Death al Dente: A Gourmet Detective Mystery

All right. all right....I am glad to see that the chemistry lessons that failed in the first two films of this Gourmet Detective franchise collection have been overcome and as a result Mrs. Shullivan and myself found the third entry in the Gourmet Detective franchise series to be quite a tasty treat.

Music Director, James Jandrisch, certainly was listening to his critics and/or to his own music scores from the first two films as his background music was toned down considerably in this his third entry in the Gourmet Detective franchise series. In this entry, we were actually able to hear the conversations that were taking place, the romantic cat and mouse chasing was limited, and this time, the murder occurred earlier in the film, so that these two sleuths could start investigating the whodunit which provided more of a murder/mystery plot than what was offered in the two earlier films of this franchise collection.

This was by no means a slam dunk find the killer, but a more intriguing story line as the charming Henry Ross discovers that an old boyfriend of Detective Maggie Price's comes back in to her life and he has quite a bit to offer her besides his good looks. This mystery old boyfriend went to school with Maggie and he was also there when Maggie's first marriage fell apart, and he also happens to be a San Francisco break and enter detective.

So Henry finds that he now has some serious competition to woo Maggie's affections and Henry realizes he not only has to crank up the old love candles, but solve this latest murder of a third generation Italian restaurant owner pretty darn quick so that his competition for Maggie's affections need no longer be involved in their tag team murder case.

Mrs. Shullivan and I quite liked this third installment the best so far and we are waiting for the fourth installment to be filmed and released to see if gourmet chef Henry Ross and Detective Maggie Price's relationship becomes more than just business and leads to continued personal pleasures. Let's see what these chefs cook up next. In the meantime this third installment raises the bar once again, and I must say in the right direction. I give the film what a dish best served cold would get and that is a 6 out of 10 rating.

This third movie in the series is really fun and enjoyable since the formula, chemistry and characters are coming together well and the mystery unfolds well too. The similarities to "Castle" (which I loved for the first 7 series) are glaring though. The pairing of attractive, bossy female Detective and attractive, kinda goofy Writer (foodie blog), the two of them solving cases in the field while her TWO colleagues do the background work at the station and most of all the character, dialogue and humor of the Gourmet Detective. I could have sworn I was watching "Castle" during the whole sweet ending of the movie. I guess it's the "Canadian" version supposedly set in San Francisco but I'm getting used to and enjoying it as such.

I really like this film series. I think the two leads work really well together and it's very reminiscent of the relationship between Beckett and Castle in 'Castle'. In this movie they've even used a line from one of the Castle episodes. Of the Hallmark mysteries this one might be favourite with Aurora Teagarden a close second and then Picture Perfect Mysteries. It's just really light and fun with some suspense thrown in.

This series seems to wax hot and cold. Watched the first one and didn't want to watch more because Maggie was such a witch, I didn't understand what he saw in her. Roux the Day was better. But while her character has improved, the quality of the plotting has taken a major nose-dive with this entry. Maggie has no problem conducting two illegal searches but balks when the guy wants to break into someone's home then says the evidence he found is probably inadmissible only because he removed (stole) it from said residence, one that wasn't a crime scene? Hallmark movie watchers may be loyal and willing to put up with much but we aren't dumb.

It was really hard to ignore the blatant similarities. It was like having enjoyed the national brand and then buying the generic store brand version of something. It reminds you of the original, but not as good...and cheaper.

We've got the hard-nosed lady detective with the supermodel looks and the "charming wise-cracking consultant" who is ever-present, completely out of his element and always bickering with her while trying to get in her pants. On Castle, he always brings her a large coffee...even buys an expensive espresso machine for the 12th Precinct. Here he brings her a small. (Like I said...cheaper.)

Throw in the two goofball caucasian and ethnic "utility detectives" (complete with "exploding fist bumps"), activities focussing on the "murder board," the (also appropriately ethnic) female "coroner buddy" and the occasional appearance by a female tough-gal captain and there you have it. Here, however, it's the detective who's the one with the live-in mother and teenage daughter, not the pseudo-Castle.

It's Nathan Fillion's Castle with a food theme. I'm just trying to determine when Hollywood completely lost its creativity.