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The Real U.S. Cases Behind Netflix Dramas

A familiar screen title is a useful starting point, but it is only one version of a story. These four guides connect Netflix dramas to their U.S. cases and further reading. We distinguish a source book from a separate account of the same events, so you can choose what to explore next without buying the wrong title.

By Unforgotten Casebook · Updated · AI-assisted guide with linked sources

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Selections are based on the documented case connection, not personal product reviews. Streaming catalogs and prices can change. These stories involve violence, loss or abuse; see the case file for content notes.

01 · Manhattan, New York

Inventing Anna

Anna Sorokin — Full Case File →

The series follows the New York fraud case involving Anna Sorokin, also known as Anna Delvey. Netflix identifies Jessica Pressler’s magazine article as its inspiration.

READ

My Friend Anna: The True Story of a Fake Heiress

Rachel DeLoache Williams

My Friend Anna, Rachel DeLoache Williams’s firsthand perspective on her relationship with Sorokin. This is related reading, not the source book for the Netflix series.

View Book on Amazon · paid link

Paperback · Check price and availability on Amazon.

WATCH

Inventing Anna

Netflix’s scripted limited series, with fictionalized characters and scenes. Follow the full case file for the reporting behind the public story.

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Open the case’s title listing for streaming, purchase and source details.

As You Explore: Ask whose perspective each account presents. Williams’s book and the show do not offer interchangeable versions of the events.

Source: Netflix on the article behind the series

02 · New Jersey and Pennsylvania

The Good Nurse

Charles Cullen / Amy Loughren — Full Case File →

The film adapts Charles Graeber’s nonfiction book about Charles Cullen and the investigation aided by Amy Loughren.

READ

The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder

Charles Graeber

The source book for a longer reported account of the hospital murders and investigation.

View Book on Amazon · paid link

Paperback · Check price and availability on Amazon.

WATCH

The Good Nurse

The dramatic film first, or the separately listed documentary Capturing the Killer Nurse for interviews and a different presentation.

See Viewing & Format Options →

Open the case’s title listing for streaming, purchase and source details.

As You Explore: Keep the actors’ portrayals separate from interviews with the people involved. The full case file collects both forms of screen coverage.

Source: Netflix’s film and source-book guide

03 · Lynnwood, Washington; Colorado

Unbelievable

Marie / The Unbelievable Investigation — Full Case File →

The series draws on reporting about Marie’s disbelieved rape report in Washington and the investigation in Colorado that connected the evidence.

READ

Unbelievable (Originally Published as A False Report)

T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong

The investigative book by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong. A False Report and the later title Unbelievable refer to editions of the same book.

View Book on Amazon · paid link

Paperback · Check price and availability on Amazon.

WATCH

Unbelievable

The scripted limited series. The case file connects it with the original reporting and further resources.

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Open the case’s title listing for streaming, purchase and source details.

As You Explore: Check the author names before buying: the changed book title does not represent a second independent account. Content includes sexual violence and victim blaming.

Source: Netflix on the reporting and book

04 · New York

When They See Us

The Central Park Five — Full Case File →
Yusef Salaam
Yusef Salaam
Photo creditMetropolitan Transportation Authority · CC BY 4.0. Cropped/resized. Adaptations use the same license.

Ava DuVernay’s drama follows the five teenagers wrongly convicted in the Central Park jogger case and the consequences for their lives.

READ

The Central Park Five

Sarah Burns

Sarah Burns’s The Central Park Five, a separate nonfiction account to read alongside the drama. It is not presented here as the series’ source book.

Find Book on Amazon · paid link

Title search · Confirm the author, edition and availability.

WATCH

When They See Us (2019)

The four-part drama, then explore the separately listed PBS documentary The Central Park Five in the case file.

See Viewing & Format Options →

Open the case’s title listing for streaming, purchase and source details.

As You Explore: The documentary, Burns’s book and DuVernay’s drama have different creators and approaches. Use the case’s legal records to check the underlying outcomes.

Source: Netflix’s official series description

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