© 2026 The Couch Critic
Murder 101 is a series of four made-for-television mystery films aired on the Hallmark Channel between 2006 and 2008, starring Dick Van Dyke as Professor Jonathan Maxwell, Barry Van Dyke as Mike Bryant, a former cop and now a private detective, and Shane Van Dyke as Shane Manners, Mike Bryant's nephew.
When a local successful executive is murdered in an explosion at his mansion, suspicions point to an attractive female investigative reporter who was close to the man and working undercover on a story about corporate scandal. Brought in by the police to help solve the crime, Dr. Maxwell has a mind that outwits the apparent. He throws himself into a world of corporate schemes to uncover a long list of hard-nosed men and women with big-money motives for murder.
Criminology Professor Dr. Jonathan Maxwell does not believe that Professor Archer Coe died of a heart attack, so he hires his friend Mike Parker to investigate. The pair discover that the murdered professor had many enemies, and many secrets.
Dr. Maxwell is called in to investigate the kidnapping of a prize race horse. When the case leads to murder, Maxwell and Detective Bryant suspect the horse's owner.
Criminology professor Jonathan Maxwell investigates a murder at a new age retreat where the leader is killed in a locked room surrounded by people in a deep trance.