Miss Willoughby and the Haunted Bookshop

Miss Willoughby and the Haunted Bookshop is a simple old fashioned British whodunit mystery.

Miss Willoughby is not Miss Marple and this story is definitely not a Agatha Christie story. Also the movie has a TV look and may be a bit slow for some, but it is a good story with very likable actors.

We open in 1996 and young Elizabeth Willoughby is attending her parents funeral. Elizabeth inherits the family's elaborate huge English Estate complete with full-time servants. A family friend, Robert (Kelsey Grammer) becomes Elizabeth's Guardian and caretaker of the Family Estate.

Robert raises Elizabeth and trains and teaches her fitness, martial arts, chess. And ancient war strategies.

Then we cut 25 years later, and now an adult, a book author, and Professor of Ancient Civilizations, Elizabeth (Nathalie Cox) is asked to investigate a series of hauntings at her friend's Bookshop.

As Elizabeth starts to investigate, she begins to question the possibility that this may be a real ghost.

The movie is more of a fun British TV show and doesn't really take itself too seriously but I did enjoy it. The ending suggest that this may be the first of many more Miss Willoughby mystery films.

Before I watched this film, I thought it's going to be unbearable seemingly this is some kind of low budget film. But I was amazed to see it turned out to be a watchable film. Yes, the story is simple and so plain, but the director somehow managed to make it not to feel bored. I wasn't feeling bored while I was watching it even though I was kind of feeling sleepy. I woke up completely after 15 minutes of watching this film because it seemed to be interesting and I enjoyed the whole thing.

Anyway, it was fun and I kind of had good time with this film. Although this film is doing okay and watchable, if the story was better than now, it'd be more interesting and I might give it more stars.

Obviously intended to kickstart another TV 'cosy crime' series. Nathalie Cox is unfortunately both bland and cold as wealthy mystery solver Miss Willoughby, trained in military strategy and martial arts since childhood after the deaths of her parents (very 'Batman' - she even lives in a ridiculously large, isolated mansion); but co-lead Kelsey Grammer is as watchable as ever as her Alfred-like assistant/mentor, Robert. You'll probably see the solution to this paranormal head scratcher coming a mile away, but it passes the time well enough. Not sure I can see this becoming a hit franchise. 6/10.

This is a sweet little English mystery. It has some potential, but no surprises. I quite liked the actors.

Overall, the movie feels like it would be part of a series, yet not the FIRST one. I was puzzled by the many references to backstory not explained: antagonistic history with the psychiatrist, mentions of Miss Willoughby being a bit a sleuth, lack of details about the books she authored, the detective's reference to trouble often finding her. Initially, I thought there must have been a previous movie, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

The lack of basic logic is hard to swallow. With a woman having hallucination and paranoia, who is also on medication, it seems like the first step would be to verify that the medication is what it should be. I'm also curious how such a well put together woman manages without a purse. She's wearing skin tight riding breaches. I suppose there are pockets in her jacket, although it's fairly tailored. Are the pockets large enough to hold keys, cell phone, hairbrush, extra makeup....the things we women usually carry around?

Was expecting it to be a hallmark quality production but it was actually decent. Sure there not great actors and Kelsey grammer doesn't try anymore but it had a decent mystery and story going throughout. Not overly long or complicated, worth the watch for someone looking for a short murder mystery.