The Dancing Detective: A Deadly Tango

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.

Hallmark Mysteries and Movies might have a new series - The Dancing Detective starring Lacey Chabert and Will Kemp.

In Chabert's latest iteration, she is Detective Constance Bailey who goes undercover to find out who murdered the head of a corporation. This corporation is kind of like the old Arthur Murray Dance Studios - they own these ballroom dance places everywhere. This is their annual get together where the execs participate in a dance competition.

So the premise is ridiculous. Despite this, no expense was spared. It was filmed in beautiful Malta. I will say Lacey's gowns were hideous, very matronly.

I thought Will Kemp's first scene as a dance teacher was wonderful.

Unfortunately there just wasn't much of a script. The other thing is, people are too familiar with Dancing With the Stars and know Lacey couldn't learn those dances with a couple of rehearsals.

I don't know if this will be a series. Typical Hallmark fare though with better scripts this could have potential.

This is a treat for the eyes. The scenery is lush, and it's beautifully shot. There is a retro-glam feel to this that's reminiscent of 1960s films.

The dancing is wonderful, and the dance scenes were my favorite parts. The tango rehearsal in water and the black & white dream sequence were standouts.

Will Kemp really is the star of this for me. He is a wonderful dancer, a good comedic actor and has loads of charm.

From other reviews, it seems some didn't care for Lacey in this. But her character was meant to evolve, and she does. From a stiff detective who is anti-social to quipping with Will's character. I thought they were a good pairing.

The mystery was the least of it for me. I think they were so many moving parts - the dancing, showing the scenery and building their partnership, that it was a bit hard to fit everything in. That said, there are some stellar parts to this movie. I would watch another installment.

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.

Lacey Chabert has been a favorite of mine since she starred in Party of Five many years ago. I've thoroughly enjoyed many of her Hallmark movies, and The Crossword Mysteries are absolutely amazing! So, naturally I was really excited to see this new movie... Wow, was I disappointed. The script was stale, boring & just plain unimaginative.

I mean, I know these mystery movies pretty much stick to a formula, but the script for this one was so horribly predictable I had it solved almost immediately. Crossword Mysteries, Garage Sale Mysteries, Mystery 101... ALL of these are far superior to this one.

The only thing that *was* inspiring is the location. Now that was beautiful, but I don't have to lose hours of my valuable time to view the breathtaking images of Malta/Italy... I can simply look up images on my computer & save myself the disappointment of watching this movie.