Murder, She Baked

Hannah Swensen again becomes involved in a mystery in "Murder, She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery."

Hannah (Alison Sweeney) is at it again, running her bakery and cafe in Eden Lake, Minnesota, with her mother trying to set her up with men and encouraging her to glamour up. This time mom interviews her to a new dentist in town, Norman Rhodes, a charming man. But having seen subsequent episodes, I know how it winds up.

When her childhood friend Ron, who delivers dairy to the shop, is found dead, Hannah is determined to find out the identity of the culprit. Because Eden Lake isn't used to murders, it brings in Detective Mike Kingston (Cameron Mathison) from Minneapolis.

Hannah doesn't appreciate Mike's arrogance, since she feels that she knows the people in town and can help him. However, she pushes ahead. Then there is another murder, this time of a wealthy man who is suspected of being a loan shark.

Pleasant enough, and I'm assuming this is the first episode. I like Alison Sweeney and Cameron Mathison, both soap stars of long standing who have strong fan bases. Also it was nice to see Susan Hogan from "Night Heat" after thirty years.

Hallmark deliberately keeps these movies on the bland and homey side because of the demographic they want to attract. I'll watch anything that's a mystery but I'd be lying if I said there was anything particularly special about any of these mysteries. Hallmark is like Lifetime - you take the movies for what they are and don't expect anything else.

Dreadfully observant baker Hannah Swensen finds the body of her childhood friend when he is late delivering milk to her bakery. The town of Eden Lake is shocked by the murder, no more so than Hannah herself. They call in a big city Minneapolis detective, Mike Kingston, to help on the case. Hannah is endearingly curious and can't keep herself for poking around for clues. Meanwhile, Hannah's mom is trying to fix her daughter's life...including finding her a husband.

Funny, great chemistry...just an endearing series that I can't say enough wonderful things about.

(Still my favorite Hallmark mystery series: Hannah Swensen's Murder she Baked, Aurora Teagarden Murder Mysteries, and Mystery 101...they are a whole tier above the rest.)

I love the casting for this series - why is it only one season - It is great. Great storylines, chemistry between actors. I want this to come back. I dropped Netflix for Hallmark. This series, Aurora Teagarden Mysteries and the Garage sales one - are my favorites. I tried to watch the other one with Alison Sweeney - (who I like) - but I like Cameron and the actor who plays Norman. This was really good. Maybe they can do some movie specials I don't know - but hope to see it come back. Don't know how long I'll subscribe to Hallmark - depends if there are shows like the ones I've mentioned that I would enjoy. I do like Alison Sweeney and Candace and Lori L.

I really enjoyed this movie and all the others in the series. I would like to be able to buy this DVD so that I can watch at any time.I thought the story line was excellent and I had no idea who the killer was until the end. The chemistry in the movie between the characters were excellent as well. I would like to see many more of movies in this series to come out.The setting is a nice small town and I loved her business which was a small town bakery. I also think the chemistry between Cameron Matheson and Allison Sweeney is excellent. I can't wait to see what happens with them in the future. Norman is nice and I like him but I'm like Hannah, I think that the Mike character is much more intriguing and much more exciting than the boring doctor.

I suppose the title of the "Murder, She Baked" series of Hallmark movies is a take on the old "Murder She Wrote" series. Here Alison Sweeney is a small town baker, set in Minnesota (filmed in Canada). She runs a bakery that everyone in town raves about.

One morning her usual expected delivery of milk is late so she runs down the block to see what's up. She finds her long-time friend, who delivers the milk, is slumped in the truck's seat, gunned down.

Soon a detective from out of town shows up, he and she reluctantly start to share insights and clues, and eventually romantic glances.

All in all a fairly typical clean and entertaining Hallmark movie, but without what my wife and I call "the Hallmark kiss" about one minute before the end. The movie is well-acted and written such that several characters seem to be suspects but when the real murderer is revealed it is quite a surprise.

We watched it at home, streaming on Peacock.