With The Perfect Couple going viral, Netflix is on a roll with TV mysteries. Starring Nicole Kidman as yet another elegant, dissatisfied rich lady, the series combines classic whodunnit tropes with campy, over-the-top elements, most notably that controversial dance sequence. What else could you ask for?
But beyond recent offerings, the streamer has long been delivering binge-worthy mysteries across genres, from wild time travel conspiracies to brooding period crime thrillers. Whether it's the haunting psychology of Alias Grace or the wild narrative gymnastics of Behind Her Eyes, each show on this list pulls viewers into plots that refuse to play it straight.
Here are the 15 best mystery series streaming on Netflix right now.
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Alias Grace (2017)
In Alias Grace, the viewer knows “whodunnit” from the start. This acclaimed miniseries begins with the notorious murderess Grace Marks (Sarah Gadon) serving a lengthy prison sentence for killing her employers. While there’s no question that she was involved in the murders, psychiatrist Dr. Simon Jordan (Edward Holcroft) is tasked with determining whether she acted of her own free will, or whether she was mentally ill or even possessed.
While peeling back the layers of Grace’s psychology, the series delves into class and the plight of women in 19th-century Canada while constantly keeping you guessing about her guilt or innocence.
Where to watch Alias Grace: Netflix
EW grade: A- (read the review)
Cast: Sarah Gadon, Edward Holcroft, Rebecca Liddiard, Anna Paquin, Zachary Levi, David Cronenberg
Related content: How Netflix’s Alias Grace compares to Margaret Atwood’s novel
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Behind Her Eyes (2021)
Based on the Sarah Pinborough novel that was once marketed with subway ads warning readers “DON’T TRUST THIS BOOK,” Behind Her Eyes follows Louise (Simona Brown), a single mother who begins an affair with her psychiatrist boss (Tom Bateman) but is drawn into a strange friendship with his mysterious wife, Adele (The Perfect Couple’s Eve Hewson). The series starts as a tense, slow-burn erotic thriller but slowly packs on the gonzo twists, building to a truly bonkers ending that will make you question everything that came before.
Where to watch Behind Her Eyes: Netflix
Cast: Eve Hewson, Tom Bateman, Simona Brown
Related content: Behind Her Eyes director breaks down the series' shocking twists
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Dark (2017–2020)
The German sci-fi series Dark starts with a small town reeling from the disappearance of a young boy, who is trapped in a mysterious location where unsettling experiments take place. While it may initially seem like a hybrid of Stranger Things and The OA, Dark quickly distinguishes itself with its heavier subject matter and intricate storytelling. What begins as a straightforward mystery unravels into an intergenerational time-travel conspiracy, growing more complex (and trippy) with each episode.
Cast: Louis Hofmann, Oliver Masucci, Karoline Eichhorn
Related content: Dark: Get an inside look at Netflix's first German series
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Fool Me Once (2024)
Fool Me Once opens with an irresistible mystery: ex-army recruit Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan) sees her murdered husband, Joe (Richard Armitage), on a nanny cam with her daughter. The unsettling discovery sends her spiraling into paranoia, as her search for the truth takes her deep into her late husband’s wealthy family and unravels connections to the murder of her sister, Claire (Natalie Anderson).
Adapted from Harlan Coben’s novel, an author who shows up several times on this list, Fool Me Once is a binge-able treat and one of Netflix’s most-watched English-language series to date.
Where to watch Fool Me Once: Netflix
Cast: Michelle Keegan, Richard Armitage, Adeel Akhtar, Joanna Lumley
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A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (2024)
Making a case for the underused “teen sleuth” genre, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder follows Pip (Wednesday’s Emma Myers), a high schooler who refuses to accept the official story behind the death of a local girl. Haunted by her last encounter with the alleged killer — the victim’s boyfriend — Pip investigates the case for a school project and tries to prove his innocence.
In many ways, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is a classic murder mystery, but like many great teen shows, it uses genre conventions along with high school tropes to tell a fresh story about coming of age.
Where to watch A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder: Netflix
Cast: Emma Myers, Zain Iqbal, Asha Banks
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Inside Man (2022)
Created by Doctor Who’s Steven Moffat, Inside Man weaves two seemingly unrelated storylines: a former criminologist (Stanley Tucci) who is on death row and uses his insight to solve mysteries, and a small-town English vicar (David Tennant) who is embroiled in a scandal. The dual narrative structure allows their lives to converge in unexpected ways, and the nuanced, often frightening performances from Tucci and Tennant make this underseen mystery series well worth a watch.
Where to watch Inside Man: Netflix
Cast: David Tennant, Stanley Tucci, Dolly Wells
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High Seas (2019–2020)
Set in the late 1940s, High Seas (original title Alta Mar) is a Spanish thriller that follows two sisters aboard a luxurious ocean liner where several suspicious deaths occur. As the pair investigates, they discover long-buried secrets involving their father, a secret microfilm, and hidden Nazi gold. Featuring Pan’s Labyrinth breakout star Ivana Baquero, High Seas is a nostalgic, escapist murder mystery with a glamorous ocean setting (and more than a little melodrama).
Where to watch High Seas: Netflix
Cast: Ivana Baquero, Alejandra Onieva, Jon Kortajarena
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Outer Banks (2020–present)
The show that launched a thousand TikTok videos, Outer Banks follows a group of blue-collar teens, the "Pogues," as they hunt for lost treasure in the Outer Banks of North Carolina while navigating class conflict with their wealthy rivals, the "Kooks." Beneath that teen drama is also a confounding mystery as the Pogues search for one of their cohort’s missing fathers.
With its addictive plot and sun-soaked coastal aesthetic, the series built a cult following during the pandemic and launched its young cast to stardom, especially Madelyn Cline and Chase Stokes.
Where to watch Outer Banks: Netflix
Cast: Chase Stokes, Madelyn Cline, Madison Bailey, Jonathan Daviss
Related content: Outer Banks to end with season 5: 'It will be our best yet'
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Mindhunter (2017–2019)
Thanks to shows like Criminal Minds, watching law enforcement agents analyze serial killers can feel par for the course. But Mindhunter goes back to the beginning, when the FBI first dove into the minds of some of history's most notorious criminals. Set in the 1970s, the series explores the early days of forensic psychology and profiling, when the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit began interviewing America’s worst offenders to discover what made them tick, including Ed Kemper (Cameron Britton), “Son of Sam” David Berkowitz (Oliver Cooper), and Charles Manson (Damon Herriman).
Where to watch Mindhunter: Netflix
Cast: Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, Anna Torv
Related content: What to know about Mindhunter season 2's infamous serial killers
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The OA (2016–2019)
Ridiculous interpretive dance aside, The OA is an instantly intriguing metaphysical mystery. The series begins with a blind woman named Prairie Johnson (creator and executive producer Brit Marling), who returns home with her sight restored and tells a fantastical story about what happened during her seven-year disappearance. Though season 1 had a divisive ending, season 2 was so highly acclaimed that the show’s cancellation was met with an outpouring of support and even a hunger strike.
Where to watch The OA: Netflix
EW grade: B+ (read the review)
Cast: Brit Marling, Jason Isaacs, Emory Cohen, Phyllis Smith
Related content: Why The OA Part II is set in a universe where Barack Obama was never president
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The Perfect Couple (2024)
Based on the beach read by Elin Hilderbrand, The Perfect Couple follows a woman named Amelia (Eve Hewson) who is about to marry into a wealthy family, but a shocking death at the rehearsal dinner soon embroils the attendees in a murder mystery. The show quickly went viral, thanks in part to its sillier, over-the-top elements — the cast might have hated that viral dance sequence, but it was just another wonderfully campy aspect of this mystery series, which keeps you guessing who the killer is until the very end.
Where to watch The Perfect Couple: Netflix
EW grade: B (read the review)
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Eve Hewson, Liev Schreiber, Dakota Fanning, Meghann Fahy
Related content: The Perfect Couple show vs. book: See all the changes made in the new Netflix series
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Safe (2018)
Another twisty Harlan Coben adaptation, Safe stars Dexter’s Michael C. Hall (with a shockingly convincing English accent) as a widower whose teenage daughter goes missing. Her disappearance becomes the center of a web of secrets, including an accusation of sexual abuse by a teacher, who happens to be her boyfriend’s mother. The series is satisfyingly pulpy, with lots of melodramatic reveals and strong core performances holding it all together.
Cast: Michael C. Hall, Amanda Abbington, Marc Warren
Related content: Michael C. Hall returns to TV in Netflix's twisty thriller Safe: See the first trailer
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The Sinner (2017–2021)
Instead of a whodunnit, The Sinner is famously a “whydunnit,” where each season explores a different case with a seemingly normal perpetrator and an unknown motive. The seasons are also connected by Bill Pullman’s grizzled detective Harry Ambrose, who delves into the psychology of each perpetrator while struggling with his own trauma. The first season, starring Jessica Biel as a woman who kills a stranger on a crowded beach, is the most well-known thanks to Biel’s acclaimed performance, but every installment is worth watching, especially Carrie Coon’s cult-related plotline in season 2.
Where to watch The Sinner: Netflix
Cast: Bill Pullman, Jessica Biel, Carrie Coon, Matt Bomer, Chris Messina
Related content: Jessica Biel planned to quit Hollywood if she couldn't sell The Sinner: 'Doors did not open'
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The Stranger (2020)
Based on yet another novel by “master of mystery” Harlan Coben, The Stranger revolves around Adam Price (Richard Armitage), whose seemingly perfect life unravels after a peculiar woman known only as "the stranger" (Hannah John-Kamen) reveals a devastating secret about his wife, Corinne (Dervla Kirwan). As Adam searches for answers, Corinne disappears, setting off a chain of events that exposes hidden lies and dangerous conspiracies within their community.
Where to watch The Stranger: Netflix
Cast: Richard Armitage, Siobhan Finneran, Jennifer Saunders, Anthony Head, Hannah John-Kamen
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Wednesday (2022–present)
Tim Burton and Jenna Ortega are a match made in hell in this spooky, gothic teen mystery series. Wednesday follows a teenaged Wednesday Addams at Nevermore Academy, a sort of darker Hogwarts for supernatural outcasts. There, she discovers that she possesses psychic abilities and attempts to solve a series of murders in the surrounding town of Jericho. Come for the murder mystery, stay for Burton’s trademark aesthetic and Ortega’s iconic, viral “Goo Goo Muck” dance.
Where to watch Wednesday: Netflix
Cast: Jenna Ortega, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán, Emma Myers
Related content: Wednesday behind-the-scenes video offers first look at 'bigger and more twisted' season 2