Garage Sale Mystery: The Novel Murders

I still love this series in spite of the corrupt Lori Loughlin. I actually still find her perfect for the role much to my annoyance.

There are still many I haven't seen but I prefer when she's finding dead bodies at garage sales or in old houses she's checking out for antiques. This one felt more like an Aurora Teagarden mystery I saw where the murderer was copying real murders. Lori even delivered lines like Aurora's character would have.

I liked the camping subplot with father and son and it gave me a chance to get a little more used to the new actor playing their son, Logan.

It seemed a little slow and not as exciting as usual. But still enjoyable.

This script is similar to one in the Amanda Teagarden series, where someone is killing people by recreating famous cases.

In this one, someone is killing people by recreating fictional murder cases.

When Jennifer (Lori Laughlin) delivers something from her store to an elderly man, she finds him dead, and his death brings to mind something she read. Then the next murder happens.

I have to say, while none of these Hallmark mystery movies are fabulous, I like this series the best. I like the fact that Jennifer and her partner have an antique/collectibles store and we get to see and hear about the merchandise. I like the warmth exuded by Jennifer and her family.

The stories...well, this one has a few suspects, and it's not cloying like some of the Hallmark Christmas shows. (Someone told my sister how much she loved the Hallmark Christmas shows, so my sister decided that's how she would spend the Christmas season. She watched one and that was it.)

It also doesn't have the hyper energy of Candace Cameron Bure, who plays Amanda Teagarden. I watch anything that says "mystery" on it. This is enjoyable.

Only the most peripheral connections to Lori Loughlin's antiquing business are involved in this Garage Sale Mystery. She delivers an item that this most reclusive man bought at her store and finds him dead.

Possibly this film should have been part of the librarian Aurora Teagarden series given her connections and book knowledge. But Loughlin recognizes the method as belonging to an Agatha Christie story. A clue left point to another man, than he's murdered by a method that Arthur Conan Doyle used in one of his Sherlock Holmes stories.

Go to a Holmes aficionado and he's later murdered with a method used in a Mary Roberts Rhinehart novel. Takes a while a Loughlin solves it, but she nearly becomes a fourth victim. If she hadn't who knows how many this killer might have racked up?

Two side plots not normal in a Hallmark mystery are in this one. One involves husband Steve Bacic and son Connor Stanhope trying a little father&son camping for bonding. The second is Loughlin's BFF Sarah Strange exposing a bunco racket involving a fortune teller.

Nice, but really should have been a Teagarden story.

6/10 - clever murder mystery is extra enjoyable for fans of classic mystery novels

The Garage Sale Mystery Movies characters are loosely based on a trilogy written by Suzi Weinert. She wrote the first book at age 72 and had it published at age 75. The third book was published when she turned 80.

Lori Loughlin starred in the first Garage Sale Mystery Movie in 2013. As of August 2017, eleven movies have aired.

The Novel Murders is the sixth entry in the series. As an antiques dealer/sleuth Jennifer Shannon is inquisitive but not pushy or intrusive. She has a good relationship with the police and the love and support of family and friends.

We have seen this plot before in Castle TV Series: Flowers for your Grave (murders were copied from his books); and Hallmark's Aurora Teagarden Mystery: The Real Murders (the Real Murder Club members were murdered - copied from true crime books.)

In The Novel Murders, the murders are taken from famous classic mysteries. This is probably my favorite Garage Sale Mystery.

The Garage Sale Mystery Movies are really great cozy mysteries that the entire family can enjoy. I highly recommend all of them.