Netflix subscribers know of the score of mystery shows on the streamer. There are the spy thrillers like The Night Agent, the various Harlan Coben dramas, and more. Many involve searching for a missing person and often with a supernatural edge.
However, Netflix is home to a bevy of terrific classic murder mystery shows as well. They can range from sprawling casts with whodunnits to a few more like police procedurals. They all involve searching for a killer, often in a tight setting and play well with the clues and twists. If you’re a classic murder mystery fan, each of these shows is worth looking into for a fun ride, as only Netflix can provide.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
This nicely crafted series stars Emma Myers as Pip, a British teen who, for a project, does a story on the supposedly long-solved murder of a high school girl years before. The more she looks into it, the more Pip becomes convinced the supposed killer (who took his own life) didn’t do it and is determined to discover the truth.
There are a lot of turns with Pip facing the key problem in that no one in the town wants this dredged up again. Myers makes for a wonderful lead, imbuing Pip with strength and intellect as she faces major dangers. At just six episodes, it flows well and ends up being a terrific entry that, thankfully, will get a second season for more mysteries.
The Residence
A vast cast is the drawing card of this offbeat series that’s up the alley of Knives Out fans. During a state dinner at the White House, the chief usher of the building (Giancarlo Esposito) is found dead. While the Secret Service and cops argue about it, they’re both thrown by the arrival of brilliantly eccentric detective Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba), who starts piecing together the truth.
The framing device of a Senate hearing with multiple flashbacks to the night may be a bit distracting. However, Aduba’s performance makes up for it as Cupp operates on a different level than others, even if she’s obsessed with bird-watching more than the crime. The multiple twists and clues are well-written and the extended finale brings it all together. The setting and the lead do make for a great whodunnit that keeps you guessing to the end.
Murderville
While played as a comedy, this show also works as a turn on the police mystery procedural. Will Arnett is Terry Seattle, a cliche, hard-nosed, if clumsy cop dealing with his soon-to-be ex-wife, who’s also the police chief. The show is a comedy with two excellent gimmicks. The first is that every episode has Terry partnered with a celebrity playing themselves, from Conan O’Brien to Sharon Stone.
The second gimmick is the guest star is given no script, so they have no idea what’s coming. That leads to hysterical situations of them trying to be cops in offbeat cases. While it’s played for laughs, the mysteries are surprisingly well done and each episode ends with the guest star trying to determine who’s the killer. Between Arnett, the guest stars, and the improv mysteries, it’s a show unlike any other on this list.
Bodies
Moving into sci-fi, this series opens with a delicious premise. In 1890, 1941, 2023, and 2053, four different detectives investigate a naked corpse in the same London alley. Here’s the kicker: Somehow, it’s the same body in each time period. That strange mystery leads to a case literally spanning centuries that gets more convoluted as it goes.
The series captures each era from the 19th century to World War II to a dystopian future very well. There are great characters like the 1890 cop hiding his sexuality or the semi-corrupt WWII cop trying to be a better man. The question of just who this body is and how all these eras connect is fascinating to explore. It amazingly holds together for a fantastic ending and proof mixing sci-fi with a murder mystery can work.
Get Even
This too-overlooked 2020 British show focuses on a quartet of girls at a boarding school who form a club called DGM (Don’t Get Mad) that secretly works to expose the bullies at the school. Things take a turn when another student is killed with a DGM card in his hands. Believing someone is trying to frame the club, the girls seek to solve the crime and clear their names.
The quartet is a unique bunch, like the “rich girl” who’s not that rich, one fighting her demanding family, and the bond they share makes for lovely interaction. The mystery lies in how ruthless schools can be and some romances as well. It’s too bad it only lasted one season yet deserves attention as a fun teen mystery.
The Perfect Couple
It seems like Nicole Kidman is all over the place when it comes to streaming TV series about wealthy people. Here, she plays a rich novelist whose family is hosting a lavish wedding at their Nantucket estate. That’s an eye-opener for the regular bride (Eve Hewson) who enters their world. The wedding is marred by a murder that might expose the dark secrets the family carries.
The talented cast, featuring Liev Schreiber, Meghann Fahy, Dakota Fanning, and more, brings this complicated mystery to life with some standout performances. Kidman, of course, is captivating as the woman more concerned with the family image than the death. At only six episodes, it doesn’t drag too much and Kidman alone makes it a mystery worth bingeing on.
Bodkin
A murder mystery set in Ireland has a different vibe as the lush backgrounds are in sharp contrast to the wicked deaths. This inventive series has an American podcaster (Will Forte) coming to a small Irish town to investigate the disappearance of three residents decades prior. He’s aided by a journalist (Siobhán Cullen) who’s figuring out who killed her source on a major story.
The dual plotlines combine into the classic “small town with big secrets” theme. It’s well directed, with Forte playing against type as the podcaster at first in over his head but becomes a good aid to the more intense Cullen. The seven-episode series is like reading a good book and a reminder of how Ireland’s magic can extend to murder as well.
The Lincoln Lawyer
While it may seem like a legal drama, this adaptation of the Michael Connelly books also works as a great murder mystery, Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is a defense attorney mostly working out of his Lincoln car. Each of the show’s three seasons has Mickey taking on a client accused of murder, which leads him to try and unravel the real crook. He also handles a variety of smaller cases that have nice touches.
Each season works as its own novel, with Mickey aided by both of his ex-wives (one a prosecutor and the other an aspiring lawyer), and season 2 has him romancing his client (Lana Parilla). The third season ended on a wild note to set up the coming fourth, so if you want a mix of mystery in a legal thriller, book a stint with Mickey.
High Seas
This Spanish-language series works thanks to its setting and unique location. It opens in the late 1940s as two sisters take a cruise from Spain to Brazil, befriending a stowaway along the way. When said stowaway is thrown overboard, the sisters work with the ship’s detective to figure out the truth and, along the way, discover a conspiracy from Nazi gold to their own supposedly dead father.
The 1940s setting helps the show, along with the good cast. Having it all take place on a ship in the middle of the ocean enhances the dangers. Amazingly, the show kept going for three seasons, each year with a new ocean-bound mystery. Watching the sisters bond and grow as crime solvers and the gorgeous filming makes this a series to go out to sea for.
The Chestnut Man
We have to have at least one Nordic TV show on this list and this is one of the absolute best. In 1987, an entire family was found murdered in a remote village. Thirty years later, another woman is found dead in a playground with a hand missing. A troubled detective and her new partner investigate the murder of a dentist with a chestnut figure next to him with the fingerprints of the missing daughter of a top minister.
How do these events all connect? That’s the key to the show, which carries the moody aura and broken characters that make “Nordic noir” so addictive. The two leads are compelling, along with the cliffhangers for each episode. It concludes with a fine wrap-up and one of the best of the Nordic crime library on Netflix.
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