10 Detective Shows That Are Perfect From Beginning to End

Published Sep 29, 2026, 8:55 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.

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Who doesn't love a good detective TV show? They draw you in as the lead characters — whether they're actual detectives, consultants, or even amateur sleuths — do their best to uncover mysteries and solve crimes. Some of these shows run as miniseries, only a single season long. Some are anthologies, with different cases and characters in each season.

Whatever the case, the best detective shows are perfect from start to finish, from one season to the next, from the first episode to the last. They are the types of shows where you have a tough time stopping midway through, wanting to binge through an entire season over a weekend to get to the end and figure out what happened.

10 'Only Murders in the Building' (2021–Present)

Image via Hulu

Technically, Only Murders in the Building isn't finished since the mystery comedy drama is confirmed to return for a sixth season. But every season that follows a different murder, coincidentally in the same building, develops the core story even more and introduces exciting new characters. Led by Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez, they play Charles, Oliver, and Mabel, respectively, three true crime podcast lovers who get caught up in a murder and decide to try to solve it themselves. This leads them down a rabbit hole of murder after murder, season after season.

The near-perfect thriller show is packed with celebrity appearances to complement the compelling and creative stories. The characters draw you in so well, and the show is so unafraid to poke fun at itself that it doesn't matter that the premise becomes less believable with each passing season. From the humor to the element of mystery and the temptation to try and connect dots as the viewer as well, Only Murders in the Building is one of the best of the genre that focuses on a trio of main characters who aren't even real detectives at all.

9 'The Residence' (2025)

Image via Netflix

If you love the Knives Out movie franchise, you'll appreciate The Residence. It's a shame the mystery comedy wasn't renewed for a second season. Uzo Aduba plays Cordelia Cupp, a consultant for the police with an eccentric personality but a killer knack for solving crimes. She's the gender-swapped Benoit Blanc with methods that seem odd and purposeless until it comes into focus how much she's observing and piecing things together as she goes.

The story revolves around the death of White House Chief Usher A.B. Wynter (Giancarlo Esposito), his body found during a state dinner. No one can leave until Cordelia questions them all. As she does, each person has a different account of events from their perspective. Fingers are pointed, but little by little, the puzzle begins to come together. It's a brilliant eight episodes you'll easily gobble up in a single sitting. With the cliffhanger endings, you'll be dying to know who the killer is each time the person you thought was guilty is ruled out and suspicion points to someone else.

8 'The Afterparty' (2022–2023)

Image via Apple TV+

A fun and quirky take on the detective genre, Tiffany Haddish plays Detective Danner in The Afterparty, a woman looking into the murder of a pop icon and movie star at the afterparty of his high school reunion. Emotions are running high, and everyone has a motive — a bone to pick with the arrogant man who made it big. As Danner interviews suspects, their version of events is each told in a different genre style, from action movie to psychological horror and rom-com.

The Afterparty is one of the most unique mystery shows. The second season had a different cast, with Haddish returning as Danner alongside Sam Richardson and Zoë Chao. It isn't as strong as Season 1, but it's still a fun and wild ride through another unbelievable story of murder. If you're looking for a light-hearted detective show that takes you on a different journey with every episode, The Afterparty is a perfect fit since it mixes so many genres together, with comedy at the forefront.

Collider Exclusive · Villain Personality Quiz Which Criminal Mastermind Would Be Your Nemesis? Lecter · Joker · Moriarty · Chigurh

Four of the finest criminal minds ever put on screen. One of them would look at you and see something worth their time. Eight questions decide which one comes for you, why they picked you, and what they would want when they arrived.

🍷Lecter

🃏Joker

♟️Moriarty

🪙Chigurh

MEET YOUR NEMESIS →

01

What would a criminal mastermind notice about you first? Great villains choose their opponents carefully. Something about you got their attention.

AMy manners, and everything I am careful not to say. BThat I still believe people are basically decent. CThat I am clever, and quietly enjoy proving it. DThat I handle things myself, and always have.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

How do they make first contact? The introduction tells you everything about what is coming next.

AA polite letter. Beautiful handwriting. Quietly wrong. BSomething on fire, with a message left beside it. CA puzzle, left where only I would look. DNo contact. Just the aftermath, and a coin.

NEXT QUESTION →

03

What do you actually believe about right and wrong? Every nemesis is really an argument about the thing you believe most.

AThere are lines. Mine are private and absolute. BRules are the only thing keeping us from being animals. CMorality is a system, and systems can be solved. DThings happen. Most of it was never up to me.

NEXT QUESTION →

04

What finally gets under your skin? Everybody has a pressure point. Finding yours is the whole plan.

ABeing seen clearly by somebody I cannot read. BWatching good people do something ugly. CLosing to someone who was simply better prepared. DHaving no move left that changes anything.

NEXT QUESTION →

05

They have made their move. How do you fight back? This is the part of the film where the audience finds out who you are.

ACarefully, and never where they expect to be touched. BLoudly. I would rather lose than play their game. CWith a better plan. I can out-think this. DDirectly, once, with whatever is closest to hand.

NEXT QUESTION →

06

What would they use against you? A good villain never brings a weapon you have not already handed them.

AMy privacy. I have kept far too much to myself. BMy conscience. I will not cross the line they want. CMy ego. I cannot resist a worthy opponent. DMy certainty that I can handle it alone.

NEXT QUESTION →

07

What do they actually want from you? The money is never the point. Something else always is.

ATo understand me better than anyone ever has. BTo prove I am no better than they are. CTo finally be beaten by someone worth the trouble. DNothing at all. I stepped into the wrong path.

NEXT QUESTION →

08

How does it end between the two of you? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who comes for you.

AA conversation I will be replaying for years. BA choice forced on me that has no clean answer. COne final move, and the better mind wins. DA coin in the air, and nothing I can say.

REVEAL MY NEMESIS →

The Case File Is Complete Your Nemesis Is…

Four criminal masterminds. One of them was always going to be yours. Here is who comes for you, why they picked you out of everyone available, and what they want from the encounter.

Hannibal Lecter

Your nemesis does not want to beat you. He wants to know you completely, and he is patient enough to wait for it. The frightening part is how good the conversation is.

• Lecter is the most dangerous kind of opponent: the one who finds you interesting. He never raises his voice, because he has never needed to.
• You keep a great deal to yourself and you are careful about what you show. That reserve is exactly the door he would knock on.
• The films understood something other thrillers missed. The horror is not the violence. It is being perfectly understood by the wrong person.
• He would be unfailingly polite about all of it. That is the worst part.

The Joker

Your nemesis is not after money, territory or revenge. He is after a demonstration, and you are the person he has chosen to prove his point on.

• The Joker only picks opponents who believe in something. Your decency is not a defence against him. It is the entire reason he showed up.
• He has no plan you can predict and nothing you can take away, which removes every tool you would normally reach for.
• His whole argument is that you are one bad day away from being him, and you would spend the rest of your life proving him wrong.
• He would call it a magic trick. You would call it the worst night of your life.

Moriarty

Your nemesis respects you, which sounds flattering until you work out what it means. He chose you because nobody else was worth his time.

• Moriarty is the original criminal mastermind, the template every later one borrows from: a mind the equal of the hero's, pointed the wrong way.
• You enjoy being the cleverest person in the room. He is counting on exactly that, and he has already built the room.
• This is the rare nemesis who would be genuinely disappointed if you lost badly. He needs the game to be worth playing.
• It ends the way these things always end. Two people, one problem, and only one way down.

Anton Chigurh

Your nemesis has no personal interest in you whatsoever, and that is precisely what makes him unsurvivable. You are not a rival. You are a stop on the way.

• Chigurh does not negotiate, gloat or explain. He arrives, he asks one question, and the answer was decided long before you opened your mouth.
• You trust yourself to handle things. He is the one problem in the world that has no interest in how capable you are.
• No Country for Old Men rewrote the screen villain by removing the thing audiences quietly rely on: the sense that talking might work.
• Call it. He will wait.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

7 'Dexter' (2006–2013)

Image via Showtime

Admittedly, Dexter is one of the best shows with one of the worst finales ever. But it still qualifies as being perfect from start to finish because it continues more than a decade after it ended with the new sequel series Dexter: Resurrection, which is currently filming its second season. The crime drama centers around everyone's favorite vigilante serial killer, Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), whose father taught him how to channel his urges into only killing (and dismembering) bad people who "deserve it." The interesting angle is that Dexter also works as a bloodstain pattern analyst for the Miami Metro police department, which gives him access and a unique understanding of how to clean a crime scene.

The intense show is riveting, as Dexter often goes against his own department to figure out who the killer is first and take them down himself to satiate his dark desires. Thus, it's a cat-and-mouse game between the real detectives and the lowly blood guy. In the new series, Dexter is running from people from his past, along with new detective foes who have their suspicions about him. Dexter's charm and ability to spin situations and think quickly on his feet make this show such a compelling detective series with such a weirdly likable protagonist. You'll devour all eight seasons in no time and be fully ready to sink your teeth into the new show, as well as the limited series sequel Dexter: New Blood and the short-lived prequel Dexter: Original Sin.

6 'The Wire' (2002–2008)

Image via HBO

Applauded for its realness, The Wire focuses on detectives and how their jobs revolve around other institutions within the city of Baltimore, including government and bureaucracy, education and school, and the media, as well as how it all ties back to crime. The crime drama is intensified with stories that feel like they're pulled right from the headlines, largely thanks to the fact that a real-life homicide detective and public-school teacher serves as a writing partner alongside the creator.

The Wire, often credited as one of the best shows ever on television, doesn't sugarcoat any aspect of the job, nor the way it's navigated alongside all these other institutions and the complicated web they weave. It sheds light on law enforcement and the challenges they face, and how wins and losses are par for the course.

5 'True Detective' (2014–Present)

Every season of True Detective, a near-perfect detective show, is a new story with a new cast, always involving detectives solving a crime. Some seasons flip back and forth in the past, covering a cold case that is bubbling to the surface. Each one is enthralling, holding your attention from beginning to end.

With an A-list cast every season and fantastic writing, it's no surprise the series has earned numerous Emmy Awards and nominations. With the latest fourth season reinvigorating the series five years after Season 3 and a fifth in the works with Nicolas Cage reportedly in talks to star, True Detective remains one of the definitive series of the genre.

4 'The Sinner' (2017–2021)

Image via USA Network

A police procedural anthology series, Bill Pullman ties each season of The Sinner together as police detective Harry Ambrose, investigating a different case each season. The crimes are always committed by someone you'd least expect, and Harry works not only to prove who did it, but also to figure out why this person would do such a thing when it seems completely unlike them.

The show, one of the best detective shows on Netflix, was so successful after Season 1 that it went from initially being a miniseries to becoming an anthology, running for three more seasons. From Season 1, when Harry investigates a troubled woman who stabbed a man to death, to his retirement in Season 4, when he is recruited one last time, it offers brilliant writing and acting throughout.

3 'Mare of Easttown' (2021)

Image via IMDb

Kate Winslet brings her fantastic acting to the small screen in Mare of Easttown, one of the greatest detective shows. She's Marianne "Mare" Sheehan, a detective sergeant in Pennsylvania who is trying to restore her reputation by solving the murder of a young girl and the disappearance of another. She has personal troubles to deal with at the same time, however, which impact her ability to do her job.

Mare of Easttown combines crime drama with an emotional story of a fractured family and a broken woman looking to piece her life together and bring justice to a family that has never gotten answers. The show earned 16 Emmy nominations and won four, and the seven episodes are a must-watch for any fan of detective series.

2 'The Outsider' (2020)

Image via HBO

The Outsider was such a good miniseries that even today, fans are still hoping the show might come back in some fashion to continue the story. The series, based on the Stephen King novel, is about Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman), a Little League baseball coach accused of murdering a young boy. But no one in the small town can believe he did it, even detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn). The investigation becomes less about convicting Terry than it is about figuring out what's truly going on, and it eventually leads to weird, supernatural elements.

An exciting story that combines crime and justice with a belief in the unexplained, The Outsider takes you on a journey through the 10 episodes that includes complex and mysterious turns as it goes. Reportedly, a script has been written for a second season, but HBO didn't commission it. Fans are still hopeful for a return.

1 'Mindhunter' (2017–2019)

Image via Netflix

Another show that ended but fans won't give up on is Mindhunter. The series tells the real-life story of the coining of the term serial killer by special agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany), who come to work in the newly formed Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) of the FBI. It's fascinating to consider that there was a time when there wasn't a word to describe repeat killers — those who did so in ritualistic fashion because of a twisted compulsion, not just rage or a desire to kill.

Mindhunter features interviews with actors playing real-life serial killers, parts of the dialogue taken from real transcripts, which makes the show even more intriguing. Airing for just two seasons of 19 episodes, that wasn't enough. Seeing the criminal psychology aspect of detective work had viewers glued to their screens, understanding and learning alongside these two agents who couldn't believe what they were hearing, yet were as fascinated as they were horrified.

Mindhunter