The idea of turning real-life crimes into thrilling crime fiction goes back to the days of Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, and even earlier. The trend, however, reached far and wide via television with 1949’s Dragnet on NBC, and has since grown phenomenally. Often, the truths of real-life stories of crime are too shocking to absorb and accept, necessitating a dramatized, fictionalized take. Since the renaissance of true crime fiction on television, several crime mystery series like Mindhunter and Criminal Minds, featuring real-life cases, have amassed a huge fan following. Because the strangest facts make the best fiction, these shows have the best of both their veins. We bring you our selection of detective shows based on real cases, each of which explores some of the most shocking, strange, and vile real-life incidents, brought to life on the small screen with strong fictional narratives.