Pie to Die For: A Hannah Swensen Mystery

Another Hannah Swensen Mystery ruined by Barbara Niven's character. These are supposed to be Hallmark style murder mysteries, but it doesn't really know what it is. It's Hannah and her family, Hannah and her staff, Hannah and the Sheriff's Dept., Hannah and the DA... The cast has gotten too large and the comedic elements aren't really funny.

It was better when it was Hannah and a detective that focused on a case, now there are subplots running. The bread and butter of writers are relationship stories, but this is a crime drama and they need writers who know how to write that genre. Who green lights these multi-movie series, they don't work. I think that Hallmark has run out of steam, I expect to hear one day soon they've been bought out or sold off.

Call me desperate for new mystery content on Hallmark Mysteries, but I believe this is the best one yet of the Chad and Hannah Murder She Baked Mysteries. I am actually really enjoying the slow build between these two characters played by Victor Webster and Allison Sweeney. Both are wonderful actors, who I love independently...but even more together.

Hannah still hasn't found a treat to tempt Chad with, snickerdoodle?, but they finally share their first kiss as well as formal date. I am enjoying this slow reveal of Chad's character and we hear more about his time as a marine on their date, as well as experience his quick reflexes, language skills, and rusty fighting skills. Chad continues to speak in a flattering way about Hannah, both in her presence and outside of it...which I love!

In this mystery Hannah discovers the warm corpse of her mother's biggest acting rival at the local theater, Victoria, while delivering banana cream pies to her house for a party. Due to their rivalry Hannah's mom, Delores (Barbara Niven), becomes the prime suspect in the police chief Ealing's investigation. Hannah is very busy doing the heavy lifting for good friend and employee Lisa's family reunion, but she makes time to work on the case in order to help clear her mother. Hannah asks her sister Andrea for help getting ready for her first dinner date with Chad and on the case where Andrea, Mom Delores and Hannah divvy up the three classes that Victoria was taking. Delores gets the French Class, Andrea the martial arts class, and Hannah the dance class...which Chad finds out about and says they should take the class for real-together. When Hannah is attacked in her home by a paid professional, Chad comes to her assistance and aided by a frying pan from a quick thinking Hannah puts an end to the attempt.

I really like the candor between Hannah and Chad, they seem to talk openly about things that many would be silent about and then fret over later...like Chad confirming that it was one of her sisters in the pantry and Hannah explaining why she wanted to audit the dance class, which led to Chad telling her it was a 90 minute class she has plenty of time to get the instructor's attention. These two really seem to strike a nice (and healthy) balance with each other. I'm still excited to see where their relationship is going to go and I am enjoying the mysteries and the rest of the cast along the way. (Normally I miss Norm when he is not there, because he is such a fabulous wingman...but Pie to Die was so tightly written I didn't really have time to miss Norm. And I appreciated all the Chad and Hannah time in Pie to Die.)

My one and only complaint, and this is very minor, is that the mystery was wrapped up a little too quickly at the end. This is the fourth film with Victor Webster paired with Allison Sweeney as Hannah Swensen and it may be my favorite in the series so far and Hannah Swensen's Murder She Baked is my current favorite mystery on Hallmark Mysteries. (It has always been in my top three with the original Aurora Teagarden and Mystery 101...both of which I miss very much.) I can't wait for more Hannah Swensen Mysteries!

Not as bad as the last one, but there is still too little Hannah and too much Delores. If you are going to feature Barbara Niven, just change the titles so we know what to expect.

When did Andrea get a new husband (she calls herself Andrea Swenson Bennet)? Why is she suddenly back in Lake Eden? Supposedly she moved to Seattle - how does she afford to fly back to Minnesota so frequently?

The Chad-Hannah dynamic is better, but the fainting at the end was too contrived to be believed. It was nice to see them behave like normal people and date.

I'm puzzled by Chad's job - isn't he an attorney, not a detective?

Totally disappointed, like some kind of a cartoon with the giggling how old is she ?... And all the stupid antics. They're doing nothing like the original Hannah. Swanson's . Could be a been a good series and and her face. Looks like it's made of plastic. A little too much.

Why is Hallmark straying away from the actual series topic mystery?

Just can't understand why they're changing everything not only in this show, but in other ones, everything's love, not everybody wants to see love all the time. I hope the hallmark realizes what there doing and not make anymore. Mysteries, based on the one she has right now.

While ke both Alison Sweeney and Victor. Webster, the characters just don't have the same fit as Hannah and Mike did. Hannah's cat, who liked no one in the past, is now everybody's best friend. I'm not sure how many names Delores gave Hannah, but she's gone from calling her Hannah Joann in " Just Desserts " to Hannah Louise in " A Pie To Die For". Andrea's last name has changed from Todd to something else. Since Alison is credited as an author on this episode, shouldn't someone have been checking for consistency through the history of the series?

Again, Delores's character is outsized and needs revamping. Delores has gone from scatterbrained and pushy, trying to control her daughters, to being off the rails with the PI stuff. There is some consistency with Delores though- she's always more than a bit of a diva!