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Great mystery TV shows keep viewers guessing with each episode. Sometimes, this can look like the slow answering of overarching questions in a twisty mystery box series. Other times, these series present viewers with a new mystery each episode. From suspenseful thrillers to cozy dramedies, the best mystery series keep viewers entertained by the plot while getting them attached to the characters and their journeys.
It’s easy for mystery shows to start off with a solid premise, then lose their momentum later on – particularly when it comes time to answer the series’ biggest questions. Only a select handful of mystery series are truly fantastic all the way through. These series start off with a unique premise, engage viewers with compelling mysteries, and stick the landing with their reveals. These are mystery shows that are simply amazing from start to finish.
‘Mare of Easttown’ (2021)
Mare of Easttown is a thriller miniseries that follows Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet), a detective sergeant in the small town of Easttown, PA. The combination of a personal tragedy and an unsolved missing person’s case have left Mare struggling to prove herself again in her job. When a local teenage girl named Erin McMenamin (Cailee Spaeny) is found murdered, Mare takes the case on with determination, accompanied by her new partner, Colin Zabel (Evan Peters).
Mare of Easttown is intense, heartbreaking, and very clever in its storytelling. While the story centers around the question of who murdered Erin, the mystery is primarily used to expose a horrifying undercurrent of gendered violence in Easttown. The series is a powerful and emotional watch that manages to surprise with its ultimate killer reveal, in a way that both feels earned, and that touches on a bigger message.
‘Only Murders in the Building’ (2021–Present)
Only Murders in the Building hasn’t yet reached its conclusion, but in its five seasons so far, the series has been excellent throughout. The cozy murder mystery follows three lonely people who all live in the same iconic New York City building called the Arconia: Charles-Haden Savage (Steven Martin), Oliver Putnam (Martin Short), and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez). Charles, Oliver, and Mabel are all obsessed with the same true-crime podcast, and they come together after an Arconia resident named Tim Kono (Julian Cihi) is murdered.
Because the police believe that Tim’s death was a suicide, Charles, Oliver, and Mabel decide to take the investigation into their own hands. They start their own podcast, and against all odds, they find themselves making progress on the investigation and gaining success along the way. Only Murders in the Building has a compelling murder mystery each season, but it’s also very funny and cozy, perfectly blending its comedic and dramatic elements.
‘How to Get Away with Murder’ (2014–2020)
How to Get Away With Murder is a twisty thriller series that follows a brilliant and tough criminal defense lawyer named Annalise Keating (Viola Davis). Annalise teaches at a prestigious Philadelphia law school, and she also runs her own firm, where she picks a group of first-year students to intern each semester. At the start of the series, Annalise chooses five of her students to intern for her, right at the same time that the body of a female student is found.
Throughout the first season of How to Get Away With Murder, the main timeline is interspersed with flash-forwards to the murder of Annalise’s husband, Sam (Tom Verica). For a long time, little to nothing is revealed about Sam’s murder, except for scenes that show Annalise’s interns trying to bury the body and cover it up. Each season of How to Get Away with Murder has a central murder mystery that builds up to a reveal halfway through, and the payoff is always shocking.
‘Pushing Daisies’ (2007–2009)
Pushing Daisies is another cozy murder mystery series that’s a true delight from start to finish. The series takes place in a whimsical, fairytale-esque version of our world, where a pie maker named Ned (Lee Pace) is keeping a massive secret. Ned has the power to bring the dead back to life with a single touch, although there are a few rules that come with it. Along with running a pie shop, Ned assists Private Investigator Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) in solving murder cases – by temporarily waking the victims and asking them who killed them.
Each episode of Pushing Daisies centers on a hilariously absurd and over-the-top murder, with cases that see people being drowned in a vat of taffy and killed by an explosive pop-up book. At the center of the series, though, is the love story between Ned and his childhood sweetheart, Chuck (Anna Friel). Ned and Chuck lost touch as children, but they reconnect after her death, when he brings her back to life and risks everything to keep her around.
‘Severance’ (2022–Present)
Severance is a clever and suspenseful mystery box series that takes place in the dystopian near-future, where nearly everything is controlled by a company called Lumon Industries. Grieving widower Mark Scout (Adam Scott) previously underwent the “severance” procedure, separating his brain into a work self and an outside self. While Mark has no idea what he does for work, his “innie” has never known a life outside of it.
With just two seasons so far, Severance has already paid off so many of its central mysteries in brilliant and horrifying ways, all while making room for future storylines. The corruption of Lumon Industries goes deep, and the depths of the company’s plans are slowly revealed over the course of the series. Severance blends complex science fiction with intense thriller elements for a suspenseful and mind-bending viewing experience, and it doesn’t have a single bad episode.
‘Midnight Mass’ (2021)
Midnight Mass is a horror mystery series that follows Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford), a man who returns to Crockett Island, the tiny island where he grew up, after spending four years in prison for killing someone by driving drunk. Riley just wants to keep his head down, focus on his sobriety, and maybe reconnect with his first love, Erin Greene (Kate Siegel). At the same time, though, a mysterious new priest named Father Paul (Hamish Linklater) comes to Crockett Island and starts performing impossible miracles.
The mystery of Father Paul lingers over Midnight Mass, all building up to a shocking and disturbing reveal. Midnight Mass is full of terrifying and mind-blowing twists and turns, but it is also a beautiful and introspective series that tackles a number of powerful themes. Midnight Mass is deeply emotional, scary, and brilliant, and it doesn’t waste a single second of its viewers’ time.
‘The Leftovers’ (2014–2017)
The Leftovers makes the most of its three short seasons, telling a complete story that all builds up to one of the most beautiful series finales of all time. Each season of the post-apocalyptic drama series feels completely different, taking its characters on a complex journey in the years following a mysterious event that led 2% of the world’s population to suddenly disappear without a trace. The Leftovers is full of mysteries related to what they all call the Sudden Departure, but it’s also a series that isn’t afraid to leave some questions unanswered.
At the start of The Leftovers, Police Chief Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) struggles to keep the peace in his small town of Mapleton, New York, on the three-year anniversary of the Departure. His biggest concern is The Guilty Remnant, a cult whose sole goal is to keep people from ever moving on from the Departure. Each season dives deeper into the potential speculative elements at play, forcing both Kevin and viewers to consider something bigger at play, all while hovering on the brink between reality and the impossible.
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Jennie Richardson
Almontather Rassoul
