Mystery 101: Dead Talk

Professor Amy Winslow (Jill Wagner) heads to Seattle to present at Teachable Talks which is founded by her ex-flame Tim Bishop. A jealous detective Travis Burke (Kristoffer Polaha) joins Amy's dad Graham on his drive to attend the Talk. A murder happens and Travis' old acquaintance Rachel Knox leads the police investigation. Amy and Travis decide to investigate it themselves.

As Hallmark franchises go, this is one of their better ones. Wagner and Polaha have good easy chemistry. This one has their past relationships pop up for added spice. The mysteries are functional although they are never that intense. This one has a compelling reveal. It's fine.

This is the best of all Myster 101 series. Great story, characters and I found the typical mystery twist awesome in this movie!

Professor Jill Wagner and Garrison, PD detective Kristopher Polaha travel to Seattle for a seminar on how computers will eventually take the place of police detectives.

The host of this clambake is Michael Kryszko a Bill Gates type millionaire who says he has such a program. This guy has Gates's money, but Donald Trump's charm and integrity. He gets thrown off a building.

Turns out Kryszko's lawyer had been murdered before our protagonists got to town. And the Seattle police just can't get the job done. Good thing Wagner and Polaha were around.

Wagner also meets up with an old flame who is in the dot.com business also. Matthew James Dowden is as full of himself as he was back in the day. Wagner breathes a sigh of relief.

Fans of the series will like this one.

Of the various Hallmark mystery series on now, this one is my favorite, and it's entirely because of the leads. Their chemistry is amazing. And it doesn't hurt that Kristoffer Polaha is the handsomest man on Hallmark (or at least a strong contender). This particular installment is solid, and I recommend it for fans of both this series and of Hallmark mysteries in general. I've seen it a couple times and wouldn't mind seeing it again.

Though as a former denizen of Seattle (and as a lover of pie), I was *so* mad early on in the movie when Amy's former boyfriend invites her to go with him to get the best pie in Seattle- and she refuses! Seriously, I had a hard time getting into the movie after that. I wanted to know what the best pie place was! But on another note, also as a former Seattle resident, it is often painfully obvious to me that Hallmark's Seattle-set movies were not filmed there. Somehow, in this one, they were able to disguise that fact a lot better than usual. Good going, crew!

As for whodunnit- there is no such thing as a random detail in a mystery (or at least in a Hallmark mystery) so I did guess fairly early on who it was. But it wasn't someone that I liked, which is always a happy bonus.

I love this series! The leads are well suited, witty, personable and have loads of chemistry! All the actors are wonderful and believable. The stories are interesting and clever! My only beef with all the Hallmark movies is those empty 'to-go' cups that everyone can tell have nothing in them!! If they're concerned about spilling coffee, fill them with water! We aren't fooled! But thank you Hallmark for clean, heartwarming, family friendly movies!!