The Novel Murders

The Garage Sale Mystery Movies characters are loosely based on a trilogy written by Suzi Weinert. She wrote the first book at age 72 and had it published at age 75. The third book was published when she turned 80.

Lori Loughlin starred in the first Garage Sale Mystery Movie in 2013. As of August 2017, eleven movies have aired.

The Novel Murders is the sixth entry in the series. As an antiques dealer/sleuth Jennifer Shannon is inquisitive but not pushy or intrusive. She has a good relationship with the police and the love and support of family and friends.

We have seen this plot before in Castle TV Series: Flowers for your Grave (murders were copied from his books); and Hallmark's Aurora Teagarden Mystery: The Real Murders (the Real Murder Club members were murdered - copied from true crime books.)

In The Novel Murders, the murders are taken from famous classic mysteries. This is probably my favorite Garage Sale Mystery.

The Garage Sale Mystery Movies are really great cozy mysteries that the entire family can enjoy. I highly recommend all of them.

Who doesn't love a good mystery murder film? Well, multiply this mystery murder film by a count of three (3), and then add the four (4) Shannon family members, another host of unusual murder suspects, Jennifer Shannon's (Lori Loughlin) good friend and lead detective Frank Lynwood (Kevin O'Grady) and voila', we have another excellent addition in the Garage Sale Mystery series.

Again, I did not figure out who the murderer was until after our amateur sleuth, Jennifer Shannon outlined for us the audience who the perpetrator was and what was their motive.

Ahhhh, I love a good mystery and this one was above par. Add the entire Shannon family into the mix and you have a family film sure to entire your clan as well.

I give this particular episode a strong 9 out of 10 rating

This script is similar to one in the Amanda Teagarden series, where someone is killing people by recreating famous cases.

In this one, someone is killing people by recreating fictional murder cases.

When Jennifer (Lori Laughlin) delivers something from her store to an elderly man, she finds him dead, and his death brings to mind something she read. Then the next murder happens.

I have to say, while none of these Hallmark mystery movies are fabulous, I like this series the best. I like the fact that Jennifer and her partner have an antique/collectibles store and we get to see and hear about the merchandise. I like the warmth exuded by Jennifer and her family.

The stories...well, this one has a few suspects, and it's not cloying like some of the Hallmark Christmas shows. (Someone told my sister how much she loved the Hallmark Christmas shows, so my sister decided that's how she would spend the Christmas season. She watched one and that was it.)

It also doesn't have the hyper energy of Candace Cameron Bure, who plays Amanda Teagarden. I watch anything that says "mystery" on it. This is enjoyable.

7.3 stars.

Almost as good as the previous one, but lacking only in the area of how I felt once it was over. I think the story itself is more elaborate and the characters are much more interesting, but something about the presentation, maybe the timing and even some of the acting was more mundane. There are so many nuances to these mystery series on Hallmark, they are all so similar. Once in a while there is a standout amongst the crowd. 'Mystery 101' for example, almost every episode is extremely entertaining and almost riveting. 'Garage Sale' is more akin to an older style of mystery show, not as engaging, more lighthearted and less serious. The mystery went off without a hitch, although I think we all knew who the antagonist was, we just didn't want to admit it to ourselves...

When an old man comes into her store and buys something too large to carry home on the bus, Jennifer (Lori Loughlin)agrees to deliver it for him. But when she gets to the man's apartment she finds him dead and before she can call the paramedics they arrive. Whilst Detective Lynwood (Kevin O'Grady) initially suspects a heart attack the autopsy shows something suspicious involving nicotine poisoning, it reminds Jennifer of something she once read in a book, an Agatha Christie novel. The next murder that occurs is based on A study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle, and third murder is from The Spiral Staircase By Mary Roberts Rhinehart.

The subplots: unlucky in love Danielle (Sarah Strange)has become intrigued by Maggie (Fiona Vroom), a clairvoyant, who seems to be spot on with what she knows about her whilst Jennifer's son, Logan (Connor Stanhope), wants to go camping with his father, Jason (Steve Bacic).

Excellent entry to a terrific series- the idea of a killer using murder methods from mystery novels is inspiring and the plot has plenty of hooks and it's quite compelling. Halfway in I knew who the killer was, and even the misdirection failed to sway me, but it's so absorbing, fun and fast-paced that it didn't matter. The subplot doesn't come in the way.