Garage Sale Mystery: All That Glitters

Lori Loughlin, Sarah Strange, and Steve Bacic star in Garage Sale Mysteries: All That Glitters.

The show opens in 2009 with a jewelry store robbery of diamonds by two people pretending to shop for an engagement ring like Kate Middleton's, except she wasn't engaged yet.

I don't know - I'm a writer and I have to look up things all the time. You'd think someone would have verified that.

Anyway, we fast forward five years later when Jennifer and Danielle (Loughlin and Strange) are shopping for collectibles and antiques for their store. Then they venture into bidding on storage units and win one.

Then the owner of the storage place is killed, after Jennifer overhears an argument between him and a man. Their shop is burgled of costume jewelry. You begin to get the picture.

I liked this. It moved at a good pace, I loved seeing all the antiques and collectibles, and the acting was okay. It sure beats Mystery Woman or Jane Doe, both of which move much more slowly. Looking forward to seeing more.

Jennifer Shannon (Lori Loughlin) has a gift for finding rare treasures hidden in garage sales that she can resell at her consignment store, Rags to Riches. But her keen eye for finding valuables also gets her involved in the criminal investigations that happen at the very second-hand sales she frequents. When Jennifer's friend and self-storage facility owner Martin (Michael Kopsa) turns up murdered just hours after auctioning off an abandoned storage unit full of unique items to Jennifer, she is immediately pulled on the case as a key eyewitness. Working with Detective Lynwood (Kevin O'Grady), Jennifer helps single out a disgruntled customer as the prime suspect, while she and her business partner, Danielle (Sarah Strange), sift through boxes from the auction. As her husband Jason (Steve Bacic) worries about her safety, Jennifer starts to get over her head when there is a break-in at her store and a run-in with Martin's angry wife. Then, Jennifer and Danielle discover their new merchandise contains the sparkly evidence they needed all along to nail the surprising real culprit. They must race to save a life and put their own on the line. Will they succeed before times runs out?

Unfortunately this episode doesn't glitter much, and there's not much snooping or questions. Its plot comes across lazy and there's no drive in the plot. However It's watchable for cast.

I am LIVING for this series! They are so fun! Well acted and so many twists and turns. I love the tidbits about historical pieces and furniture, it's fascinating!

This is the second entry in The Garage Sale Mystery series on Hallmark that is loosely based on the series of books by Suzi Weinert. Several characters have been replaced...noticeably the husband is changed to actor Steve Bacic (no real objection), there is no sign of daughter Hannah or her new boyfriend Adam.

There is a new detective and friend of both Jason and Jennifer Shannon named Detective Lynwood. He is older than Detective Adam Iverson and even more conservative in the sense that he "doesn't want Jennifer following potential suspects". Dani is played by the same actress Sarah Strange, who is wonderful as the quirky best friend, in to eating organic, actively looking for a love match, and has a wonderful vintage wardrobe that I envy!

Jennifer and Dani go to a storage unit auction for the first time and bid on a unit. Shortly after the Self-Storage manager, a retired marine named Martin, is murdered. Jennifer remembers seeing him arguing with a gentleman who was going to loose his unit due to lack of payment...which sets her out to solve Martin's murder. Meanwhile, Logan (Jennifer and Jason's son) found an old "for free" bike that ends up having a treasure map inside of it...sending him on an adorable quest into a senior citizen's backyard digging for buried treasure.

I love the portrayal of the family unit...being good parents, cooking and eating dinner together. I like the mention of every day tasks like laundry. I think it contrasts nicely with divorcee Dani's quest to find a New Romantic partner and her smoothie and new age sentiments.

It is interesting that Jennifer doesn't do a murder board, but makes lists and does research...often on a computer. This was a fun mystery that involved missing diamonds.

I love antiques, history and mysteries...so this series is the perfect fit for me. I highly recommend this mystery series to cosy mystery fans out there.

5/10 - not a bad entry in the series, but this one was not as intriguing nor entertaining as its predecessor