Un crime en héritage

Candace Cameron Bure, a librarian with a taste for true mysteries, inherits a house. Some one breaks into the house. This leads her to a hidden skull with blunt force trauma in what promises to be the first in a Hallmark Channel series.

It's based on Charlaine Harris' Aurora Teagarden series and is of the "Cozy Murder" variety of mystery. I am familiar with Ms. Harris through reading a couple of her Sookie Stackhouse series, which combines murder, vampires and Southern Gothic, and are cleverly written. Miss Bure is a charming actress, able to play an intelligent ditz; and although this particular movie seems to be mostly concerned with setting up the characters and relationships for future, the mystery story is well set up and executed. I look forward to future efforts, this latest Hallmark Channel mystery series bids fair to be a pleasing one.

I'd hated Murder She Bakes and loved good Witch so I gave this a chance and i'm pleasantly surprised. Candace Bure does a good job of portraying Aurora as an inquisitive and clever person, who an get dangerously close to being nosey and interfering but just stays on the tolerable side of it. You can actually believe that beneath her turning up all over is actual concern for her friends and neighbours. The character is quite well rounded and not a bad influence on TV- she's smart, dedicated to her work, decisive and organised. Mother Aida is stereotypically the small town mom who can only think of setting her daughter up, but the actress does very well. Aurora's love interests do not merit mention, but John is someone who deserves far more screen time. The mystery is too simple but somehow the small town intrigues and Aurora's process save it from being a bore. If you want a simple unwinding with some cuteness and not much brain use, don't miss it.

An Aurora Teagarden Mystery: A Bone to Pick from 2015 is my first foray into these mysteries after seeing some of the Garage Sale Mysteries.

The Garage Sale Mysteries have antiques and collectibles going for them, as well as the familiar face of Lori Loughlin.

I admit not being familiar with Candace Cameron Bure as an adult actress. She's a little too cutesy for me and makes faces, but she's pretty and has lots of energy. Marilu Henner plays her mother, and the rest are Canadian actors, some of whom are pretty good.

The plot concerns an elderly friend of Aurora who dies and leaves the librarian and amateur sleuth her house.

The house is broken into, so Aurora attempts to find out what someone was looking for, and finds a skull with a hole probably made by a blunt instrument.

Being a member of a mystery club, Aurora starts her own investigation, not telling the police about the skull. When the body is found, the police become involved. Unfortunately, the detective is the pregnant wife of Aurora's old boyfriend.

The woman who wrote the Aurora Teagarden books, Charlaine Harris, also wrote True Blood. She has quite a range! This is lighter than air, unoffensive entertainment at least in the TV movie adaptation.

Realize that you're getting into a Hallmark movie, not Citizen Kane, and you won't be disappointed.

This is a clean mystery with likable characters. But Aurora does make the irresponsible, rather selfish decision to tamper with evidence and try to solve the mystery herself. I don't like it when a civilian just butts in and does the police's job for them. Contrast this with Morning Show Mysteries or Picture Perfect Mysteries, where the civilian protagonist works WITH the police.

Librarian Aurora Teagarden is known around her small town as a master sleuth. When her friend Jane unexpectedly dies and leaves Aurora everything in her will, she also leaves a troubling murder mystery. It is up to Aurora to piece together the clues and solve the murder before she becomes the next victim.

The Aurora Teagarden films I've seen so far are all pleasant viewing: humorous, fast-moving, intriguing, and this first entry featuring the highly inquisitive and energetic librarian is quite good, though the other episodes I have seen are better, characters more rounded, the story sharper. The actress who plays Aurora's reporter friend was good, her character being quite entertaining. I lost count how many times she tries to dissuade Aurora from conducting her investigation.