Hallmark Mysteries: Mysterious Small Town Hijinks Ensue - General Discussion

[Daff]

That, too. It’s sad, because the actors and the characters they played were thoroughly watchable. They could have stretched the story over two or 3 movies.

[Clawdette]

I thought the young lady playing Grace, Erica Tremblay, was perfect for the role.  She looked like a teenager and, for a change, wasn't overly moody and rude.  Of course, that's how the character was written so a big thanks to the writers for curbing the drama.

She is the sister of Jacob Tremblay (Room) so there is talent in that family. Another sibling, Emma, is also an actor.

Edited March 15, 2023 by Clawdette

[Irlandesa]

I enjoyed The Cases of Mystery Lane quite a bit.  I think it's the specific details they threw in that made me dig it.  For instance, everything they said about Paul's character would have made me want to divorce him too. 

And I got such a kick out of the one lawyer being the murdered guy's lover (kind of guessed that) but I didn't predict that the wife knew and was absolutely fine with it all--including them going on a cruise together. Look at Hallmark, casually dropping an open relationship without judgment into one of their movies.

I also appreciated that it was the guy who got in trouble by revealing his suspicions to the culprit although I wish his wife would have been the one to save him even if the person who did was a fun callback.

[kirinan]

7 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I also appreciated that it was the guy who got in trouble by revealing his suspicions to the culprit although I wish his wife would have been the one to save him even if the person who did was a fun callback.

I enjoyed The Cases of Mystery Lane very much—which surprised me since I'm generally not a mystery fan. And even though I totally expected Birdie to be the one to save Alden, I laughed out loud when I realized who actually did save him; that really was a fun callback.

I'm one of those people who came late to the Paul Campbell fan club; I didn't dislike him, he just didn't stand out to me for some reason. But boy, has he become one of my favorites over the last couple of years. He's funny, he can bring the drama, he's talented, and he is now must-see TV for me. I hope this movie does well and we have more movies with Alden and Birdie.

[Guest]

I really liked The Cases of Mystery Lane. The only downside was that I guessed the killer almost immediately and the actress playing her just wasn’t that good.

I haven’t liked a mystery series this much since Mystery 101. The tone of this was completely but I liked that they embraced the cheesiness. 

12 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I think it's the specific details they threw in that made me dig it.  For instance, everything they said about Paul's character would have made me want to divorce him too. 

And I got such a kick out of the one lawyer being the murdered guy's lover (kind of guessed that) but I didn't predict that the wife knew and was absolutely fine with it all--including them going on a cruise together. Look at Hallmark, casually dropping an open relationship without judgment into one of their movies.

I felt the same way. The characters felt more fleshed out and less cliche. 

 

5 hours ago, kirinan said:

And even though I totally expected Birdie to be the one to save Alden, I laughed out loud when I realized who actually did save him; that really was a fun callback.

That was. Having that be who was following all along was clever but I’m confused about why a detective is taking a PI class. 

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, Dani said:

That was. Having that be who was following all along was clever but I’m confused about why a detective is taking a PI class. 

I was curious about that as well but I just figured that in order to get certified, you needed to take some kind of certification class. 

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

I was curious about that as well but I just figured that in order to get certified, you needed to take some kind of certification class. 

Yeah but I still couldn’t figure out why a detective would want to be certified as a PI. His badge would give him more access than a PI would ever get. 

Can cops moonlight has PI’s? Maybe he is just bad at his job and was trying to get better at surveillance. Paul’s character spotted him almost immediately. 🤷‍♀️

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, Dani said:

Yeah but I still couldn’t figure out why a detective would want to be certified as a PI. His badge would give him more access than a PI would ever get. 

Can cops moonlight has PI’s?

Maybe he wants to go into that job instead of being a police officer.  If there's another movie and he's in it, I hope they tell us.

[GaT]

Wow, I can't tell you how much I disliked Alden. This series is not for me.

[andromeda331]

16 minutes ago, GaT said:

Wow, I can't tell you how much I disliked Alden. This series is not for me.

Same here.  I hated Alden.

[Daff]

On 3/20/2023 at 10:31 AM, kirinan said:

I hope this movie does well and we have more movies with Alden and Birdie.

According to IMDb, they made another one dated 2023. Since PC does have such a large following, I’m surprised that the channel didn’t advertise this to death.

Wrong. I saw a movie with a very similar cover, but it is a movie that Matt Hamilton made, unrelated to this one. He was the officer with the gun in this movie, a different detective in the movie I mistook as related to CoMS.

On 3/20/2023 at 5:57 PM, Dani said:

Yeah but I still couldn’t figure out why a detective would want to be certified as a PI. His badge would give him more access than a PI would ever get. 

Using his professional credentials (ie, the badge) to investigate something that wasn’t part of a departmental investigation could get him in a lot of trouble.

Edited March 22, 2023 by Daff

[LuvMyShows]

On 3/21/2023 at 2:04 AM, GaT said:

Wow, I can't tell you how much I disliked Alden. This series is not for me.

I don't know what to think about the movie.  It was different in tone from the other franchises, which I guess was kind of a nice change of pace.  But the problems in their marriage can't be simply glossed over just because they now have a shared hobby.  I had a different problem with the PI class, and that is that Birdie joined after the class had already been going on for months, which makes no sense.  But the most glaring problem of all for me, was that at the end they made a big deal about "no more secrets", yet Birdie still hasn't come clean about her internet gambling!  

[GaT]

23 minutes ago, LuvMyShows said:

But the most glaring problem of all for me, was that at the end they made a big deal about "no more secrets", yet Birdie still hasn't come clean about her internet gambling!  

I forgot about the "Chekhov's Gambling" thing, what was the point of it? Were they trying to imply that she's supporting them with the gambling?

[giovannif7]

I enjoyed The Cases of Mystery Lane too - and also quickly pegged the culprit when they were first introduced. As I was watching the film, it struck me that it felt like the writers had taken a 70s/80s script and just swapped the gender roles of the main couple. The wife took over the role of the breadwinner with a steady job that supported the couple while hiding a gambling addiction, and the husband took on the "free spirit flitting between a series of temporary passions in search of excitement and purpose" side of the story. I don't see this as a bad thing, as the gender swap worked for me here.

I do wonder why they kept the detective-turned-PI student the same gender as the husband though. Storyline-wise, in subsequent films to the 70s/80s version, I could see them introducing some sparks between the detective/antagonist-turned-reluctant admirer and the "wife" character as she demonstrates promise as an investigator, triggering jealousy in the "husband" character of that version. I'm not sure how that would work with the re-gendered couple roles in this 21st century series, at least when we're talking about Hallmark. While their films have become slightly more inclusive, I don't think Hallmark (or a good portion of their audience) is ready to make the leap to the male detective and the husband being drawn to each other over their mutual passion for investigation.

[LuvMyShows]

12 hours ago, LuvMyShows said:

I don't know what to think about the movie.  It was different in tone from the other franchises, which I guess was kind of a nice change of pace.  But the problems in their marriage can't be simply glossed over just because they now have a shared hobby.  I had a different problem with the PI class, and that is that Birdie joined after the class had already been going on for months, which makes no sense.  But the most glaring problem of all for me, was that at the end they made a big deal about "no more secrets", yet Birdie still hasn't come clean about her internet gambling!  

Quoting myself cause I have a few more questions about the movie:  

The detective guy had chosen Alden as his class assignment person that he was going to follow, and that's why he was at Alden's house when the killer was there?  If so, what clued him in that he needed to break into the house?  IIRC, the only thing he would have seen is the garage door going up partway then coming down, but I don't think it came up high enough that he could have glimpsed Alden taped to the chair.

Are we to assume that Birdie is going to quit her lawyer job to do PI work full-time with Alden? I thought so, because of how she wasn't cut-throat enough for her mom, but it wasn't entirely clear.

In their very brief discussion of the cryptocurrency debacle, I couldn't tell if Alden had lost only "his" money or if it was "their" money, and how much of a conversation they had had at the time about doing it.  If she went along with it, that's one thing, but if he invested "their" money without even discussing it with her, that is an entirely different thing.  And almost most troublingly, when discussing it even now, he said something like, "but the blogs were very enthusiastic", and he didn't say it with any irony.  If even now, after having lost apparently a lot of money, he still doesn't see what was wrong with that investment 'strategy', then they have a lot more talking to do!

 

[LuvMyShows]

On 10/2/2022 at 11:30 PM, Irlandesa said:

I enjoyed the Nikki and Nora: Sister Sleuths movie and I think I'd like more of them. I did have a fleeting guess about who the murderer was but then I thought it'd be too dark for Hallmark. 

I had no idea whatsoever who the murderer would be, especially since the cop (Robby?)  reminded me sooo much of the Frankie character from the TV show Rizzoli and Isles, who had been working on becoming a detective and was beloved by all, the quintessential good guy.

I had a problem with two things.  1) The way they depicted the baseball-playing son, was that he was on a youth baseball team.  But the actor is 25 years old, and actually looked older than that in his face.  He almost looked like Buddy the Elf in terms of being so much taller than everyone and it looked like his uniform was too small.  2) The sisters hung a sign that said Private Investigators.  But you can't just call yourself a PI.  You either have to be licensed or working under a fully licensed PI.  And with that former owner being dead, there is no one fully licensed anymore.  

I guess we didn't find out why that guy left them the business, and that is to be revealed in a subsequent movie?

[LuvMyShows]

On 10/2/2022 at 11:30 PM, Irlandesa said:

I enjoyed the Nikki and Nora: Sister Sleuths movie and I think I'd like more of them. I did have a fleeting guess about who the murderer was but then I thought it'd be too dark for Hallmark. 

By the way, if anyone missed Nikki and Nora while it was on HM&M, it is on Hulu.  And, although I've never seen it happen before, The Cases of Mystery Lane is available for replay on HM&M, although I think it said it's for a limited time.

[LuvMyShows]

Also just realized that the two newest franchises/movies both ended with the exact same thing, which is the protagonists starting their own detective/PI agency.  That doesn't seem very original.

[Guest]

On 3/22/2023 at 5:47 AM, Daff said:

Using his professional credentials (ie, the badge) to investigate something that wasn’t part of a departmental investigation could get him in a lot of trouble.

I know. I wasn’t thinking that he was in the class to actually be a PI because I find the idea that a cop could moonlight as a PI bizarre but apparently it is allowed many places. So I’m guessing that’s what was happening. I still wish they would have included some kind of explanation. It just seemed like a bizarre choice. 

 

On 3/23/2023 at 7:07 AM, LuvMyShows said:

The detective guy had chosen Alden as his class assignment person that he was going to follow, and that's why he was at Alden's house when the killer was there?

Yes 

On 3/23/2023 at 7:07 AM, LuvMyShows said:

If so, what clued him in that he needed to break into the house?  IIRC, the only thing he would have seen is the garage door going up partway then coming down, but I don't think it came up high enough that he could have glimpsed Alden taped to the chair.

Aiden also yelled for help. 

[Daff]

3 hours ago, Dani said:

Aiden also yelled for help. 

Didn’t he also walk up to the overhead door and see Alden bound in duct tape before the robot/door opening?
 

I did like the movie, but it was a bit strange-as someone else said, can’t figure out what they were going for? Hard to figure a guy that old was still trying to find himself (kind of “Failure to Launch”). There were many chuckles, but kind of snipey and dark. Likewise, Birdie seemed too old to be pushed around by her obsessed mother (who suddenly realized she was violating boundaries?). I really didn’t like Birdie’s disaffected portrayal throughout the movie.

PC played a similar character in “Starlight”, but the reasons for his turmoil and lack of ambition were pretty clear in that movie, but he didn’t have a hand in writing this one. Something was just “off” in either the writing or direction. I’d give another one a chance because like everyone else here, I appreciate PC’s acting.

[LuvMyShows]

Two new mysteries coming!!

• Carrot Cake Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery

Premieres SUN MAY 20 7/6c
Staring Alison Sweeney and Cameron Mathison
The discovery of a skeleton amid the rubble of a building undergoing renovation reveals that one of Lake Eden’s beloved citizens is not who he claimed to be. Much to the dismay of her fiancé, Detective Mike Kingston (Mathison), Hannah (Sweeney) begins to investigate the case on her own. As she tries to piece together the events that led to the murder and tries to learn the victim’s true identity, Hannah even calls on her mother Delores (Niven) as she works to bring the killer to justice and uncover the truth. Premieres Sunday, May 20 at 7/6c.

• The Jane Mysteries: Inheritance Lost

Premieres SUN MAY 14 7/6c
Starring Jodie Sweetin and Stephen Huszar
Singer Jane DaSilva (Sweetin) inherits the family foundation which is a non-profit detective agency that helps people who aren’t able to help themselves. Jane’s Aunt Sadie (Paris Jefferson, “Y: The Last Man”) and Detective John Cameron (Huszar) act as her mentors as she takes on her first case surrounding a mother’s untimely death years before. As Jane investigates a multi-level marketing company that took advantage of her client’s (Danielle Smith) fragile mom, she realizes that digging up the past can be dangerous…

My comment...The Jane Mysteries will now be the third out of the four new mysteries to feature someone or a couple who decide to open, or somehow acquire, their own detective agency.  Are the writers having that hard of a time figuring out how to work mystery-solving into the main characters' lives?  And for God's sake, with so few new mysteries coming out, why on earth put two new ones on back-to-back weekends??? Spread them out to give us something to look forward to!!!

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by LuvMyShows

[Misslindsey]

On 3/22/2023 at 10:07 PM, GaT said:

I forgot about the "Chekhov's Gambling" thing, what was the point of it? Were they trying to imply that she's supporting them with the gambling?

I assumed that she was using the money that she won to pay off Alden's cryptocurrency debt. I thought there was a throw away line that she said they were still paying it off. It is also, what I assumed Alden was doing when he was selling his robots. That was just the impression I got. I could be wrong though.

[JAYJAY1979]

I liked the sister sleuth movie from a few months ago..and I'm happy that there will be a new bakery movie with Alison Sweeney.

I just wish they would have a mystery movie starring a 60+ actress or actor again.  Columbo, Murder she wrote, and Diagnosis Murder had older characters investigating crimes to great acclaim. 

[Clawdette]

I thought Wendy Malik, an older actress, was great with Kimberly Williams-Paisley in the Darrow and Darrow mystery series. I'd watch more episodes of that.

[bankerchick]

Finally!!  The Canadian channel has finally started showing commercials for the Paul Campbell mystery movie, which is finally airing here on Friday.  I have tried to stay away from the comments here as I didn't want to be spoiled, but I did see a few and it looks as it it was not an overwhelming hit, but I am excited for it anyway.

[maggiegil]

No more Mystery 101

https://people.com/tv/kristopher-polaha-and-jill-wagner-reveal-hallmarks-mystery-101-series-is-done-but-tease-new-project/

[maggiegil]

On 4/7/2023 at 8:24 PM, Clawdette said:

I thought Wendy Malik, an older actress, was great with Kimberly Williams-Paisley in the Darrow and Darrow mystery series. I'd watch more episodes of that.

Really liked Darrow and Darrow, it was a nice change from the usual trope of detective teams up with woman with unusual profession to help solve a crime.

Hallmark mysteries really has gotten rid of most of its mystery series now, its a bit pointless just to premiere the exact type of films they would on regular Hallmark constantly and add no new mystery series. The only new ones they seem to have on the horizon is one with Jodie Sweeten called The Jane Mysteries and then another Hannah Swensen with Alison Sweeney.

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, maggiegil said:

Hallmark mysteries really has gotten rid of most of its mystery series now

I think Mysteries 101 has as much, if not more, to do with Jill Wagner's unofficial move to GAF than it has to do with anything else. 

I think they did move away from mysteries for a while, but I get the sense they're coming back.  They've debuted a few, but I also think they have some more to come.  There's the Aurora Teagarden prequel.  There's also the Lacey Chabert/Willi Kemp movie The Dancing Detective. 

[MerBearHou]

47 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

3 hours ago, maggiegil said:

 

I think Mysteries 101 has as much, if not more, to do with Jill Wagner's unofficial move to GAF than it has to do with anything else. 

I agree with this reasoning 1000%.  Such a shame the series ended...and ended on such a question mark.  I was a devoted Mysteries 101 fan -- great cast with superb chemistry.  

[Jaded]

I wanted Hallmark to continue with the Cut, Color, Murder. They've shown the movie quite a few times since it originally aired which has prompted comments asking about more when I've looked on Hallmark's social media. Julie and Ryan have both said on their accounts that fans need to keep asking and saying they want further movies. I wasn't really familar with Julie Gonzalo until her role on the Dallas reboot and have liked her since. Where I live in the US is somewhere that never had a UPN channel so I never got to see the first seasons of Veronica Mars until years later. I first saw Ryan McPartlin when he was the 2nd actor to play Hank on the soap opera Passions.

I was really intrigued by the mystery behind Julie's character's husband that died in their movie and how at the end it seemed like Ryan's character was involved in some way. The movie itself probably could have been belter but a lot of these mystery movies have had clunky starts over the years and then gotten their groove in future movies.

I liked Jill Wagner until her movie to GAF knowing what CCB has said about the channel and her role there.  I don't hate Jill, I will say I started to seriously side eye her after her decision to switch. I've yet to watch any of GAF's programming and don't have plans to.

Edited April 26, 2023 by Jaded

[maggiegil]

2 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

  There's also the Lacey Chabert/Willi Kemp movie The Dancing Detective. 

Ooooooo, hadn't heard about that one, I loved their Christmas movie. I'm excited about seeing that now

 

2 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I think Mysteries 101 has as much, if not more, to do with Jill Wagner's unofficial move to GAF than it has to do with anything else.

Shes also doing a Paramount+ show with Taylor Sheridan so I imagine is quite busy and maybe hoping to step away from Hallmark/GAF type of content

 

56 minutes ago, Jaded said:

I liked Jill Wagner until her movie to GAF knowing what CCB has said about the channel and her role there.  I don't hate Jill, I will say I started to seriously side eye her after her decision to switch. I've yet to watch any of GAF's programming and don't have plans to.

You're not missing out. I watched two of their Christmas films in 2021 and it all felt really cheap like they didn't have much budget and don't get me wrong I love a cheesy Christmas film but the dialogue in these was painful

[Clawdette]

The June schedule is out and includes both mysteries and romance offerings.

Hallmark new summer movies

[JAYJAY1979]

On 5/1/2023 at 12:26 AM, Clawdette said:

The June schedule is out and includes both mysteries and romance offerings.

Hallmark new summer movies

I'm intrigued with the Aurora Teagarden prequel since I kind of miss that series of movies.

Hopefully, the new Aurora vibes well with Henner... though I admit I'm going to miss the sullen police chief who would rightly call out Aurora for being entitled LOL

[LuvMyShows]

On 5/1/2023 at 12:26 AM, Clawdette said:

The June schedule is out and includes both mysteries and romance offerings.

Hallmark new summer movies

They also shifted the already-announced dates for the two May mysteries to now be on Friday nights, like for the new June mysteries.  May 12th for The Jane Mysteries: Inheritance Lost (Jodie Sweetin) and May 19th for Carrot Cake Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery.

[ShelleySue]

On 4/25/2023 at 5:08 PM, maggiegil said:

No more Mystery 101

Note to Hallmark: Please, please, please edit Mystery 101: Deadly History before it is shown again. The last few minutes should be deleted and we'd all be happier.

Edited May 15, 2023 by ShelleySue
fixed typo

[maggiegil]

I enjoyed The Jane Mysteries: Inheritance Lost. Jodie Sweetin is very watchable and a great singer although I was rolling my eyes when she took off wigs and her hair was perfectly curled underneath. Thought they should have had more scenes between her and the detective as I didn't feel like there was chemistry between them and I'm sure we're heading towards them dating/unrequited love.

Will be interested to see more in the series

[MerBearHou]

11 minutes ago, maggiegil said:

I enjoyed The Jane Mysteries: Inheritance Lost. Jodie Sweetin is very watchable and a great singer although I was rolling my eyes when she took off wigs and her hair was perfectly curled underneath. Thought they should have had more scenes between her and the detective as I didn't feel like there was chemistry between them and I'm sure we're heading towards them dating/unrequited love.

Will be interested to see more in the series

Based on what you and others have said, I'm going to find this one when it repeats.  

Stephen Huszar is perfectly likeable, but I don't find he has chemistry with any of his co-stars.  Doesn't stop me from watching him like a couple of others I won't watch -- I just think he's a little wooden which makes him a good fit in mysteries as a detective but not a romantic lead type.

[Irlandesa]

10 hours ago, maggiegil said:

Thought they should have had more scenes between her and the detective as I didn't feel like there was chemistry between them and I'm sure we're heading towards them dating/unrequited love.

Yeah.  I thought he was superfluous and unneeded in this movie so I wish they'd change out the detective to find one with more personality and a better connection with her character.  Especially since Jody is an actress who often does have chemistry with her love interest.

[JAYJAY1979]

On 5/15/2023 at 2:02 PM, maggiegil said:

I enjoyed The Jane Mysteries: Inheritance Lost. Jodie Sweetin is very watchable and a great singer although I was rolling my eyes when she took off wigs and her hair was perfectly curled underneath. Thought they should have had more scenes between her and the detective as I didn't feel like there was chemistry between them and I'm sure we're heading towards them dating/unrequited love.

Will be interested to see more in the series

I thought Jodie was the weak link..and I wasn't interested in her nor the mystery.

I wish the one off movies that started Julie Gonzalo and Hunter King should be series.

[Jaded]

No surprise here....Of course she made sure to delete the IG selfie mentioned in this article after it was found. She'll never be as smart or clever as she thinks she is. I don't think anyone will be surprised when it comes to what fast food restaurant's food was being proudly endorsed.

Candace Cameron Bure Went On A Bizarre Fast Food Rant, And Fans Pulled Out Receipts Showing She Was Probably Lying

Even though I only watch every so often now since HMM made it easier to do so when they seemingly abandoned the mystery movies for so long until they started doing what have mostly been one offs to see if they catch on. 

I'm still glad Candace moved on to what she thinks was greener pastures.  At least the Aurora Teagarden movies didn't end on a ginormous cliffhanger like Mystery 101 did. I guess if one wanted to they could look in Candaces direction a bit over that situation too. I did watch most of the Aurora movies because I enjoyed the mysteries and the other actors/actresses besides her. 

 

[LuvMyShows]

I completely agree that Huszar comes across as very wooden, and there was definitely no chemistry between them.  

I am confused about the ending.  The shrink and the woman (girlfriend? wife?) were the killers, right?  And they killed Linda for the cash?  But where was the cash?  Had she really been storing it in a locker at the club?  Why did it matter that Linda wasn't supposed to be at the pool that day?  Were they planning to rob the locker and then Linda showed up so they killed her?  Why would the shrink and the woman kill the artist?  And who did the artist call to warn "They know"?  Was the artist in on it, and then the shrink and the woman killed him so they could keep all the money?

And just had to add, that the piano playing we heard from Lia didn't sound anywhere near good enough for getting into Julliard.  They should have either not had the music at all, or had something that sounded Julliard-level.

On 3/25/2023 at 3:46 PM, LuvMyShows said:

Also just realized that the two newest franchises/movies both ended with the exact same thing, which is the protagonists starting their own detective/PI agency.  That doesn't seem very original.

And now quoting myself because this is yet another new franchise where the protagonist inherits/starts an agency that solves crimes.

[Irlandesa]

I read an interview with Allison Sweeney and she mentioned that there's another Hannah Swensen mystery coming after the one airing tomorrow night.  I don't know if they've filmed it but I'd imagine they have. 

[Irlandesa]

The Hannah Swensen mysteries are reliable and I liked this one too even though I didn't like what happened at the end.  From what I understand of the books (not really a spoiler but I'll spoiler just in case,

Spoiler

there's a lot of romantic shenanigans I hope they don't follow with the movies. 

I can't help myself but I am absolutely looking forward to the Lacy Chabert/Will Kemp mystery The Dancing Detective.  I love the premise.  I think these two are good together.  And the scenery looks to be gorgeous.

[Chippings]

On 5/20/2023 at 12:40 AM, Irlandesa said:

 

  Hide contents

t

I can't help myself but I am absolutely looking forward to the Lacy Chabert/Will Kemp mystery The Dancing Detective.  I love the premise.  I think these two are good together.  And the scenery looks to be gorgeous.

I agree!  These previews are just beginning, and I am There-- have loved Will Kemp in everything, and the setting and premise of this looks charming.  

(Sorry about the clumsy quoting up there.)  

[luvthepros]

On 5/20/2023 at 3:40 AM, Irlandesa said:

The Hannah Swensen mysteries are reliable and I liked this one too even though I didn't like what happened at the end.  From what I understand of the books (not really a spoiler but I'll spoiler just in case,

  Reveal spoiler

there's a lot of romantic shenanigans I hope they don't follow with the movies. 

I can't help myself but I am absolutely looking forward to the Lacy Chabert/Will Kemp mystery The Dancing Detective.  I love the premise.  I think these two are good together.  And the scenery looks to be gorgeous.

The movie is set to record. I don't usually tune into the mystery Hallmark channel but Chabert and Kemp brought me there.

[LuvMyShows]

On 5/20/2023 at 3:40 AM, Irlandesa said:

The Hannah Swensen mysteries are reliable and I liked this one too even though I didn't like what happened at the end. 

  Hide contents

there's a lot of romantic shenanigans I hope they don't follow with the movies. 

I'm still confused about the ending in terms of what's going on with Hannah and Mike.  She seemed to have waaaaayyyyy over-reacted by giving him her ring back.  As best as I can tell, she felt betrayed that he had been keeping his boss informed all along, given that she had told him she didn't want him to do that until she had the case solved? And he had felt work pressures to keep his boss informed? Aside from the fact that he should have just been straight with her about it, I don't see why this was worthy of calling off the engagement.  Maybe it simply crystallized for her something that she'd been struggling with for awhile, but which the writers had never made us privy to, which is doubts about their future, such that she did end up saying something about "that's why we've never gotten around to scheduling the wedding".  Given that we still see her having a lot of involvement with Norman, I sincerely hope they don't go the love triangle route.

I also wasn't crazy about the plot, and had a hard time following it.  For the elevator shaft murder, did the son accidentally kill the guy way back when, and then the dad falsely confessed in current times to protect his son?  How did the guy accidentally get killed? For the other plot, where had that guy lived before such that no one recognized him in this town from his "old" life?  Had his brother already died, such that there was now no risk that he would be prosecuted for the crime that he had committed all those years ago? If so, I find it hard to believe that this guy wouldn't have kept tabs on that, if only just out of curiosity, and then considered re-connecting with the surviving family, even if he would have worried about how they'd feel about him all these years later. 

 

[MSterling]

3 hours ago, LuvMyShows said:

Given that we still see her having a lot of involvement with Norman, I sincerely hope they don't go the love triangle route.

I hope they're not trying to set up Ross, Hannah's other love interest in the books. Based on the books, I think Hannah should pick Norman. Even their cats, Moishe and Cuddles, are best friends! Based on the movies, I see why she chose Mike, until she didn't in this movie. Hannah is a moron in the books, too, so I'm not surprised. If they're just trying to keep stress on Hannah and Mike's relationship, this isn't the mature way to do it.

3 hours ago, LuvMyShows said:

I also wasn't crazy about the plot, and had a hard time following it.

It's been a few years since I read Carrot Cake Murder, but I don't think this was the plot of it. Just looked it up, and this murder was Lisa's (Hannah's business partner) long lost relative at her family reunion, but I don't remember much beyond that plot description since there's over 20 of them. They're not very good and the newest books are recipes (and I want to strangle someone every time the phrase "impeccably clean hands" comes up in them) and cooking/testing with the small detours into a murder mystery. I think I keep reading hoping for an interesting recipe, like the fudge cupcakes (Book: Fudge Cupcake Murder/Movie: A Deadly Recipe.)

I think the earlier movies were closer to the spirit, and plots, of the book series. The newer ones don't feel as "cozy." I'm not getting as much of the small town feel.

[Chippings]

Dancing Detective, anybody?  Beautiful scenery and I love Will Kemp such a lot.  The plot (the mystery itself) seemed hard to follow, but maybe that was my fault.  Thumbs up ?      

[MerBearHou]

Just now, Chippings said:

Dancing Detective, anybody?  Beautiful scenery and I love Will Kemp such a lot.  The plot (the mystery itself) seemed hard to follow, but maybe that was my fault.  Thumbs up ?      

I missed it last night and am planning to catch it on Tuesday when it re-airs.  On FB, the comments were very, very positive which helped me decide to give it a go.  I really enjoyed Will and Lacey together in their prior two movies.

[Ele]

2 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

I missed it last night and am planning to catch it on Tuesday when it re-airs.  On FB, the comments were very, very positive which helped me decide to give it a go.  I really enjoyed Will and Lacey together in their prior two movies.

I missed the first half, but I enjoyed the part that I watched.  I need to watch the whole thing to understand the plot and how Kemp and Chabert's characters ended up working together.  I always enjoy these two actors together and the setting was gorgeous.