À vendre: trois chambres, un cadavre

This is the Aurora Teagarden mystery where Candace Cameron Bure meets her intended Yannick Bisson. She finds he's a man with quite a past and for a while the subject of the murder of two real estate agents.

In fact that's what drives Cameron in this murder mystery. She meets Bisson who is looking to buy a house and he's supposed to meet up with Marilu Henner, Roe's real estate agent mom. But Henner is running late and Cameron takes Bisson to the house where they find the body of another real estate agent.

Then at another site another female real estate agent is found dead. Roe's concern is that someone is targeting real estate agents of the female variety though nothing sexual is done.

In fact both murders were done to cover up another crime. What that was and who did it you have to watch for. But rest assured it's not Bisson.

I guess we have to wait and see if our mystery loving librarian and her man of mystery get hitched in another of these films in the series.

Candace Cameron Bure is back as Aurora Teagarden, this time trying to solve the murder of a real estate agent. She eventually figures out the murder ties into some stolen art and then it's just a matter of her (and us) figuring out which of the suspects is guilty. As with the previous Aurora Teagarden movies, I will remind anyone reading this review that I have not read the books this series is based on. So I don't have any preconceived ideas of how Aurora or any of the supporting characters should look or act. I enjoyed the previous two TV movies in this series, largely because of Candace Cameron Bure's irrepressible charm and likability. This third movie, however, I like a little less than the others.

For starters, while this is still a somewhat lighthearted murder mystery with a little bit of humor, this one seems to take itself more seriously than the last two. Some viewers will probably like this one more than the others for that very reason. But I wanted the quirky fun more than another humdrum murder mystery that anyone who's seen a couple of episodes of Murder, She Wrote could figure out relatively quickly. Another negative is the potential love interest in this one. It's the third male lead for Candace in as many movies and this one is a big step down from Robin Dunne's enjoyable character in the last film. This new guy, played by Yannick Bisson, is a middle-aged metrosexual with a One Direction haircut and way too much spray tan. His chemistry with Candace is tepid, to be charitable. Honestly the guy seems like he should be hosting a game show or an infomercial about dog grooming supplies.

On the plus side, Candace is Candace and while she doesn't have as many cute lines or moments in this one, her screen presence carries the movie. The adorable Lexa Doig returns as Aurora's friend but sadly gets little to do. The few scenes she does have are great, though. One note I would give Hallmark is that perhaps in future movies focus on these two solving crimes together rather than inserting another love interest who's just going to disappear anyway. Marilu Henner, Bruce Dawson, and Miranda Frigon all return from the previous movies and are all fun to watch. Also making an appearance is the clichéd gruff police captain I complained about in my Real Murders review. He shows up just to tell Aurora to stop meddling. Keep trying, Hallmark, but it's not going to get funny anytime soon. Finally, the town they filmed in is really beautiful. So big points for the scenery. Look, if you like Candace and like the other Aurora movies, you'll like this I think. If you didn't like the other ones, maybe this one will be more your cup of tea since it is a little different than the previous two.

I must say I enjoyed this Aurora Teagarden mystery better than what I had seen previously, I think because the star, Candace Cameron Bure was a tiny bit more subdued. Also, I liked this mystery.

While showing a house for her real estate mother Aida (Marilu Henner), Aurora finds the body of an agent that worked for her mother. Aurora knows this particular house well, from her childhood, and thinks something is off about its look. After comparing it with photos, she realizes a painting has been replaced by another one. Is this about art theft?

There are any number of suspects: an agent who majored in art in college, the agent's husband, the man looking at the house - the list seems endless.

Then the body of another agent shows up in a second house.

Pretty good and entertaining. These mystery movies are made in Canada and use predominantly Canadian actors, and the budget isn't very big. This one moved quickly and had a nice plot.

The third film in the Aurora Teagarden film series and based on the book of the same name. I think it got better now. I mean I liked previous two, but this kind of crime-mysteries I like a lot. This is by far the closely related to Aurora. Nothing like she directly involved in it, but when her mother's firm associated with the latest murder in the town, she got to step in like the previous occasions to find the truth. That gave strength to the film plot to evolve vigorously. When I say such strong word for a television film, that means for the television standards only.

She was covering for her busy mother, but it was not like any other day, because she finds a dead body in the backyard of the house she was showing for a customer. The dead woman worked for her mother. Now the question is who did it? And the motivation! From the customers to someone from the work, it could be anybody. All Aurora had a small clue, that she did not know it until the last moment. But did she catch the killer using it as a bait, and if she did so, how it all happened was unfolded in the remaining tale.

As usual the police chief was annoying. I mean not for me/viewers, but for Aurora for her enthusiasm in crime solving which he sees as an obstruction. In this, she directly associated, since she was the first to report it to the cops. So there's nothing much they could do about it, other than letting her do whatever she want, but within the legal circle.

Her effort to solve it was more to save her mother, thinking she could become a future victim or be framed for it. Unlike cops, she begins her investigation with the employees of her mother's firm. Like usual, the inquiry initiated, but it did not take her anywhere to resolve the case. Except her suspicious on the man she's been with on the day she found the body.

❝I'm a librarian. I have a masters degree in finding information.❞

Coming to that mystery man, he was like her new romance companion. He showed more interest to her as much she suspected him. So in the entire stretch of the narration, the romance became a distant word. Initially I was not happy that in every sequel, they had brought in the new guys as her love interest. All the above, they all had disappeared in the following film. The best part was, the romance was not given a strong preference in any of those As the viewers, we could see the connections. But it helped to build the story better. Besides, a fresh face gives a fresh perspective on whatever going on.

The art theme was nicely used. But this is the series where uncovering the crime a main priority. So whatever the smartness used to do the crime/murder, you won't witness them. Then suddenly at the end comes out the suspect, revealing the purpose of committing it. It is a television film, and it always has a happy ending. As the title says, it is Aurora's tale and she has to accomplish it. That's how her character built. It is totally understandable, but it also makes the cops useless. I would have liked her involved alongside them to do the job, rather single handily manage all the time.

The first act was good. From the basic plot, it was developed with a lot more suspenseful in the second act. Though the final act was cliché. I did not guess who was the culprit, but anybody would know how it all unfolds as it followed a basic blueprint of murder/crime mystery. Because if the probe reveals the motivation or a baitable evidence so early, then it loses nearly half the grip to keep the excitement going. This film had a decent ending, but too sudden and too quick, especially while confronting the bad guy, then it's all done. Once again all the actors were good. The director had been replaced, though she did good. I think I've said everything I wanted to, so now I'm looking forward for the next one to review.

7/10

I somewhat enjoy the mysteries. I'm a bigger fan of the earlier ones than the more recent but that's mainly because I like the Aurora/Martin dynamic so it lost something for me when he left. This movie is his first and I don't see what he saw in Ro other than looks because she is so rude to him and self-centered even before he ends up on her suspect list. It was the other characters (note that I say characters not actors because I have no problem with Candace Cameron Bure, just with the way Ro is written here) that were strong enough to keep me watching. I especially appreciate Lynn, probably the least bumbling cop on these types of mysteries and, despite her dislike of Ro, still respects her capabilities. The mystery itself was good but they must've pissed off Ro's aunt at some point because no one would want their bridesmaids looking like that.