Rizzoli & Isles: Everything to Know About the Dynamic Duo Crime Drama

Boston police detective Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander) couldn’t be more different. But Rizzoli’s sarcasm and determination, combined with Isles’s quiet professionalism, make these unexpected friends an ideal crime-fighting pair. Based on Tess Gerritsen’s novels, Rizzoli & Isles was created by Janet Tamaro and ran for seven seasons, from 2010 to 2016. The series also stars Jordan Bridges (A Holiday Engagement), Lee Thompson Young (The Famous Jett Jackson), Bruce McGill (Timecop), Lorraine Bracco (Nonnas), and Brian Goodman (Black Butterfly). Read on to learn more.

So what happens in the series? When hardened detective Jane Rizzoli and matter-of-fact medical examiner Maura Isles arrive at the latest crime scene, they come to a horrible realization: The Surgeon — a serial killer and former medical student who uses his knowledge to meticulously torture his victims before killing them — has an apprentice. The real Surgeon, Charles Hoyt (Michael Massee), has been in custody for months. Before his capture, he and Rizzoli had a traumatic run-in — he pierced her hands with scalpels, scarring her palms.

The detective and her new partner, Barry Frost (Young), visit Hoyt in prison to try to unearth his student’s identity. He taunts Rizzoli, who’s left shaken by the interaction. She rejects help from her loving but overprotective mother (Bracco), and, instead, goes to Isles’s house for comfort. After discovering another victim, the police set a trap, but Rizzoli’s former partner, Detective Vince Korsak (McGill), is injured during a scuffle, and she has an uncomfortable confrontation with FBI Special Agent Gabriel Dean (Billy Burke), who’s also been looking into the case. If the Boston PD and the FBI can combine their forces, they might be able to unearth new, vitally important details about both killers. But even if they can put a stop to the bloodshed, there are still plenty of bad guys that need catching, and — despite their differences — Rizzoli and Isles will keep teaming up to bring them to justice.