L'étincelle de Glenwood

5/10 - not a bad entry in the series, but this one was not as intriguing nor entertaining as its predecessor

This is the second entry in The Garage Sale Mystery series on Hallmark that is loosely based on the series of books by Suzi Weinert. Several characters have been replaced...noticeably the husband is changed to actor Steve Bacic (no real objection), there is no sign of daughter Hannah or her new boyfriend Adam.

There is a new detective and friend of both Jason and Jennifer Shannon named Detective Lynwood. He is older than Detective Adam Iverson and even more conservative in the sense that he "doesn't want Jennifer following potential suspects". Dani is played by the same actress Sarah Strange, who is wonderful as the quirky best friend, in to eating organic, actively looking for a love match, and has a wonderful vintage wardrobe that I envy!

Jennifer and Dani go to a storage unit auction for the first time and bid on a unit. Shortly after the Self-Storage manager, a retired marine named Martin, is murdered. Jennifer remembers seeing him arguing with a gentleman who was going to loose his unit due to lack of payment...which sets her out to solve Martin's murder. Meanwhile, Logan (Jennifer and Jason's son) found an old "for free" bike that ends up having a treasure map inside of it...sending him on an adorable quest into a senior citizen's backyard digging for buried treasure.

I love the portrayal of the family unit...being good parents, cooking and eating dinner together. I like the mention of every day tasks like laundry. I think it contrasts nicely with divorcee Dani's quest to find a New Romantic partner and her smoothie and new age sentiments.

It is interesting that Jennifer doesn't do a murder board, but makes lists and does research...often on a computer. This was a fun mystery that involved missing diamonds.

I love antiques, history and mysteries...so this series is the perfect fit for me. I highly recommend this mystery series to cosy mystery fans out there.

Jennifer Shannon (Lori Loughlin) has a gift for finding rare treasures hidden in garage sales that she can resell at her consignment store, Rags to Riches. But her keen eye for finding valuables also gets her involved in the criminal investigations that happen at the very second-hand sales she frequents. When Jennifer's friend and self-storage facility owner Martin (Michael Kopsa) turns up murdered just hours after auctioning off an abandoned storage unit full of unique items to Jennifer, she is immediately pulled on the case as a key eyewitness. Working with Detective Lynwood (Kevin O'Grady), Jennifer helps single out a disgruntled customer as the prime suspect, while she and her business partner, Danielle (Sarah Strange), sift through boxes from the auction. As her husband Jason (Steve Bacic) worries about her safety, Jennifer starts to get over her head when there is a break-in at her store and a run-in with Martin's angry wife. Then, Jennifer and Danielle discover their new merchandise contains the sparkly evidence they needed all along to nail the surprising real culprit. They must race to save a life and put their own on the line. Will they succeed before times runs out?

Unfortunately this episode doesn't glitter much, and there's not much snooping or questions. Its plot comes across lazy and there's no drive in the plot. However It's watchable for cast.

I am LIVING for this series! They are so fun! Well acted and so many twists and turns. I love the tidbits about historical pieces and furniture, it's fascinating!

Great acting. Great storyline. A pretty good mystery for antique dealer Jennifer Shannon (Lori Loughlin) and her business partner Danielle (Sarah Strange) to sink their teeth into. There are also a few sub-plots that allow Ms. Loughlin's supporting cast to share the film's screen time with.

Mrs. Shullivan and I thoroughly enjoy this family added value made for television film that ignores most of the other mainstream over glorified phony Mission Impossible action themed films with their over used CGI and plastic surgically induced bimbos that spew profanities in an effort to maintain their audiences attention.

A robbery takes place at the opening of the film in which a handful of pristine large diamonds are stolen and shortly thereafter the two jewel thieves are murdered and the jewels are never recovered. Fast forward five years to the present time and at an auction of some commercial self storage containers where Shannon and Danielle outbid their competition for a storage container filled with "who knows what?"

You guessed it, the mystery diamonds re-appear, the owner of the commercial storage units is murdered and the mystery killer is out to get their diamonds back, and Shannon and Danielle are smack dab in the middle of this fun mystery to solve. There is also a touching scene near the end of the film in which Shannon, her husband and son are digging for real buried treasure in a senior citizens front yard that is very touching.

We loved this family mystery and therefore give this "diamond(s) in the rough"a perfect 10 out of 10 rating.