Um Mistério de Aurora Teagarden: O Segredo da Caveira

An Aurora Teagarden Mystery: A Bone to Pick from 2015 is my first foray into these mysteries after seeing some of the Garage Sale Mysteries.

The Garage Sale Mysteries have antiques and collectibles going for them, as well as the familiar face of Lori Loughlin.

I admit not being familiar with Candace Cameron Bure as an adult actress. She's a little too cutesy for me and makes faces, but she's pretty and has lots of energy. Marilu Henner plays her mother, and the rest are Canadian actors, some of whom are pretty good.

The plot concerns an elderly friend of Aurora who dies and leaves the librarian and amateur sleuth her house.

The house is broken into, so Aurora attempts to find out what someone was looking for, and finds a skull with a hole probably made by a blunt instrument.

Being a member of a mystery club, Aurora starts her own investigation, not telling the police about the skull. When the body is found, the police become involved. Unfortunately, the detective is the pregnant wife of Aurora's old boyfriend.

The woman who wrote the Aurora Teagarden books, Charlaine Harris, also wrote True Blood. She has quite a range! This is lighter than air, unoffensive entertainment at least in the TV movie adaptation.

Realize that you're getting into a Hallmark movie, not Citizen Kane, and you won't be disappointed.

This is a clean mystery with likable characters. But Aurora does make the irresponsible, rather selfish decision to tamper with evidence and try to solve the mystery herself. I don't like it when a civilian just butts in and does the police's job for them. Contrast this with Morning Show Mysteries or Picture Perfect Mysteries, where the civilian protagonist works WITH the police.

Being English, the title of this movie threw me at first... "The Aurora Teagarden" sounds like a place you would go for a nice cuppa cha while sitting in beautiful floral surroundings... But no "Aurora Teagarden" is the name of the leading character - poor girl.

That aside, this is a good way to pass an hour and a half. Aurora "Roe" Teagarden, played nicely by Candace Cameron Bure. is a member of a mystery group dedicated to "Real Murders". One of the members, Jane Eagles (Barbara Wallace), invites Roe round to her house so she can borrow a book on female killers, as this had been her "Real Murder" discussion subject. A few days later she learns of Jane's death and is surprised to find herself in the will as the beneficiary of her house. It's when she finds the hidden human skull that a mystery starts to reveal itself to her... and her friends...

It's hard to say why I enjoyed this film because some things annoyed me, such as Lexa Doig's character, Sally Allison, who is grating on the nerve and at times I wondered why the two were friends, let alone besties. This isn't Doig's fault though as she did a more than an admirable portrayal of a strong, independent, and intelligent woman on Andromeda. But here, she's not such a likable character. Though that may be the strong point of this series as it's not relying on characterisations as much as others do in this genre; they're a little more like everyday people, rather than "feel-good" representations.

Another thing which was annoying was how simple the mystery was, I had pretty much had it solved at the skull, as I would think most would since previous scenes are so heavy handed at giving you the clues. I couldn't really believe that it took Roe so long to figure it out. This is more like a Columbo movie as it's not really about the mystery it's more about the trip to get to the reveal. At least there's still some mystery here, unlike Columbo.

All of the cast give a solid and equal performance and portray their characters well; none outshines any of the others. Director Martin Wood does a nice job of keeping the pace steady throughout, which works well with this type and style of story.

If you like your characters to be more "normal" in your mystery movies then you will like this; if you don't mind about the easy solve mystery because you prefer the drama more then this will really be your cuppa cha'. At least worth one viewing... on a wet and miserable day - English Summertime - when you can't make it out into the Teagarden.

I am not a fan of chick flicks. My wife is not a fan of the more gruesome, bloody crime and mystery flicks. So, we have enjoyed finding different movies and shows that are something in-between, especially those that are a series like Aurora Teagarden Mystery. We've seen every Columbo, Matlock and a few others, and were looking for something along those lines.

We found it.

I do not write this as a "fan" of Candace Cameron Bure's other works. As a matter of fact, I had very low expectations. Not because she is not a good actress. But because I just haven't enjoyed the sitcoms she's been in and haven't enjoyed the other movies I've seen her in. Now, I'm a FAN. I just hope she keeps doing these type of films.

And what a nice surprise to see Marilu Henner, again. I was a big fan of her work on Taxi. And the supporting actors are a pretty solid crew.

What I don't understand is why some reviewers claim that this show is "predictable". I believe we could gather them all up in a room and at 15 minute intervals, take their predictions! What a good time that would be, because... I believe they would get a lot of their predictions WRONG and disprove their own claims.

And I can only speak for my wife and I at this point, but we enjoyed this first installment (that I understand is based on the second book) and do NOT find it predictable.

But you ARE watching a Hallmark movie. If you come expecting Aurora to be Laura Croft or Wonder Woman (or have that kind of budget), you are in for a disappointment.

On the other hand, if you turn on, "A Bone To Pick," without a bone to pick and expect something along the lines of Murder She Wrote or Diagnosis Murder? You're gonna enjoy this.

Candace Cameron Bure, a librarian with a taste for true mysteries, inherits a house. Some one breaks into the house. This leads her to a hidden skull with blunt force trauma in what promises to be the first in a Hallmark Channel series.

It's based on Charlaine Harris' Aurora Teagarden series and is of the "Cozy Murder" variety of mystery. I am familiar with Ms. Harris through reading a couple of her Sookie Stackhouse series, which combines murder, vampires and Southern Gothic, and are cleverly written. Miss Bure is a charming actress, able to play an intelligent ditz; and although this particular movie seems to be mostly concerned with setting up the characters and relationships for future, the mystery story is well set up and executed. I look forward to future efforts, this latest Hallmark Channel mystery series bids fair to be a pleasing one.