A Bone to Pick: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery

Librarian and amateur sleuth Aurora Teagarden's elderly friend dies and leaves Aurora her house. After a break-in, Aurora starts poking around the old house and discovers the skull of a murder victim. She begins investigating the crime but this puts her at odds with the police, including the detective assigned to the case -- who just happens to be the pregnant wife of Aurora's ex-boyfriend.

This is based on a book from a series written by Charlaine Harris, the author of the books True Blood is based off of. Don't worry (or get your hopes up?), this is nothing like True Blood. Haven't read the books so I can't compare but this is a light, upbeat mystery with some humor and even a hint of (completely sexless) romance with a minister. It's Candace Cameron Bure and Hallmark. You didn't expect Hannibal Lecter to show up, did you? A cop pointing a gun at someone says "get your dang hands in the air." So yeah, I think it's safe to call this 'family friendly.'

Candace is likable and pretty as usual. The rest of the cast is good. Fairly typical for TV movies -- mostly little-known Canadian actors with a couple of recognizable standouts (TV vet Marilu Henner and the lovely Lexa Doig). Henner is enjoyable as the mom meddling in her daughter's love life and Doig is fun as the sidekick who gets most of the good lines. The scenes between Candace and Lexa are the movie's highlights. Altogether it's a fun movie. Nothing challenging but entertaining. I imagine fans of the books will be more critical than those like me who aren't familiar with the source material. If you're a fan of the kinds of movies Candace makes, you'll most likely enjoy this.

Librarian Aurora Teagarden is known around her small town as a master sleuth. When her friend Jane unexpectedly dies and leaves Aurora everything in her will, she also leaves a troubling murder mystery. It is up to Aurora to piece together the clues and solve the murder before she becomes the next victim.

The Aurora Teagarden films I've seen so far are all pleasant viewing: humorous, fast-moving, intriguing, and this first entry featuring the highly inquisitive and energetic librarian is quite good, though the other episodes I have seen are better, characters more rounded, the story sharper. The actress who plays Aurora's reporter friend was good, her character being quite entertaining. I lost count how many times she tries to dissuade Aurora from conducting her investigation.

I'd hated Murder She Bakes and loved good Witch so I gave this a chance and i'm pleasantly surprised. Candace Bure does a good job of portraying Aurora as an inquisitive and clever person, who an get dangerously close to being nosey and interfering but just stays on the tolerable side of it. You can actually believe that beneath her turning up all over is actual concern for her friends and neighbours. The character is quite well rounded and not a bad influence on TV- she's smart, dedicated to her work, decisive and organised. Mother Aida is stereotypically the small town mom who can only think of setting her daughter up, but the actress does very well. Aurora's love interests do not merit mention, but John is someone who deserves far more screen time. The mystery is too simple but somehow the small town intrigues and Aurora's process save it from being a bore. If you want a simple unwinding with some cuteness and not much brain use, don't miss it.

Being English, the title of this movie threw me at first... "The Aurora Teagarden" sounds like a place you would go for a nice cuppa cha while sitting in beautiful floral surroundings... But no "Aurora Teagarden" is the name of the leading character - poor girl.

That aside, this is a good way to pass an hour and a half. Aurora "Roe" Teagarden, played nicely by Candace Cameron Bure. is a member of a mystery group dedicated to "Real Murders". One of the members, Jane Eagles (Barbara Wallace), invites Roe round to her house so she can borrow a book on female killers, as this had been her "Real Murder" discussion subject. A few days later she learns of Jane's death and is surprised to find herself in the will as the beneficiary of her house. It's when she finds the hidden human skull that a mystery starts to reveal itself to her... and her friends...

It's hard to say why I enjoyed this film because some things annoyed me, such as Lexa Doig's character, Sally Allison, who is grating on the nerve and at times I wondered why the two were friends, let alone besties. This isn't Doig's fault though as she did a more than an admirable portrayal of a strong, independent, and intelligent woman on Andromeda. But here, she's not such a likable character. Though that may be the strong point of this series as it's not relying on characterisations as much as others do in this genre; they're a little more like everyday people, rather than "feel-good" representations.

Another thing which was annoying was how simple the mystery was, I had pretty much had it solved at the skull, as I would think most would since previous scenes are so heavy handed at giving you the clues. I couldn't really believe that it took Roe so long to figure it out. This is more like a Columbo movie as it's not really about the mystery it's more about the trip to get to the reveal. At least there's still some mystery here, unlike Columbo.

All of the cast give a solid and equal performance and portray their characters well; none outshines any of the others. Director Martin Wood does a nice job of keeping the pace steady throughout, which works well with this type and style of story.

If you like your characters to be more "normal" in your mystery movies then you will like this; if you don't mind about the easy solve mystery because you prefer the drama more then this will really be your cuppa cha'. At least worth one viewing... on a wet and miserable day - English Summertime - when you can't make it out into the Teagarden.

This is a clean mystery with likable characters. But Aurora does make the irresponsible, rather selfish decision to tamper with evidence and try to solve the mystery herself. I don't like it when a civilian just butts in and does the police's job for them. Contrast this with Morning Show Mysteries or Picture Perfect Mysteries, where the civilian protagonist works WITH the police.