Mystery Woman: Juego letal

I really enjoy the Hallmark cozy mysteries, and this is one of them. However, the constant annoying background ... music, jingle, whatever you want to call it ... really detracts from the enjoyment of it. Sure, you need some background music at certain suspenseful moments, but not for the entire movie. After about 15 minutes you become so aware of it that the movie starts to become the background setting instead of your prime focus. Which is the reason I only rated it a 5.

The plot is basically a mystery surrounding a murder.

Samantha is visiting a reclusive author (one who doesn't do book signings). Samantha seeing a 'hustling' game designer in action decides to approach the author herself, only to find a fight between the author and a woman inside the house. A young man who seems to be hanging around identifies the people as his parents.

She is able to persuade the author to attend her book signing, and he leaves early.

Samantha discovers a dead body with someone standing over the body. The rest of the story seems to parallel the video game which she and her DA friend, Cassie had tried to get through the night before.

And now for my comment about a problem:

The mortician who is speaking with a person in the hotel lobby is: Bill Thomas. The tiny, squeezed to the side listing of the credits at the end of the show, doesn't seem to include a Bill or William Thomas. Just thought people would like to know. (I went to school with him. He has credits for Star Trek also.)

I'm going to be watching more of these: The prior ones and all new ones that will be coming out.

Craig

Some of these stories are pretty enjoyable, but this isn't one of them. The actual story was so convoluted it was just silly. Most of the time, everyone was running around doing nothing, creating filler for the story, I guess, which got really boring after a while. It just dragged on and on, and every 5 minutes they added a new twist, a new suspect, until it was just tiresome. The biggest problem was that none of the characters were even remotely likable; everyone was horrible. I didn't care about the victim, or who killed him or any of the suspects, because they were all obnoxious. Oh, and I knew who the killer was very early on; it was pretty obvious.

This entry into the Mystery Woman series had a lot more energy than some of its predecessors. The show seems to be moving a little faster as the characters are further developed.

"Game Time" featured a familiar face, William Katt, as an eccentric mystery writer who is murdered. The plot was interesting, concerning a video game, an old high school friend of Samantha's and his partner in the game venture. I still think the show is directed too pedantically, with way too many shots of the Mystery Woman store exterior, but perhaps there were a few less.

I agree with a previous comment about Kellie Martin. I am a long-time fan, and she is indeed an unusual woman. She was unforgettable as Lucy on "E.R." I'm glad to see her have her own series.

All of these Hallmark shows seem to be targeted towards baby boomers and older, those who were fans of the "Perry Mason" movies and series. The stories are clean, the regulars familiar, and the guest stars are people we're happy to see again. I for one say keep 'em coming.

7/10 - always great to have Samantha Kinsey on the case