Francesca Quinn, PI

I understand wanting younger viewers (i'm 55) and needing edgier programming.

Why does edgy now mean bi*chy? Frankie, the main character treats everyone poorly but expects them to give her give her everything she demands! This seems to be a common theme in the newer Hallmark shows. A strong woman does not mean she has to be a bi*ch, wake up! But wait, half way through the show her personality completely changes. But by this time, I don't like her!

The acting is poor and everyone just forcefully reads their lines. It's the same acting mostly from everyone throughout the show.

Writing was poor and the explaination was confusing at the beginning of the show; weak and leaving a lot of questions.

My husband, (who does like many of Hallmark's previous series) could not stand the unjustly way the main character, Frankie, made you feel in the beginning either.

Thanks writers!

First, this movie is SUCH an improvement over"Cut, Color, Murder", and "The Curious Caterer "!!!

I think that it is a teaser for the solving of Travis and Amy's cliffhanger, and I'll bet a lot of Mystery 101 fans do as well.

The script's author has authored the 101 series too.

There's a strong father-daughter bond, a solid friendship between the father of the female lead, and the detective, and now a dead fiance.

Mallory Jansen and Dylan Bruce play their characters well enough, but the chemistry is not as strong as it is between Travis and Amy in Mystery 101.

Mallory's emotions and Dylan's don't seem to click as well. Maybe it's the line delivery.

This is an ok movie to watch more than once. There are lots of twists and nuances to revisit, although the way the background story is told tends to be a bit confusing.

Overall, while there are obvious teasers and parallels to Mystery 101, it can not vie as a replacement for, or take the place of, Mystery 101 as the top HMM Signature Movie Series/Franchise.

Hope Hallmark figures that out!

I never wrote a review on IMDB before, but then, I've never watched a Hallmark channel movie that I spent more time on my computer looking at baseball scores, than time watching the movie. I liked Dylan Bruce in "A Novel Romance" and "The Christmas Promise" and Mallory Jansen in "On The 12th Date of Christmas" but if they make this movie into a series, I'll find something else to watch. I read on other comments, that Mystery 101 is cancelled, and possibly Aurora Teagarden too. If that's the case, there are lots of other channels for me to watch, including some without commercials, because I have never lost interest in a Hallmark movie as easily as I did on this one!

We generally like Hallmark movies. I even use the Hallmark Movie Checklist app to keep up with new productions because we enjoy the Christmas movies and series like Mystery 101, the Martha's Vineyard movies, and Signed, Sealed, and Delivered. But this one is truly bad.

I sympathize with the poor actors who have to make the best of the bad writing but even then, other than the main protagonists, the acting is flat to downright poor.

The story itself is like a bad soap opera and the dialogue is worse.

I don't think the actors were miscast. With better writing they are very fine actors, as evidenced by their performances in other Hallnark productions.

I really hope they don't plan on making any sequels. We certainly won't be watching them in this household.

We had high hopes for this new mystery, but somehow it just never quite got past Ho-hum. The actors all seemed to be reciting their lines, without putting life in to their characters. The pace and story were oddly put together, the background music reminded me of B movies from the 1950's, and I'm not certain my husband and I would watch another movie in this series. Compared to the ones that are no longer produced, such as Hailey Dean, The Gourmet Detective, or McBride, this lacked warmth, charm, and a sense of connection to the audience. My husband picked out the killer fairly early. I stopped caring fairly early.