We Love Cordelia Cupp, But Have You Met These 4 Female Detectives From Netflix?
Netflix’s The Residence may have given us our new favorite character of 2025 in Cordelia Cupp, but with no clear word from the streaming giant on the future of the series, or her career, we have to turn elsewhere to get our dose of kick-ass female detectives.
Luckily, there are plenty of great options to choose from in the Netflix library. These four just happen to be personal favorites we can vouch for. Happy sleuthing!
Pip Fitz-Amobi
Pip Fitz-Amobi is as quirky and peppy as her name suggests, and felt like a grown-up, English version of Harriet The Spy. Even though A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder was adapted from the YA novel by Holly Jackson, this Netflix series felt like the spiritual successor to stylistically curated UK-teen favorites like Sex Education and Derry Girls, with a healthy dose of murder thrown in for good measure. It also drew parallels to French series La Forêt for it’s limited suspect pool in a close-knit community, giving the crime a more personal, intimate nature as Pip’s relationships are challenged by her investigation.
Enola Holmes
We’re continuing our YA journey with another Netflix favorite, brought to life from Nancy Springer’s mystery series that reimagined Conan Doyle’s famed sleuth with a younger, scrappy sister who is just as talented not only at fighting crime, but the patriarchy as well. Millie Bobby Brown shines in the two feature films dedicated to this character, and with a third on the way, we’re excited to watch Enola grow and evolve from a teen into a young woman. Not to mention the Victorian costumes and action scenes help fill the 14-year gap since Guy Ritchie’s last Holmes film.
Lidia Poët
The Law According To Lidia Poët is somewhat inappropriately named, because the Netflix reimagining of Italy’s first female lawyer is way more Nancy Drew than Elle Woods. From a plot perspective, much of that is due to Lidia being disbarred because of her gender, forcing her to practice law in secret and use her brother as a proxy to help clients in need, ‘defending’ them not in a courtroom, but by acquiring enough evidence to point to the true perpetrators. She is part vigilante, part femme fatale, part freedom fighter all wrapped into one, and with a third season confirmed, we get to follow her journey (and her love triangles) through another batch of grade-A episodes.
Maya Stern
One of Netflix’s many Harlen Coben adaptations, Fool Me Once follows widowed veteran, Maya Stern, in the wake of her husband and sister’s murders. After seeing her deceased husband on nanny-cam footage and tracking down a whistleblower with connections to her military past as well as the murders, she must find out how her losses are connected. It’s an easy watch with plenty of suspense and plot twists, but not much that you can’t stream before bed. Maya’s roles as victim, suspect, wife, mother, daughter-in-law, soldier, and vigilante add a complexity to her character that breaks the female side-kick mold.
