Francesca Quinn, PI

We had high hopes for this new mystery, but somehow it just never quite got past Ho-hum. The actors all seemed to be reciting their lines, without putting life in to their characters. The pace and story were oddly put together, the background music reminded me of B movies from the 1950's, and I'm not certain my husband and I would watch another movie in this series. Compared to the ones that are no longer produced, such as Hailey Dean, The Gourmet Detective, or McBride, this lacked warmth, charm, and a sense of connection to the audience. My husband picked out the killer fairly early. I stopped caring fairly early.

My stepmother and I have been Hallmark movies for years & we thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It's 2024 & we just watched it & agree there should be a sequel. Aside from some moderate acting ability Dylan Bruce was outstanding! I'm sure there are many fans who really enjoyed the movie as well but didn't write a review.

The penultimate of any murder mystery is always a huge surprise that is revealed in the past 5 minutes of the movie and this is one of those movies. As a former actress in daytime television I understand actors move on. If the 2 leads are available we'd really appreciate a new movie.

This should have started "It was a dark and stormy night..." Stiff dialog, usual closed loop of suspects/ victims. Lead woman should not be in this position. Others have over the top delivery, dramatic pauses obvious declarations of facts. Nice photography and scenes and being from Minneapolis the locations that fit it were fun to see but no Midwest accents to be found. I don't have a lot more to say but I may not be able to finish it in the first sitting. Having to fill out length here I would not recommend watching this if you have something else you'd like to watch from Hallmark. Just about anything.

We generally like Hallmark movies. I even use the Hallmark Movie Checklist app to keep up with new productions because we enjoy the Christmas movies and series like Mystery 101, the Martha's Vineyard movies, and Signed, Sealed, and Delivered. But this one is truly bad.

I sympathize with the poor actors who have to make the best of the bad writing but even then, other than the main protagonists, the acting is flat to downright poor.

The story itself is like a bad soap opera and the dialogue is worse.

I don't think the actors were miscast. With better writing they are very fine actors, as evidenced by their performances in other Hallnark productions.

I really hope they don't plan on making any sequels. We certainly won't be watching them in this household.

First, this movie is SUCH an improvement over"Cut, Color, Murder", and "The Curious Caterer "!!!

I think that it is a teaser for the solving of Travis and Amy's cliffhanger, and I'll bet a lot of Mystery 101 fans do as well.

The script's author has authored the 101 series too.

There's a strong father-daughter bond, a solid friendship between the father of the female lead, and the detective, and now a dead fiance.

Mallory Jansen and Dylan Bruce play their characters well enough, but the chemistry is not as strong as it is between Travis and Amy in Mystery 101.

Mallory's emotions and Dylan's don't seem to click as well. Maybe it's the line delivery.

This is an ok movie to watch more than once. There are lots of twists and nuances to revisit, although the way the background story is told tends to be a bit confusing.

Overall, while there are obvious teasers and parallels to Mystery 101, it can not vie as a replacement for, or take the place of, Mystery 101 as the top HMM Signature Movie Series/Franchise.

Hope Hallmark figures that out!