Death al Dente: A Gourmet Detective Mystery

This series is nothing excited and not particularly well acted, but the chemistry between the leads is a bit charming. I'm glad it was a short series, as I probably wouldn't have watched many more of these. Only one left!

I really like this film series. I think the two leads work really well together and it's very reminiscent of the relationship between Beckett and Castle in 'Castle'. In this movie they've even used a line from one of the Castle episodes. Of the Hallmark mysteries this one might be favourite with Aurora Teagarden a close second and then Picture Perfect Mysteries. It's just really light and fun with some suspense thrown in.

Dylan Neal our full time gourmet cook and part time amateur sleuth recommends a new chef who is working out well in Ben Wilkinson's Italian restaurant which is something of a bay area institution. But things are not going well in his marriage because wife Jordana Largy has been fooling around with that selfsame new chef Matt Hamilton.

Wilkinson is shot by someone who tried to break into his house and later he's finished off in the hospital. Someone clearly did not want this man to live. But there's more to this story than a bad love affair. There's a rumored fortune in diamonds from the old country and a lot of people are looking for them.

As mysteries go this one isn't all that hard to figure out. But in an unusual twist to the Hallmark mystery formula, the amateur detective is a guy who assist the professional woman, in this case SFPD homicide detective Brooke Burns. Neal and Burns have a nice chemistry though in this case another police detective is moving in on Burns.

Nice chemistry, but no real mystery.

This third movie in the series is really fun and enjoyable since the formula, chemistry and characters are coming together well and the mystery unfolds well too. The similarities to "Castle" (which I loved for the first 7 series) are glaring though. The pairing of attractive, bossy female Detective and attractive, kinda goofy Writer (foodie blog), the two of them solving cases in the field while her TWO colleagues do the background work at the station and most of all the character, dialogue and humor of the Gourmet Detective. I could have sworn I was watching "Castle" during the whole sweet ending of the movie. I guess it's the "Canadian" version supposedly set in San Francisco but I'm getting used to and enjoying it as such.

This series seems to wax hot and cold. Watched the first one and didn't want to watch more because Maggie was such a witch, I didn't understand what he saw in her. Roux the Day was better. But while her character has improved, the quality of the plotting has taken a major nose-dive with this entry. Maggie has no problem conducting two illegal searches but balks when the guy wants to break into someone's home then says the evidence he found is probably inadmissible only because he removed (stole) it from said residence, one that wasn't a crime scene? Hallmark movie watchers may be loyal and willing to put up with much but we aren't dumb.