Crossword Mysteries: Proposing Murder

This is supposed to be set in New York City, but a cab had a white Ontario license plate. It's filmed in Toronto.

The cars being used by the people involved in the scenes had NY plates.

Guess they forgot to change the cab.

On a different note, Brennan's hair looks better in this second installment than as short as it was in the first one. I also like that he's not dressed in a suit and tie, but is dressed more casually.

Lacey's hair is better, too. They got rid of those long extensions.

Too bad they killed off Harris in the first one, though. He was a good actor.

Cruciverbalist Tess Harper (Lacey Chabert) and police friend Logan (Brennan Elliott) team up to work on another murder mystery, this one involving a puzzle fan who has Tess work his proposal of marriage into her daily crossword.

The chemistry between Chabert and Elliott is always strong. Again, he tries to keep her away from his case, but she is too interested and too valuable, just like an Aurora Teagarden mystery. The two sleuths work the case from different angles, occasionally crossing paths to share clues.

A surfeit of suspects and a raft of red herrings keep the detecting duo guessing until the very end. Meanwhile, the dueling dicks keep any mutual attraction on the back burner, where it can smolderappropriately.

Most of us don't watch Hallmark movies expecting some great production. No, we watch them because we enjoy the actors and the characters they create. If the story is interesting then that is a bonus. We like Lacey Chabert, she always plays a likable character. As she does here, working for the New York newspaper and one of her ongoing responsibilities is the crossword puzzle. Seems when strangers meet her they always mention her puzzles.

One of her old friends is a history professor at a local college, as the movie starts we see that he is surprised at home and is found murdered. Then the movie flashes to "5 days earlier" and what we see are all the efforts to investigate the murder and find the guilty person.

The story is convoluted and interesting enough that it kept us entertained. As various people in his life became suspects I was surprised when the actual killer was revealed and the reasons why.

Streaming on Peacock, my wife and I watched it at home.

I enjoyed movie as I do all the Hallmark Mysteries. The only thing that seemed odd to me was the murder victims mother wasn't the least bit upset that her son had just been murdered👎

It wasn't quite as good as the pilot film, of course. But, as I stated elsewhere, first sequels rarely equal the first film. In this case, the only minor flaw is that the true culprit becomes pretty obvious early on. For anyone who's spent the last twenty years watching MURDER SHE WROTE re-runs, anyway!