The Dancing Detective: A Deadly Tango

Hallmark seems insistent on inexplicably killing all of its successful mystery series and replacing them with mediocre replacements. This latest iteration features Lacey Chabert playing a police detective and Will Kemp playing a dance teacher/actor. They fake being married to solve a murder case in Malta.

First off, the production value of this movie was terrific. It's also nice to see new faces both in front of and behind the camera. I love that both Lacey and Will were EPs on this because it felt like a true partnership in solving the mystery and both characters were equally important. Oftentimes these mysteries only have the female lead as the EP and the story tends to be focused on her with the male lead as supporting. That was not the case here. Lacey and Will also have great chemistry and I liked all the Easter eggs of mentioning other tv detectives. And Will finally gets to use his own accent.

The mystery itself was not very interesting or well developed and I figured out who the murderer was in the first 10 minutes. Also, nobody in 2023 has a paper copy of a boarding pass just lying around before going to the airport. I'd watch more of these jetsetting dancing mysteries but preferably with a different writer. Probably the best of these new mystery series.

I have grown to appreciate Lacey Chabert through her work on Hallmark (although I did grow up watching Party of Five) and I thought she did a great job in the Crossword Mystery series, so I was delighted to see her back in a mystery series. Lacey plays a detailed oriented and independent police detective Constance Bailey. Her boss has noticed that she does not work well with others...so when the opportunity comes up to prove herself by partnering with a detective in Malta, Constance jumps at the chance.

There in beautiful Malta she meets her contact who explains that if she is up for it she will be going undercover as one half of a married couple in Malta for an executive dance competition. Enter Sebastian Moore, dance teacher extraordinaire...played by Will Kemp (who honestly steals the show). Together, while blending in with the other executives, they dance...interrogate, investigate and solve a murder of an American CEO.

I am a former dancer (although as a dancer you are never really "former"...you are just a dancer) and a big fan of mysteries, so this mystery series was really made for me. I loved Constance's teal dress with the orange and white flowers, gorgeous! I really grew to appreciate this pairing and the characters of Constance and Sebastian. This is the second Hallmark film that I have seen in Malta and I have to comment on what a lovely and interesting backdrop it is.

I have trouble seeing how they are going to keep these two paired together for future murder mysteries, since they don't even live in the same city...but I want them to be put together again and I look forward to seeing more. This was decent as far as the mystery is concerned and a great start to a series. I can recommend this to cosy mystery fans...I think you should check this one out.

I had been looking forward to this movie and sadly my wait wasn't worthwhile. Great leads, good chemistry and acting, beautiful scenery, however none of this could save a dreadful script. Weak from the first minute.

You take someone who supposedly is not a dancer and without any real lessons or hours of practicing turns into a top-notch dancer. Really? As for the ridiculous car/scooter chase around the streets of Malta, words truly do fail me.

As a longtime fan of Hallmark and your Mysteries this one is a real BIG loser and I sincerely hope you are not planning on making this into a series. Put you time, effort and money into something with a lot more substance that this. Thank you.

I was really looking forward to a new movie with Lacey Chabert and Will Kemp. I know these 2 are wonderful together so it was just an awful script. The disjointed plot, the sequence of events and the dialog was terrible.

I was hoping it would be a series but it's going to have to improve tenfold. It was as if they were short on time and cut out entire scenes that were integral to the flow of the movie. What a downer.

I've seen every Hallmark movie starring these actors so I know they are fantastic together but I guess even their chemistry can't save a bad movie. Please give them some decent material to work with next time!

If you get the chance, watch them in Love, Romance & Chocolate and Christmas Waltz. I have watched these movies many times over! Absolutely love both the acting and the scripts!

Maybe it's the British accent and dancer's.confidence but I really like Will Kemp in Hallmark movies. I also like Lacey Chabert a lot and generally like the movies in which she stars.

But they were not well served by this mystery - if you can call it that. I did like really cute clever bit of calling him names of other detectives which added to the their banter as well the beautiful black and white dancing sequence. However I fail to see how a Dancing Detective can really continue to be a thing. It really was a waste of the lovely Malta setting. So to meet the IMDB required characters I will say that that I loved the characters but the mystery not so much but will continue to watch Hallmark movies with Will Kemp and Lacey Chabert.