Concrete Evidence: A Fixer Upper Mystery

A mostly Canadian cast and Canadian locations are what makes Concrete Evidence happen. This Hallmark mystery movie involves Jewel Pilcher who has taken over a construction company from her dad Ron Lea. She's working on a job for Colin Ferguson a mystery writer who has bought a rundown old mansion. It's a fixer-upper to either flip or live in and since Ferguson has a thing for Pilcher it will be the latter.

But plans go awry when a skeleton is found in a dumbwaiter that was deliberately sabotaged to be stuck between floors. It's the body of a girl who was a contemporary of Pilcher's in school. When she wasn't found it was thought she went off to Hollywood to seek fame and fortune.

Now a missing persons case becomes a really cold case homicide. But a lot of the possible suspects are still in town. I will say this the killer is not one I suspected at all.

The Hallmark mysteries seem to have a nice cookie cutter pattern where red state American women become the heroes. Still they do offer some good entertainment as this one does.

Renovation expert Shannon Hughes (Jewel) is fixing Mac Sullivan (Colin Ferguson)'s home when she finds a skeleton stuck in the dumbwaiter. A bracelet names the victim as her longtime worker's sister missing years ago. They all knew the popular high school girl. Shannon finds suspicious clues in the house suggesting murder. The friends need to dig into their past and their community to find the truth.

It's rare for a Hallmark Mystery but I am interested in the case. It would be nice if the suspects are played by more compelling actors but that may be asking too much from minor characters in a Hallmark TV movie. It's not so much whodunit but whydunit. This one is better than the first movie but I'm not sure by how much. On a minor note, it is missing the end scene where Sherlock explains the case to Watson. Even for a simple case, it's nice to hear it laid out by the lead character.

This Fixer Upper Mystery isn't a second chance story, and yet it does let some of these characters revisit their high school days, and solve the mystery of what ever became of their friend the High School Drama star everyone always thought would make it big in Hollywood.

We enjoyed it. It wasn't the most compelling but it wasn't terrible and was above average. Anything with Colin in it is great and for some reason I didn't recognize Jewel.

The story was good, and I wasn't even close to solving it correctly.

We will watch this series again.

Shannon, played by the singer Jewel, is a totally likeable woman whose career is contracting. But she keeps getting sidetracked by murders. In this one, the trail of clues wanders a bit. We get a bit more romance between Shannon and Mac as Jewel and Colin Ferguson connect.