One Bad Apple: A Hannah Swensen Mystery

Hannah Swensen Mysteries has consistently been one of my three favorite mysteries on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, along with Aurora Teagarden (the Candace Cameron Bure version) and Mystery 101. This entry has Hannah teaching a baking class at the local community college where she collaborates with literature professor Bradford Ramsey...who not only seems enamored with Hannah, but ends up dead quite literally stabbed in the back with one of Hannah's own knives. This unfortunately puts Hannah on the suspect list.

This entry introduces us to Lake Eden's own all business "I don't have a sweet tooth" county prosecuting attorney, Chad Norton (played by the suave Victor Webster). Most of the cast favorites have returned like Hannah's beloved mom who is played so delightfully by Barbara Niven and our favorite partner-in-crime and local dentist Norman (played by the consistently wonderful Gabriel Hogan). There were some noticeable absences like Hannah's brother in law police officer Bill, but probably more noticeable is Hannah's fiancé the beloved detective Mike, who has been played from the very first film by Cameron Mathison. The story was given that Mike went to Quantico to join the FBI? I am really sad to see Cameron Mathison go, as I really like him as an actor and thought he and Alison Sweeney had amazing chemistry together. On a side note I did enjoy Alison Sweeney and Victor Webster in the Wedding Veil series of movies, they were well matched and it will be interesting to see what develops here.

The series is based on the cosy mysteries written by Joanne Fluke, but this film was actually written by Alison Sweeney herself. The mystery was decent, but what really keeps this amongst my favorites...if not my favorite, is the camaraderie amongst the cast being lead by Alison Sweeney herself. Barbara Niven is not only lovely, but lends so much great comedy to this series. This entry has Delores deciding to be an private investigator...think big hats, sun glasses and trench coats.

Highly recommend this fun mystery series to all the cosy mystery fans out there.

I actually enjoyed this film. The mystery was quite alright. The characters were enjoyable.

The setting - not so much. The college was too cheesy and fake even for Hallmark.

I know I'm probably the only one, but I didn't miss Mike. Never were a fan of his, he was OK, but nothing more.

Don't mind the new DA, he's quite something. Not sure if I see him as Hannah's boyfriend though. I'd rather watch Delores flirting with him. Don't understand why he was the one to go looking for Hannah with the cop though. He was doing a lot of things that DAs don't really do... Loved Norman being part of a sleuthing team and a proper hero. Not just a dorky admirer.

What I didn't like: still not a fan of Eden Lake being a big city, because it sure looks like one now. And don't understand why we still need another sister when Andrea comes so often (thank God!!!). Bring her husband too!

Hannah looked weird in first scenes, like she did something to her face. Maybe the lighting. Same about Andrea.

Good film anyway.

I've always enjoyed the Hannah Swenson Movies but losing Cameron as Mike has really hurt the series. I don't doubt that the new guy might work out but there just wasn't enough of him in the movie. They need a bit more of a love interest or something to help the story line.

The mystery is ok but it really lacks any main interesting characters. It just feels like they are off their game. I see there's another one coming so maybe it will get better but I'm sad that this one isn't better.

I'll keep watching as I do like these better than a lot of the other mysteries Hallmark has been doing lately.

It's amazing how losing a major costar in a movie series can have a huge impact on the next film. With Cameron Mathison's exit, the entire movie fell flat.

I've read Joanne Fluke's all Hannah Swensen mystery novels and watched the Hallmark movies multiple times. But this one is just plain awful. I was tempted to delete it halfway through.

Mike Kingston is a pivotal character. Without him as the lead detective with the Eden Lake sheriff's department, there's no one to play off Hannah's parallel murder investigations. The chemistry between them was what made the movies work.

The DA Chad couldn't replace Mike. He was annoying and added nothing., Lonnie isn't a strong enough character to carry it off. By himself. Having the sheriff involved would have been a better alternative.. DA Chad didn't belong rescuing Hannah from the killer at the end of the movie with Lonnie. That is not a DA's job.

I missed Hannah and Lisa's scenes in the Cooke Jar interacting with the coffee clatch ladies. Very little time was spent in the bakery which was a shame. So many of her best ideas come to her while she's baking.

Delores becoming a private investigator while wearing a black hat and trench coat is silly. She called too much attention to herself in that getup.

It was nice to see Norman Rhodes again, but his appearance wasn't enough.to rescue this terrible movie.

This was rotten to the core. And I don't think it was because Mike hit the road or because they've added a new character. Nope. It's just a bad script. Disjointed. Characters thrown in as filler. A plot line that wasn't cohesive. Bad storytelling. Awkward and rushed dialogue. Twenty minutes of the movie had gone by before any crime happened. That's bad pacing.

I've seen it before with other shows. The star suddenly decides they can write or produce. Said show then goes down the tubes.

A few other issues to ponder: Why oh why did they take an over-the-top character like Delores, the mom, and put it all on steroids? She started out loopy; now she's a loopy detective. Who needs that. Have fedora, will investigate.

Victor Webster's character was under-used. His character needed to be more developed in the script. And as he works as the D. A., I can't imagine how they will use him a lot in the future. He won't be involved in a lot of investigation.

I could go on, but the bottom line was this was all over the place. The sisters had no purpose in the plot. The bakery is under-used and under-decorated. Actors that can't enunciate; the students were the worst.

This had the feel of desperation. They threw in everything and the kitchen sink.