The Cook (Seasons 1–5)

The Cook (Stryapukha, 2023) is a Russian detective series you can watch online on iFILM. Ulyana is a widow — her detective husband was killed on the job, she has two kids to raise, and money is always tight in their small provincial town. His old colleagues at the precinct help where they can, but she needs steady work, so she hires on as a cook for one of the local rich men.

Her new employer has just married an out-of-town "celebrity," a singer named Viktoria who turns out to be spoiled, erratic, and capable of driving off the entire household staff within days. Only Ulyana stays. Then the truth surfaces: Viktoria is a second-rate performer with a stalled career and a criminal mess trailing behind her. That's when Ulyana's instincts as a cop's wife — and her contacts at the station — start to pay off, and she ends up untangling the case from the kitchen. Margarita Sakovich plays the lead.

It's a warm, light-touch provincial mystery where the detective isn't a badge but a sharp-eyed woman with a ladle. Stream The Cook (2023) online on iFILM.