Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: The Disappearing Game

The Disappearing Game is the 9th installment in the teagarden mysteries series and is quite middle of the road for me in terms of story telling. It's not the worst, but not one of the better ones either.

Aurora as a character I do enjoy sometimes, and I like that she's a woman with urgency but it is getting tiring the way they write Arthur off as very incompetent and how Aurora and the others treat him and the police. I get it she needs to be the one to solve these mysteries or else there won't be a movie, but I do hope the writers manage to be more creative with the way she handles her character and her mystery solving because the way she just rushes and undermine people is starting to get old.

The crime or mystery itself in this movie was never that intriguing. You can clock who the "killer" is from the get go and how the story is gonna go down. They didn't try to even do a red herring or make you think otherwise it was pretty much spelled out early on. It would have been nice if they did more of an emotional scene by the end and unpacked more from the killer as a character but nine movies in and I don't think we'll ever get something that deep since this film series has never tried to be "deep".

Sally and to an extent Jason are the only characters I'm enjoying so far at the moment. Aurora is starting to rub me off, and i'm still trying to get a feel of this new love interest.

I enjoy this series as it's easy to watch, often has some interesting plot twists, and the banter between Ro and Lynn adds some flavor and continuity. Many of the episodes I've wanted to give an 8, but then there would be some really weak dialogue, silly scenes, etc. and I usually end up posting a 6 or 7.

But with this episode, ugh, I was tempted to give it a 5 or worse! I enjoyed it for the story line, but the dialogue was often boring and some of the scenarios a bit outlandish - walking about the dorms like that, really???

I hope future Teagarden's will be better.

Because I've read all the Aurora Teagarden books, by Charlaine Harris, watching the movies is a bit of a let down. The original book series was well written, with realistic characters, and strong story plots. The characters from the books have been changed quite a lot. Of course, trimming down a book to fit a 90 movie time is one thing, but white washing the characters to fit into Hallmark's moral ideals hurts the stories immensely.

Hallmark changed the order of the first two movies, causing us to have trouble understanding the characters and story lines. The reason Roe doesn't have to work is explained quite well in the second book "A Bone to Pick" and the introduction of many of the characters is covered well in the first book "Real Murders". This is lost in the movies due to the change in their order.

Aurora's character in the books, has more depth and intelligence, She is clever, resourceful and very funny. You watch her character grow from book to book, which doesn't happen in the movies. Her friends and family are also stronger in the books than the characters in the movies. Many of the scenes from the books have been changed so much you have trouble recognizing them.

Roe's character has been changed into a nosy, amateur; impeding justice every step of the way. She commits crimes during her "sleuthing" and gets in the way of the police investigation. I'm surprised she hasn't been arrested by the "real" cops. The character of Martin changed from a strong, forceful, business man with a mysterious past to a "fluff" character. Their relationship in the book is a bit steamy, and a real romance, but the relationship in the movies is more high school dating.

If you really want to enjoy this series, please buy the books and enjoy the adventure.

Candace Cameron Bure is back as our sluething librarian Aurora Teagarden in The Disappearing Game. A lot of the series regulars are also back as Marilu Henner as her mother, Lexa Doig as her helpful reporter friend and Peter Benson as the patient detective who really still doesn't know what to do with Auora. In some ways her sleuthing won't be containe as this involves a visiting cousin from Arizona now enrolled in school in her town.

On one night the cousin and a friend just disappear and a girl they knew was killed in a hit and run. Shortly after that another male student peer also disappears and now the police and the university have one dead and three missing students on their hands.

The solution is a little farfetched and all I'll say is that a bit of insanity runs in a certain family and not in the family originally thought to have it.

Fans of the series should like it.

6/10 - you know just what to expect going into this one: lighthearted fun and a great mystery