Um Crime na Confeitaria

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.

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

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.

7/10 - this series and further this installment is proof that the first is the best

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.