Crossword Mysteries: Riddle Me Dead

Crossword-maker Tess Harper (Lacey Chabert) reconnects with former boyfriend Hunter Hall, a producer on the popular game show Riddle Me This. He invites her onto the show. When the host is murdered, detective Logan O'Connor is the first cop on the scene. He had gone to the studio to surprise Tess with flower.

Tess and her Aunt Candace (Barbara Niven) are happy when the former is invited to read clues for the Jeopardy!-like program, Riddle Me This. Thanks to Tess's ex, Hunter (Jon Cor), a logic and word puzzle writer for the show, they also score tickets to a taping and a private meeting with its magnetic host, Aiden Brooks. Their impression of Aiden sours though when they see him berating staff, and the night ends on a real downer when he is found strangled on the studio floor.

The suspects are: a fired PA, exasperated executive and an overworked producer. All came under fire from Aiden's abusive personality and naturally aren't sad that he's dead. Star contestant Matthew Nasr is quite an obnoxious character and suspected of cheating and possibly dropping headlights on Lacey Chabert.

Normally the chemistry between Chabert and Brennan is the appealing part of this show, however, here, it's dampened by the inclusion Lacey's ex- fiancée. Brennan is jealous. In addition to this, this isn't as engaging to the other episodes, though the backdrop of a quiz show is enticing.

On the road trip to Connecticut to look for evidence, Tess talks about vows and the idea of a wedding in the country. Explaining to Logan that she was raised on a farm and could milk a goat.

I love Lacey Chabert. She is beautiful, but can act and can show lots of emotions and is perfectly cast as a sweet girl with relatable feelings. And I wanted to like this movie because I like her.

But this movie didn't start well and kept sinking as it progressed.

This movie adheres to the Hallmark formula - an unlikeable person is murdered, Lacey and her co-star, Brennan Elliot, find all sorts of hidden connections between suspects and the victim. And then Lacey has an epiphany, solves the murder and then walks into danger and needs to be rescued from the murderer.

Lacey is a bit of a problem. Murder mysteries require characters to quickly unload lots of detailed information to the audience -and Lacey's high-pitched voice and speaking style don't function well here. Lacey portrays nuances of emotional relationships well (her depiction of he relationship with Brennan is a series strength) but does not come across as brainy or analytical or as a physical presence -which would help in a murder drama.. The fact that she runs around in stilletto high heels and 2 pounds of eye make-up is jarring. Please give her some flats!

And so much is depicted so wrong. Everything the uniformed policemen and homicide detectives do is so bizarre and unauthentic that it distracts from the movie. People are interviewed in ahllways. Brennan's character goes solo into situations that pose danger, and when a suspect that runs away and is caught and cuffed by a uniformed policeman, Brennan's character then walks him over to Lacey where he is casually grilled until he has related information to Lacey and the audience. And Lacey posing as a high-stakes poker player planted by the police is just ludicrous.

Lacey looks at 19 hours of videos of a game show to see if a contestant is being fed helpful information. Then in an epiphany, she thinks to look at the hands of people in the videos and discovers that information is being tipped by hand signals! My God, what was she looking at for 19 hours, if not looking at people's hands? This is just an example of many instances in which the script does not respect the intelligence of its audience or characters.

There simply is no tension in the narrative and the characters act unbelievably. Institutions like law enforcement and game shows are depicted unrealistically.

This Crossword Mysteries series need script writers who have talent, knowledge of their subject matter and who care about the quality of their work.

Story was good and kept you guessing. The cast did a great job. Loved the Tess/Logan story.