home. And while many crime stories feature fathers and sons, a smaller, more exclusive club highlights fathers and daughters. They may fight crime as cops, private investigators, amateur sleuths, or from the bench, but they share a connection to the same, compelling world.
Father-daughter crime solving teams display strikingly similar characteristics. Beyond their blood ties, generational divide, and passionate pursuit of justice, they operate outside family roles once considered traditional. They benefit from the partners’ complementary strengths.
But often, and perhaps most importantly, the relationships are bonded by challenging circumstances. And the common clue is glue.
Cross these father-daughter crime solving duos at your peril!
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Carson and Nancy Drew (from the 2019 TV series)
Nancy and Carson Drew
Amateur sleuth/Attorney
Carolyn Keene, Nancy Drew Mystery Series (Cozy)
Nancy is a teen, but rarely acts like one. Confident, curious, and direct, she’s virtually unflappable. Nancy expects to be taken seriously—and she is, without question, by her father, Carson. A highly respected, successful attorney and a widower raising an only child, he treats Nancy like a trusted adult.
Carson is steady, thoughtful, and practical, qualities shared by his daughter. Nancy is also energetic and fearless, buoyed by the support of best friends Bess and George and boyfriend Ned. While Carson focuses on research, procedure, and the law, Nancy relies on instinct and persistence. He helps her understand the stakes and structure of a case. She occasionally pushes beyond what the rules to uncover the truth.
But Nancy and Carson’s relationship is without question shaped by the loss of Nancy’s mother. While Hannah Gruen, the Drews’ live-in housekeeper, occasionally serves as a mother-figure to Nancy, the Drews are clearly a team of two.
Veronica and Keith Mars
Amateur Sleuth/Sheriff and PI/PI
Veronica Mars TV Series (Sunshine-noir)
Like Nancy Drew, Veronica Mars is a teen and the only child of a doting widower, but their worldviews and M.O.s are near opposites. Where Nancy is composed and confident, Veronica is guarded, cynical, and often angry. Like Carson Drew, Keith Mars deeply loves and respects his daughter. He becomes a PI after losing his job as a sheriff due to his unpopular stance on a local murder.
Keith is warm, patient, and deeply principled, but he has his hands full with his rebellious daughter. He supports Veronica, but wants her to slow down, gather facts, and stay safe. She wants immediate answers, and her investigations—and confrontations—regularly land her in danger.
Veronica is not wealthy like Nancy, and she loses her friends, boyfriend, and high school social status after defending her father against unjust accusations. She finds new friends, but the emotional damage increases after Veronica’s mother abandons her and Keith. Father and daughter become the centers of each other’s worlds, constantly discussing and arguing. They apologize, then circle back, and their mutual trust must be rebuilt again and again.
Veronica learns patience from Keith. He learns that his daughter is stronger than he wants her to be. Veronica joins him at Mars Investigations, eventually as a licensed PI, making them an official professional team.
Maddie and Harry Bosch
Patrol Officer and Police Investigator/PI
Michael Connelly, Bosch
Bosch and Bosch: Legacy TV series (Procedural/Hardboiled/Thriller)
Within the Bosch universe, the precise details of Harry and Maddie Bosch’s relationship are sometimes murky, but it begins in the shadow of deception. For years, Maddie was largely absent from Harry’s life. He became aware of her existence when she was four. Other than occasional visits, Maddie lives in Las Vegas and later Hong Kong with her mom, his ex-wife.
At thirteen she briefly moves in with Harry in LA, then moves out again. Maddie and Harry are reconnected a few years later, under tragic circumstances: the violent death of Maddie’s mother. They must build their relationship from almost the ground up as they work through shared grief.
Harry is intense, private, and driven, having spent his life chasing the truth, often at high personal cost. He learns to be a father to an adult daughter, and they both gradually learn to trust each other. Harry allows Maddie to make her own decisions, and she comes to understand the value of his instincts and experience. Maddie is thoughtful, steady, and determined to find her own place in what was her father’s world. She forgoes law school to become an LAPD patrol officer.
In the Bosch: Legacy series, Maddie navigates her rookie year at her father’s old station, and the casings don’t fall far from the gun.
Erin Reagan and Frank Reagan
Manhattan Assistant DA/NYC Police Commissioner
Blue Bloods TV Series (Procedural/Cozy)
Erin and Frank Reagan operate in the same world but from different sides of the system. In some ways, their relationship harkens back to Nancy and Carson Drew’s.
Frank, the widowed NYC Police Commissioner, is calm, thoughtful, and accustomed to carrying the weight of leadership, including within his family. Single-mom Erin is a strong-willed perfectionist, respectful but sharp and unafraid to challenge him. She is Frank’s only daughter, but not his sole child. Licensed to carry, she’s a better shot than her cop brothers, according to her dad.
Both had wilder streaks when they were younger but now play strictly by the rules—most of the time. They seek each other’s advice, often over matching tumblers of Irish whiskey neat after Sunday dinner. The two enjoy fishing together off the city piers, where their conversations are of true equals—and also reveal their deep grief from the tragic loss of two Reagan family members: wife and mother Mary to cancer, and son and brother Joe, an NYPD cop killed in the line of duty.
Kate and Dermot Buckley
Amateur Sleuth/Police Chief (Retired)
Lisa Q. Mathews, The Irish Bed & Breakfast Mysteries (Cozy)
Like the Reagans, the strong bond between Kate and Dermot Buckley is rooted in family, law enforcement legacy, and mutual zeal for justice. Kate, a single mom and accountant, helps run the family’s bed & breakfast in an Irish-themed, Massachusetts town. Dermot, the Buckley patriarch, is known to all as “the Chief,” a fitting moniker for Shamrock’s beloved former police chief. Reluctantly retired after being shot on duty, the Chief conducts unofficial investigations from his wheelchair.
At times he’s old-fashioned and overly protective toward his eldest daughter, who shares his keen mind and pushes back with the same dry humor. While the Chief enjoys the thrill of the case, Kate is more cautious by nature. She once considered joining her father and brother on the force, ultimately choosing a safer career. But Kate partners with her father to investigate when tragedies hit close to home.
In The Jig is Up, Kate’s younger sister is accused of her best friend’s murder. In Buried in Shamrocks, Kate’s Irish ex returns with a new fiancée, who immediately turns up dead. Father and daughter make a solid team as they work to uncover the truth—and face separate, unspoken griefs.
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