Whether it’s true crime or fiction, Netflix is one of the top streamers for the best crime and mystery content.
There are offerings from all ends of the crime spectrum. If you’re eager for your next true crime fix, check out the wild story of Beauty and the Bester. If you prefer narrative to documentary, then Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story might be for you.
For September 2025, the Watch With Us team brainstormed a catalogue of the very best crime and mystery series that Netflix has to offer. Read on to see our picks below.
Need more recommendations? Then check out the Best New Shows on Netflix, Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and More, the Best Movies on Amazon Prime Video Right Now, the Best British Crime Shows on Right Now and the Must-Watch Reality Shows on Prime Video.
‘Beauty and the Bester’ (2025)
In 2022, convicted rapist and scammer Thabo Bester appeared to have committed suicide in his jail cell, where he was serving life in prison after his conviction in 2012. When his burned body turned up in his jail cell, authorities presumed self-immolation. But one year later, Bester is found living under an alias in Johannesburg, with his alleged escape accomplice and lover, the influencer aesthetics doctor Nandipha Magudumana. They were arrested and are currently awaiting trial.
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Beauty and the Bester takes a look at this absurd, modern-day South African Bonnie and Clyde story: the circumstances surrounding Bester — dubbed the “Facebook rapist” — and his initial conviction, his alleged escape and aftermath, and the psychology behind his bizarre, ill-fated relationship with Magudumana. Using a variety of testimony from various sources, Beauty and the Bester crafts a compelling portrait of a real-life case that’s the stuff of movies.
‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’ (2024)
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Monster anthology series takes a look at the infamous Menendez brothers case from 1989, in which the two brothers (played by Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez in the show) killed both of their parents after allegedly enduring years of abuse. The show depicts the fraught family life between the brothers and their parents, offering a depiction of the environment in which children could be led to commit parricide.
A newly minted Emmy winner, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story features exceptional lead performances from Javier Bardem and Chlöe Sevigny, who play the brothers’ parents, José and Kitty Menendez. Using a Rashomon-style storytelling device, the series utilizes different perspectives on important events and potentially unreliable narrators to paint a portrait of the case that is ultimately left up to interpretation by the viewer.
‘Mindhunter’ (2017-2019)
Set in the late 1970s, Mindhunter follows two FBI agents who track down psychopathic killers by getting into their heads. Agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) deign to understand the psychology of a serial killer, looking at their upbringings and mangled psyches to think like them. While effectively pioneering modern serial killer profiling, the two agents find themselves often getting a little too close to their subjects.
Executive produced by director David Fincher (who frequently directed episodes, oversaw the screenwriting and production, and was viewed by many as the de facto showrunner), Mindhunter was sadly canceled after only two seasons but had developed a passionate fanbase. The series was widely acclaimed, unique within its genre for its cinematic visual flair and painstaking character development. At the same time, Groff and McCallany have fantastic chemistry, which adds a richness to the already compelling and detailed narrative.
‘Dark’ (2017-2020)
When walking home through the woods with friends, a child mysteriously vanishes one night in the small German town of Winden. In the race to find him, secrets are revealed among the otherwise ordinary citizens and their families, along with the troubled history that the town rests on — and that they are all connected to. The interconnections between past and present prove to be cosmic, and a dark, supernatural secret that’s been hiding in plain sight threatens to unravel both Winden and the entire world.
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Starring Louis Hoffman and a cast of talented, mostly unknown-to-Americans German actors, Dark is a stellar hybridization of science fiction, crime drama, and mystery, working as a piece of puzzle box art filled with complex twists and existentialist themes. The intricate nature of the multi-generational plot includes a time-travel conspiracy, while handling its expansive web of characters and decades with care. The first German-language show produced for Netflix, Dark transcends genre trappings. It’s an atmospheric, philosophical slow-burn that can’t be missed.
To be considered “the best,” these films and series can be visually engaging, intellectually stimulating or simply just fun to watch, but the one trait they must have is that they are all, in some way, entertaining. We then check which platform they are streaming on and how you can access them as a subscriber. No algorithm nonsense or paid endorsements here — our recommendations are based purely on our love and interest for the films and shows we love.
