Gourmet Detective: A Healthy Place to Die

Our gourmet cook detective Dylan Neal has been invited to go to a posh health spa where some of San Francisco's best appetites are hanging out to give a lecture and a cooking demonstration. At the same time his favorite homicide detective Brooke Burns has been ordered on vacation as she is accumulating way too many vacation days. We civil servants know what that is like to be in a use or lose situation.

But it turns into a working vacation as bottom feeding investigative reporter Lisa Marie Giaquinto goes missing and about halfway through the film is found by our vacationing sleuths.

Of course there's a lot of suspects that come with a lot of enemies, a few who are staying at the spa.

This was an enjoyable story, did not guess the perpetrator at all.

I thought this installment was a bit better than the first one. However, and I meant to put this in the review for the first movie and forgot, Maggie is shockingly inadequate at wisely going into situations and protecting herself. She doesn't watch her surroundings or seem to have ANY fighting skills. SMH.

The Gourmet Detective mysteries are, so far, pretty good, and better than the other Hallmark series.

This time, Maggie (Brooke Burns) is due for a vacation, so her boss sends her off with Henry (Dylan Neal) to a fabulous spa where a food conference is being held, and Henry is speaking.

Henry sees someone dead in the pool, but by the time he alerts Maggie and they go to the location, the body is gone. And a hated journalist, Kathleen (Lisa Marie DiGiacinto) who showed up uninvited is missing. Several people wanted her gone -- a film star, her agent, a man whose marriage she ruined - it's a long list.

It takes a while for the body to re-appear, but it does, and Maggie and Henry find themselves investigating another murder.

Granted the sparring between the two leads is not as acidic this time around, but I still am having trouble with the Brooke Burns character. She has a real edge and as far as I'm concerned, she's not warming up the camera. It's possible as the series goes on, the two will find their rhythm.

This appears to be the second in the series and as such, the characters know each other but haven't progressed much past that. Maggie is slightly more than tolerant of the amateur detective, Henry, but doesn't fight working with him to solve the case. Of course along the way, they throw friendly insults at each other. It has a light air to it considering it's about murder.

I wouldn't put either one up for an Emmy, but the acting is OK.

I love how well they follow police procedures. It makes me wonder if they even have an adviser. They trample crime scenes and Henry picks up evidence with his bare hands.

But when it comes down to it, this is another amateur detective show, despite Maggie being a cop, and it's mostly about the banter and the mystery. I suspected something about the right person right from the start, but it was more about the guilty look than evidence. The evidence rolls out slowly and eventually gets to the right person.

Detective Maggie and consulting chef/gourmand Henry go away on a weekend retreat of chefs at a resort/spa in the woods. Maggie who is not a very relaxed person is off-duty and ready to relax...at least prepared to show everyone that she can. Henry gives Maggie his "presidential suite" which is to die for.

In attendance at the chef's retreat is a famous actress who is studying to be a chef for her next role, a reporter, a food critic, and a murderer.

The reporter, Kathleen, goes missing...Henry and Maggie start investigating. This was a fun out of the city excursion for the two...but their humor, attraction, and powers of observation are spot on.

I like this more mature relationship, with two professionals meeting each other on equal ground. They work together well, putting together observations and discussing possible theories until they figure who did it in this whodunnit.

It is pretty amazing that Henry could taste eye drops in a drink...as a chemist myself, I am really impressed. Tetrahydrozoline.

Let's go back to basics...Murder always comes down to two things: Love or Money.

"You know what this means?" "That we're a good team?"

This was both fun and funny. You should watch it.