10 Netflix Detective Shows Where Every Episode Is a Masterpiece

Image via Netflix Published Sep 20, 2026, 11:22 PM EDT Christine is a freelance writer for Collider with two decades of experience covering all types of TV shows and movies spanning every genre. With a particular affinity for dramas, true crime, sitcoms, and thrillers, if it's a top TV show, Christine has likely watched it and is eager to share her thoughts. When she's not furiously writing away, you can find her enjoying the next binge obsession with a glass of wine in front of the TV. Sign in to your Collider account Content Warning: This list features a brief mention of sexual assault.I love a good detective show. They are sort of interactive because as you watch, you try to figure out the mystery along with the detective character, whether it's an actual detective or an amateur one. There are usually twists and turns whereby you think one person is the perpetrator one episode, but you're eyeing someone else the next. Netflix has a nice selection of detective shows, and some of them are true masterpieces from start to finish. Some add a level of humor while others are much darker. One of the best-ever is even based on real-life killers and the formation of the FBI unit that began to track people who fit the newly minted term serial killers. There's something for everyone, including shows that only ran a single season and ones that ran multiple, some of which have plans to continue. 'The Residence' (2025) Image via Netflix The Residence is best described as Knives Out for the small screen with a gender-swapped Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig). Uzo Aduba plays Cordelia Cupp, an eccentric consultant who is called in to help the local police when they are dealing with seemingly unsolvable, often high-profile cases. It doesn't get much more high-profile than a murder in the White House, and when she arrives on the scene during a state dinner with the Australian prime minister, it's time to get to work. The Shonda Rhimes mystery comedy drama is a single-season mystery TV masterpiece. It's as funny as it is gripping, with every episode told from the perspective of a different person as Cordelia interviews them about what they did that night and what they might know. It's fun, exciting, and keeps you guessing. It's a shame The Residence was canceled after just one season since the premise would have worked with a new case and characters, Cordelia returning to do her quirky thing once again. 'Bodies' (2023) Image via Netflix Imagine the same dead body showing up four times across four different time periods, starting in the late 1800s right up to the future 2053. There's something strange going on, and the four investigations eventually come together in Bodies to explain a weird link across space and time. The British sci-fi mystery thriller Bodies, based on the Si Spencer graphic novel of the same name, stars Adolescence's Stephen Graham and Unorthodox's Shira Haas. It will leave you stunned through its gripping eight episodes. If you're looking for a Netflix detective show you can watch in one sitting, Bodies is a good choice. 'Mindhunter' (2017–2019) Image via Netflix Arguably one of Netflix's best detective series, perhaps even one of its best original shows overall, Mindhunter dives into the minds of serial killers. But this is at a time before they were known as such. Special agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany), based on real-life agents, begin to realize that there's a strange psychological compulsion with these "repeat killers." The pair come to be part of the original formation of the Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) of the FBI, examining the ritualistic motivations behind these vicious killers, who appear to be driven by something more than just a desire to kill. Mindhunter is based on not only a real-life story but also features actors playing real-life serial killers from history. Conversations include dialogue that is pulled from actual transcripts. It's one of the most chilling, riveting psychological crime thrillers, a thriller show with no weak episodes. Mindhunter is a perfect fit for those who love exploring the minds of killers, not just seeing an investigation into who they are. 'Dept. Q' (2025–Present) Image via Netflix Set to return for a second season, Dept. Q is a British crime thriller based on the Jussi Adler-Olsen book series Department Q. Carl Morck (Matthew Goode) is a police officer who returns to work after a devastating incident that left him wounded, his colleague paralyzed, and another officer killed. The not-well-liked asocial officer is assigned to head up a new unit focusing on cold cases. In Season 1, they tackle the case of the missing Crown Office solicitor Merritt Lingard (Chloe Pirrie). Dept. Q is as much about dealing with trauma and moving forward as it is about the cases. Morck is the shining star — a sarcastic, arrogant personality who is often butting heads with others. There's a lot of potential for where the plot can go in Season 2 of this exciting and underrated detective show. Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Netflix Character Would Be Your Best Friend? Dustin · Emily · Wednesday · Gi-hun Some friends drag you out of the house. Some sit with you on the worst night of your life. Netflix has written both, plus the one who tells you the truth you have been avoiding all week. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually do friendship, and find out which of them was always going to end up in your corner. 🧢Dustin(Stranger Things) 🗼Emily(Emily in Paris) 🕷️Wednesday(Wednesday) 🟢Gi-hun(Squid Game) FIND YOUR BEST FRIEND → 01 How do you usually end up making a new friend? The origin story says a lot about the friendship that follows it. AWe got loud about the same obsession and never stopped. BThey invited me somewhere before we had properly met. CWe bonded over disliking exactly the same thing. DThey noticed I was struggling and stayed with me. NEXT QUESTION → 02 What is a perfect Saturday with your best friend? Friendship is mostly built out of very ordinary hours. AA ridiculous plan neither of us should attempt. BSomewhere new, photographed heavily, ending very late. CSomewhere quiet, few people, zero small talk. DSomething simple, and a conversation that actually matters. NEXT QUESTION → 03 You call them at two in the morning. What happens? This is the real test of a friendship, and everybody knows it. AThey are already putting their shoes on. BThey answer instantly and turn it into a plan. CThey answer and say something unflattering and true. DThey listen for an hour and never check the time. NEXT QUESTION → 04 What do you want from them when you are clearly wrong? The best friendships are the ones that survive being corrected. ASupport first. We can review the mistake later. BA relentlessly positive reframe of the entire disaster. CThe blunt version. Do not soften it for me. DPatience, and no judgment about how I got here. NEXT QUESTION → 05 What do your friends actually value about you? The friend you attract says something about the friend you are. AI am all in, always, about everything. BI can turn almost any situation into a good time. CI say the thing nobody else in the room will. DI look after whoever is having the worst day. NEXT QUESTION → 06 You have a falling out. How does it go? How a friendship repairs itself matters more than how it breaks. ALoudly, briefly, then back to normal by Tuesday. BThey apologise first, enthusiastically, with a gift. CCold silence, then one dry joke that fixes everything. DWe talk until we both understand what actually happened. NEXT QUESTION → 07 What do you actually need a best friend for? Everybody is missing something. The right friend fills that gap. ATo make my life bigger than it would be alone. BTo push me out of the house and into my own life. CTo catch me when I start lying to myself. DTo be the person who never gave up on me. NEXT QUESTION → 08 Ten years from now, what keeps the two of you close? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who you get. AWe would still drop everything for each other, instantly. BWe still make plans, and we still actually go. CWe still cut through each other's nonsense in one sentence. DThey stood by me once when it cost them something. REVEAL MY BEST FRIEND → The Group Chat Has Spoken Your Best Friend Is…Four Netflix characters, four completely different ways of showing up for somebody. This is the one who fits how you actually do friendship, and what having them in your life would be like. Dustin HendersonYou do not do friendship at half volume, and neither does he. What you want is somebody who says yes to the plan before you have finished describing the plan. Dustin is the friend the entire show runs on: loyal past the point of sense, enthusiastic about everything, and incapable of leaving anybody behind. You have the same instinct. Your friendships are loud, specific and slightly ridiculous, and they last for decades because of it. He is also the one person who would take your strangest interest completely seriously, which is far rarer than it sounds. You would have a group chat. It would never once be quiet. Emily CooperYou are the friend who makes things happen, and so is she. Together you would be mildly exhausting to everyone around you and completely delighted with yourselves. Emily treats an ordinary Tuesday as something that could be turned into an occasion, which is either the best or the worst quality in a friend depending on your energy levels. You share her refusal to sit still. Neither of you has ever accepted a night in when something was happening somewhere else. She is far more loyal than people give her credit for. She defends her friends loudly, publicly, and occasionally before checking the facts. She would post the photo without asking. You would forgive her, because it is a very good photo. Wednesday AddamsYou have no patience for pleasant lies, and she has no ability to tell them. What looks like coldness from the outside is the most reliable friendship on this list. Wednesday never says a kind thing she does not mean, which makes the rare ones count for an enormous amount. You would rather be told the truth than be made comfortable. She is constitutionally incapable of offering you anything else. Underneath all of it she is ferociously protective. She simply refuses to make a performance out of caring. Do not expect a birthday message. Do expect her to ruin anyone who wrongs you. Seong Gi-hunYou look after whoever is having the worst day. So does he. It is the least strategic way to move through the world and the best possible quality in a friend. Gi-hun is not the strongest player in Squid Game, or the cleverest. He is the one who keeps choosing to protect somebody else, over and over, at genuine cost to himself. You have the same instinct. You notice who is struggling and you stay with them, long after anybody would blame you for leaving. He is a flawed friend, and that is part of why it lands. He lets people down, then comes back and tries again, which is more than most manage. He would give you his last chance and never once mention that he had done it. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 'Unbelievable' (2019) Image via Netflix When a woman claims she was raped, the tables are bizarrely turned on her, and she is instead accused of falsely reporting a crime. But as other similar attacks pop up around town, two female detectives, Grace Rasmussen (Toni Collette) and Karen Duvall (Merritt Wever) start to look deeper into her case. What's most shocking about Unbelievable is that it should be believable because it's based on a true story: the serial rape cases that took place in Washington and Colorado from 2008 through 2011. The premise in this flawless miniseries is heartbreaking with a powerful message about victim blaming or outright not believing women (or men) who come forward with such stories, and about survivor trauma. 'His & Hers' (2026) Image via Netflix One of the twistiest detective shows you will have seen in a long time, His & Hers will keep you guessing right up to the literal end of the show. The mystery thriller takes place in a small town where detective Jack Harper (Jon Bernthal) is investigating the murder of a local woman. His estranged wife Anna Andrews (Tessa Thompson), a news reporter, suddenly comes back to report on it. Both have a connection to the victim, and it seems this small town, and this couple, hold a lot of secrets. The series is a tightly told story though six episodes that will have you convinced you know the truth one minute, then questioning if maybe you're wrong the next. As new characters come into the mix, you look at each one side-eyed. But trust me, you won't see the shocking twist coming. 'Wednesday' (2022–Present) Wednesday isn't technically a detective show. But every season of the supernatural mystery comedy contains at least one case that involves detectives investigating. And it's usually prompted by Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) having a vision of something horrible that is about to happen. With the police often of no valuable help, it's up to Wednesday to try and put together the pieces and save someone from almost certain death before it's too late. A non-traditional coming-of-age tale about teens attending a private school for outcasts and monsters, each with special powers, Wednesday is one of Netflix's most watched shows ever, and for good reason. The masterpiece fantasy show is bitingly funny, Wednesday's sarcasm and brooding personality a perfect contrast to the others around her. Kids will love it just as much as adults. 'A Good Girl's Guide to Murder' (2024–Present) Image via Netflix Emma Myers stars in the British mystery thriller A Good Girl's Guide to Murder as Pippa "Pip" Fitz-Amobi, a teenager who decides to take matters into her own hands when she feels as though the police aren't doing enough to handle the cases in her small town. While doing her studies and starting her own podcast, she first looks into the murder of a young fellow student. In Season 2, she investigates the disappearance of her best friend's brother. Set for a third and final season to stream in 2027, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is like a modern-day Nancy Drew story, a perfect watch for teens of the same age as Pip. It's a coming-of-age tale with a classic detective story feel and a compartmentalized story for each season. Yet it remains a Netflix mystery show no one ever talks about. 'Collateral' (2018) Image via Netflix A forgotten hidden Netflix gem, Collateral technically aired on BBC in the U.K. first before arriving to Netflix, which co-financed the series and released it internationally a month later. Told in four parts, the British drama follows DI Kip Glaspie (Carey Mulligan) who is looking into the shooting of a pizza delivery person. But as she investigates, Kip realizes this story runs far deeper than she ever imagined. The story in Collateral explores topical issues like racism and immigration and the mistreatment of individuals by both other citizens and agencies that vow to protect residents. Collateral is heavy-handed on social commentary, but there's no denying its message, which is a powerful one about unity, acceptance, and judgment. 'Murderville' (2022) Image via Netflix Want something funnier? Murderville is a murder mystery that combines improvised comedy with typical tropes and celebrities who are willing to dive right into the silliness of it all. Will Arnett leads each episode as Terry Seattle, a senior detective working with a new rookie detective in each episode, assigned to him by his ex-wife and chief of police Rhonda (Haneefah Wood). The celebrities who play these rookies come along for the ride, but the twist is that they don't have a script. Both are ad-libbing as they go, to hilarious results. The seven-episode show (there was also a Christmas special) features celebrities like Conan O'Brien, Kumail Nanjiani, Ken Jeong, Jason Bateman, and Maya Rudolph, each bringing their own comedic style to the on-the-fly narrative. It's totally silly fun, and while there are awkward moments of silence where improv skills aren't as strong, each episode will make you laugh. Arnett is often able to fill in the gaps. Murderville Release Date 2022 - 2022-00-00 Network Netflix Seasons 1 Streaming Service(s) Netflix