Meurtre au domaine Chaberton

We found this 3-movie DVD at our public library, called "Chronicle Mysteries: 3-Movie Collection." Each of the three feature Alison Sweeney in the lead role as Alex McPherson. This third of the three is called "Vines That Bind".

As was established in the first two movies Alex does a podcast but also now runs her uncle's local town weekly newspaper. She is attracted to the death a year earlier of the winemaker, he was working in the vat room and it was ruled an accidental CO2 suffocation. But the family members knew he was a careful, experienced man and doubted the conclusion.

So Alex and her co-workers get involved, the way this movie is done 6 or 8 or 10 different people become suspects and we the audience get mostly confused, until the end scenes where it all becomes obvious. About half-way though I told my wife "I think the family lawyer is behind it all". I don't usually make a good guess.

We watched it at home on DVD from our public library. Not a very memorable movie but we were suitably entertained.

Not the worse show on Hallmark but the writers kept inserting rightwing rhetoric with phrases like "stand her ground" when a woman holds gun on them, and; "rich man making the world better for me." (The old trickle down economics.) Nepotism prevails. "On the rope" hanging phrase and several others.

As for Sweeny it's good to see a very full figured woman as opposed to those skinny fake snobs. One who never lost that child bearing figure. Although her face seems to show no emotions, you can tell she is struggling with middle age.

Also it's a very white world they live in. The ending is very predictable.

With having now watched three Chronicle mysteries, I feel confident in saying that we can expect to see well thought out mysteries from this TV franchise. Along with an intriguing mystery in each episode, the show has established four or so main characters, their habits and quirks, and their comfort and respect for one another.

I am pretty much watching "Chronicle Mysteries" for the first time back to back with watching "Murder, She Baked" for the first time.

It is genuinely fascinating to watch Alison Sweeney in both shows. I feel like I am watching identical twins. Both may look alike, but they are both completely different personalities, and you would never mistake Hannah for Alex.

I would agree that the cast of secondary characters got a bit confusing in this episode--particularly their relationship to each other. I don't find that to be a flaw, though. Most good murder mysteries are complicated puzzles that, midway through, would definitely benefit from a page or two of flow charts!

My favorite part of this episode was the interplay between the four main characters, the teasing, the concern, and their intuition of what each other were thinking.

There are all those significant looks and cryptic comments by Drew. Certainly looks like he is interested. The situation makes for some positive sparkle.

The story is a decent murder mystery. There are several possible suspects and even more interested parties. So many of them are tied together through one relationship or another. There are some clues for the viewer and some red herrings. I didn't figure it out much ahead of the reveal.

I am not a huge fan of amateur detectives, but I usually check out different series. I was glad to see that Alex isn't a total amateur since she is part of the newspaper and has her podcast series about cold cases. And she has to two guys watching over her even if that doesn't keep her totally safe. At least she isn't reckless about it like some of them are.

5/10 - too many characters muddled up what could have been a good mystery