Une Recette Mortelle

This is the fourth and very busy entry in the cosy mystery series Murder She Baked.

It starts with Hannah getting nocked down by a potential car thief, the race for sheriff involving Hannah's brother-in-law, and then Hannah and her very pregnant sister finding the body of the current sherif.

Bill, Hannah's brother-in-law, becomes the prime suspect as the competitor to the current sheriff in this year's election.

Norman, the dentist and romantic rival for Hannah is away at a dental conference. This sets up an amusing scene at The Cookie Jar, when Detective Mike grabs the phone from Hannah and chats with Norman...the rivalry continues.

Alison Sweeney and Cameron Mathieson have chemistry for days and it is enjoyable to watch their banter. Our Dentist, Norman...who continues to be almost the perfect man, leaves the dental conference early just to help Hannah investigate.

"I think that no one will be sleeping on that couch tonight."

"For the record, you kissed me."

Great mystery and another must see in the Mystery She Baked Series. (I really wish there were more, but maybe I will try the books.)

I think we all have a secret fantasy to show up the police at their job. A movie like Murder She Baked: A Deadly Recipe plays right into that. Also playing into that fantasy were such shows as Murder She Wrote, Mrs. Wainthropp Investigates. And who more than Agatha Christie did that when she created Jane Marple?

Alison Sweeney of Days Of Our Lives has created an interesting character in Hannah Swenson, owner of a small town bakery who likes to dabble in police business. She probably gets away with a lot because like Jane Marple her instincts are right. And she bakes such delicious goods no one wants to incarcerate her especially the cops who love her delivery of them to the station.

But Sweeney is involved in a bad one. Someone murdered the chief of police in the parking lot of the police station. Ty Olsson who plays the victim was not loved by his staff, is in a campaign for re- election, has a messy personal life, and on top of that is getting close to an auto theft ring that's been plaguing his town. So there's a lot of people who have motives.

With Cameron Mathison as one of the deputies who likes Sweeney's instincts and her in general, but gives her some kind of official cover for her own investigations while warning her of the consequences of interfering with police business the two make a good team.

I have to say in the end the motive for the slaying was truly bizarre and the perpetrator a pitiable figure. I can't say more other than the perpetrator gives a great and subtle performance.

My first exposure to this series of which this is the fourth film made for the Hallmark Channel. Sweeney's character is a winning and an interesting one.

The series is enjoyable if not believable. It's fun, fluff mystery. I don't expect it to be cerebral or realistic. I like most of the characters even if their relationships are childish and shallow. My only real concern is that the two actors portraying the competing love interests look so much alike that I can't tell who she's with sometimes. I actually thought they might be the same actor or actually twins. Casting could have done a better job with that.

The main issue with this movie was that the lead character was an utterly vile human being. Yes, murder mystery detectives do tend to be nosy busy bodies but she took takes biscuit (excuse the pun). The way she got involved in other people's private affairs and stuck her oar in where it didn't matter was unbelievable. The icing on the cake was her visiting a recently widowed lady, bringing her her dead husbands favourite cakes and asking for a family secret BBQ sauce recipe, whilst she snooped through her mail. Her exchanging recipes at a funeral also was just a tad insensitive!!! The kitchen where she works should also be shut down. So many health and saftety violations with all the staff wearing zero protective gear and quite happy to nibble whatever they like. One lady chomped on half a cupcake and then put the rest back with the others!! Utter tosh

There is a huge mistake about how the car thieves stole the cars. They didn't have the keyless system, they used a slim Jim to gain access. Also, the alarm would go off if the door is opened without having the key they came with the car. Another thing, it doesn't matter if they used the access point to override anything, you can't use another key to start the car. Whoever wrote the story line needs to do better research for the movies.