| 100% | CHAN | 4 | Detective in "The Shanghai Cobra" |
| 62% | CHINARHINO | 10 | Horned ungulate in the Shanghai Zoo? |
| 61% | SARAHLUND | 9 | Jumper-wearing lead detective in The Killing |
| 61% | CLOUSEAU | 8 | Bumbling detective in the Pink Panther films |
| 59% | SPADE | 5 | Last name of Sam, detective in The Maltese Falcon |
| 57% | RATIGAN | 7 | Villain in The Great Mouse Detective |
| 54% | CASE | 4 | Word in the title of many a detective novel |
| 54% | DOYLE | 5 | Detective in "The French Connection" |
| 53% | ELSA | 4 | The lady in "The Lady From Shanghai" |
| 53% | CHAN | 4 | "The Shanghai Cobra" hero, 1945 |
| 52% | NANCYDREW | 9 | Amateur detective in 1967's "The Clue in the Crossword Cipher" |
| 51% | METRO | 5 | Name for the subway in Paris or Shanghai |
| 49% | ICEPICK | 7 | Item used in the murder of Johnny Boz that detective Nick Curran was investigating |
| 49% | LARUSSO | 7 | Daniel's surname in Cobra Kai and The Karate Kid |
| 48% | NANCYDREW | 9 | Young female detective in books written under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene since 1930: 2 wds. |
| 48% | NORA | 4 | One of the married detectives in The Thin Man |
| 47% | HAN | 3 | Chinese dynasty found in the word "Shanghai" |
| 47% | RIGGS | 5 | One of the detectives in "Lethal Weapon" |
| 47% | JOHNTHAW | 8 | Actor who played the title role in ITV detective series Inspector Morse |
| 47% | NERO | 4 | Detective Wolfe featured in the 1964 novella “Murder Is Corny” |
| 46% | TIBBS | 5 | "In the Heat of the Night" detective |
| 46% | THAW | 4 | John —, actor who played the title role in ITV detective series Inspector Morse |
| 46% | CARY | 4 | ___ Fukunaga, film director who also worked in television on the show "True Detective" |
| 46% | DAVISON | 7 | Peter —, actor who starred as 'Dangerous' Davies in ITV series The Last Detective |
| 46% | NANCYDREW | 9 | Teen detective series on the CW that ended in August 2023: 2 wds. |
| 45% | MOOD | 4 | In the ___ |
| 45% | KNOW | 4 | In the ___ |
| 45% | LOOP | 4 | In the ___ |
| 45% | SWIM | 4 | In the ___ |
| 45% | MEANTTOBE | 9 | In the *** |