Ainsley McGregor Mysteries: A Case for the Winemaker

My husband happily watched the Aurora movies with me, but won't watch more of these after this. Even the opening scene with *all* of the background information was so awkward. Poor production quality is understandable, but poor writing is tough to watch.

I really appreciate what GAF is trying to do and want to support them. But why mystery? What good does that contribute to the world? Don't all of the other channels provide more than enough dead bodies to keep people satisfied? I wish they would do comedy instead. I'd love 23 minutes of Full House-style warm squishies at the end of a hard day.

Let's start of with this taking place in Texas. Nope, not even close. Nowhere in Texas looks anything like the location of this show. In fact, it was actually filmed in Victoria British Columbia, almost 1800 miles from the closet border of Texas. I cannot for the life of me figure out why this was supposed to be Texas. There are no lakes surrounded by mountains anywhere in Texas. Next, none of the characters sound like or dress like Texas. Plastering Texas flags all over the set cannot make up for the glaring 2000 miles difference. I'm just blown away by the cluelessness of trying to pass this off as Texas. Next, just to beat a dead horse, there are no Mexican Americans, even as extras. Are the producers so dense they don't know how many Hispanics there are in Texas. If you're going to try to continue this silly charade, at least bring some actual Texans to fill in as extras.

The tropes are overflowing. Civilian female "criminologist" is smarter than all the local yokel sheriffs (with four stars on his collar no less. Acting and writing are meh.

An enjoyable watch with an interesting plot, excellent acting, wonderfully developed characters, and really lovely scenery. We really, REALLY loved the main characters, but also really, really liked the supporting characters as well - their acting was all around superb. The mystery unfolded quite nicely and the vineyard angle was such a beautiful backdrop for the mystery. Yes, the script was a little bumpy in only a few places with the reciting of background details, but this didn't detract from the story at all (as other reviewers here suggest). For mystery fans, this is a truly enjoyable watch. Looking forward to additional installments with these characters in this beautiful scenery. Really hope there are more to come.

Having read all of the Teagarden mysteries. When they were turned into TV movies. I was quite excited. Unfortunately Candace Cameron Bure had other ideas.

She created a totally vacuous character. Unlike Teagarden in the books. Who continually evolves with each successive adventure. Bure set to defile the character and make her very unlikeable.

She always has to be right. She tampers with police evidence. She obstructs police enquiries. { I could not fathom why she was not arrested at least once ? } And is dangerous and destructive to all around her. With a ' friend' like her, you'd need no enemies.

Another observation is that the Teagarden of the novels, although chaste never appears sexually repressive unlike the Bure ' Teagarden ' Now I have not read any of the Ainsley McGregor books. But I will wager the Bure ' Mc Gregor ' is once again a fiction of her perverted imagination.

And since she is now pushing fifty. Isn't it about time she dropped the teenage character who resembles a ' gerbil on steroids ' ?

That aside, the script for this production was very tortuous. It wound all over the place and in and out. It was so easy to lose track.

Not helped by the incompetent sound engineers. They have very sophisticated equipment today. So why do they turn out such poor soundtracks ? Unlike their counterparts of the classical period of Hollywood.

Camera angles. Well there weren't any. It gave the impression of all been filmed on cell phones. Held by persons suffering from St Vitus dance. I'll make no comment on the lighting. But I think you would know what I might have said.

I have read other reviews about this production. From people who actually read the novels.

And with regard to the characters they appear to be in lockstep.

I do hope the production team is not contemplating throwing good money after bad. By filming further of these novels. Without they make very, very drastic changes.

I haven't read the book to know how close this storyline is to it, but the dialogue and acting are shoddy The setting is a fictional town in Texas. Yet, not a single person has a Texan drawl or twang. They do, however, have plenty of the interesting and quirky southern sayings like, "You're as stubborn as a mule with his heel caught in a stump."

In my opinion, the writer(s) could have done better. I was able to immediately figure out who the killer was, which made for a boring movie. It also was a disappointment as it came across as a wannabe mix of Hallmark's Aurora Teagarden Mystery and Mystery 101. Hopefully, the next one is better; otherwise, it's peace out GAF."