Murder, She Baked

Thats to say that its a very light hearted "who dun it" in an american town where everyone (almost) is perfect, they have their lives, they all know each other until one day someone is murdered and everyone is quite shocked. Oddly there are very few clues as to "why" - the murder being investigated by the pretty woman who runs the town bakery, assisted by a detective from a nearby City. "She" is out of her depth, he isnt really believable as a policeman and "her" mum - watch closely for this one as she looks almost the same age as her daughter (theyre around 24 years apart in real life but dont look it!). Like all of these things "she" does get there in the end, but only by guessing wrongly. Better than some other stuff you tend to get on freeview

This first Murder She Baked mystery finds Alison Sweeney delivering baked goods and solving her first mystery. Her fictional town of Eden Lake, Minnesota is on its way to being the Cabot Cove of the old Northwest Territory.

This murder literally arrives at her bakery, it's her delivery truck driver who parks in the rear of her shop and then doesn't come in. Sweeney goes out and finds him in the driver's seat with a bullet in him quite dead.

Her brother-in-law Toby Levins is one of the officers of the local police department, but they get a homicide cop played by Cameron Mattison from Minneapolis. He and the newly arrived dentist in town Gabriel Hogan kind of square off for Sweeney.

The way it always develops whoever is the law enforcement figure is resentful of the amateur horning in. But after awhile they kind of go with the flow, especially if a romantic situation might be developing. No different in Eden Lake.

When a second murder occurs that of the local dairy owner you always assume a connection. There's no shortage of suspects for this guy who doubled in loan sharking.

All I'll say is the connection is tenuous and coincidental. The murderer turns out to be one ruthless individual.

The Chocolate Chip Mystery is nicely baked, right out of the oven.

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 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.

A baker (Alison Sweeney) in small-town Minnesota turns amateur sleuth after finding her friend and delivery driver shot to death behind her shop. Shaken by the murder, she decides to do some of her own investigating but is continuously challenged by the new detective in town, Detective Mike Kingston (Mathison). Meanwhile, her mother tries to set her up with the friendly local dentist, Norman (Hogan), who is comfortable helping Hannah in her dangerous ideas to catch the killer. Hannah discovers Ron witnessed his miserly loan shark boss, Max, having an argument with someone, a day before he was killed. But when Hannah's sleuthing leads her to find Max murdered, she lands in trouble for her interference and must make up with her brother-in-law Todd and Mike as the plot thickens.

A solid debut episode of Murder, she baked which introduces the character well as well as setting the scene. The mystery is quite good as the victim is a delivery driver - who would want to kill him? It's puzzling enough to keep one watching, though the detective character can be a bit annoying with his reprimanding of Hannah for meddling. Then he's meant to be annoying.