Mortelle Saint-Valentin

6/10 - good mystery that makes for a great 2 hours

I love these books and episodes, but why is Hannah not a slightly chubby redhead, as she's described in the books?

These "Murder, She Baked" series of movies will never be mistaken for great movies but they are entertaining, partly because they have to be complete by 85 minutes so there isn't any dragging.

Plus Alison Sweeney, who plays baker Hannah Swensen, is very attractive and very personable. As in the others there is a murder mystery to be solved but that never really takes the focus off the real meat of these movies. Whether Hannah will end up with Mike the Cop or with Norman the Dentist.

In this one a new bakery opens up across the street and, as the movie begins, Hannah finds the lady dead in her kitchen. Based on the gunshot wound she appears to be murdered. The resolution gets a bit complicated, including the role of her twin sister (same actress plays both roles), but once again Mike finds that Hannah is helpful in solving the mystery.

As always her mother and sister are suitably annoying, it helps the story line move forward, they are OK in small doses.

We found a set of two DVDs at our public library that contains five of the "Murder, She Baked" movies. We are watching all of them at home.

The third entry in the Murder She Baked cozy mystery series on Hallmark, starring Alison Sweeney. In this episode a new bakery opens in the small town of Eden Lake which cuts in to Hannah's profits at The Cookie Jar. To make matters worse the new baker/owner is a college friend of detective Mike and his deceased wife!

Egged on by her family, Hannah orders one of the Magnolia bakery's famous peach cobblers, a supposed family recipe. Along with her family and the mayor, Hannah does a blind taste test in which Hannah's cobbler wins amongst all of the judges. At least two of the judges...including Hannah herself think the Magnolia's pie tastes familiar. That night Hannah figures out why and shares the reason with her sister, who in a fit of defending Hannah bursts out with the reason at the mayor's daughter's wedding rehearsal in front of most of the town. The baker of The Magnolia bakery leaves in tears with a proclamation that she will bring her cobblers to the wedding.

Day of the wedding Hannah does a good deed, someone ends up dead and for the first time Hannah is the prime suspect!!!!!

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and our dentist Norman seems to be winning major points supporting and helping Hannah. Mike, our handsome detective, is avoiding Hannah because she is the prime suspect in his case.

Meanwhile the real mystery is who will be Hannah's date for the big day?

Sweet, funny and a must watch in the Murder She Baked series.

In this Murder She Baked: A Peach Cobbler Mystery, Hannah Swenson's profession of baker actually comes into play as part of the plot. In this case someone opens a rival bakery across the street and it will be a war for customers in the small town of Eden Falls, Minnesota. Rumor has it that rival Michelle Harrison just imports her stuff and it's not baked on premise. But that pales when Harrison is killed and Alison Sweeney is discovered over the body. Later on the gun that killed Harrison is found in Alison's bakery.

Sweeney is as usual caught between Cameron Mattis and Gabriel Hogan, she must feel like a volleyball at times. Her mother Barbara Niven has found a little romance with Roark Critchlow a guy that seems a bit too smooth. He's also got a connection to the sister of the late bakery rival also played by Michelle Harrison.

Those shots of all the baked goods in the shop. 1000 calories just for looking at it and on television too not live.

Fans of the series won't be disappointed.