"Not again."
Hello everyone!
Yes, yes, I know, the inauguration was yesterday, blablabla.
Not really in the mood. I'd prefer something a lot more drama-friendly!
So here we are, returning to one of my usual favourite sleuthers that I kind of tucked away by the wayside to return to at some point or other. The movie I watched this weekend actually aired, er, well, in autumn of last year. They're releasing the newest installment this February so I thought to myself, you know what? Maybe I should catch up!
So I did.
And honestly, I keep forgetting how much I enjoy this light-hearted kind of thing where you don't have to use so much brain energy and just have fun.
Hallmark Movies and Mysteries serves a lot of that in A Sprinkle of Deceit.
This is the continuation of the Murder, She Baked mysteries which originally aired starring Alison Sweeney and Cameron Mathison. But with Cameron moving to another network, they had to rework the story after the entire series had been overhauled, and now Victor Webster plays the male lead, the prosecutor for Lake Eden.
Alison, however, still plays Hannah Swensen, the baker and bakery owner who usually finds herself solving murders that happen whenever she's around.
I swear these detectives just can't have a nice, calm day!
This time, it's during a high school reunion she's catering. Her sister Michelle is there as date to a police detective, Lonnie (her boyfriend, of course), and they all get to witness this woman, Darcy, get drunk as a skunk and argue with her boyfriend to the point he just leaves her there. We also already know, from the cold opening of the movie, that she's been texting with someone, quite lovey-dovey, so this is a 180 turn!
Lonnie loses rock-paper-scissors to take her home, so he does just that, tucks her in, gets her Aspirin, and leaves.
Next morning, Hannah and her sister, after trying to deliver a hangover cure, find Darcy dead in her bed.
Chad - and ohmyGOD I only just realized they named the poor guy CHAD of all things! - warns Hannah to stay away from the investigation, because it involves Lonnie as one of the prime suspects since he was the last person to see Darcy alive, and her feeding information to the police could jeopardize the trial, if it comes down to it.
This doesn't stop our sleuth, however, because her little sister's happiness is on the line, so she starts gathering evidence.
Packing her car full of cookie freebies people will never be able to resist, she just starts talking to people around town, learning that there was an orange convertible parked on the street the night Darcy passed away - a convertible no one can find, no matter that it's the smallest community ever - that the victim was suing her former boss at an autoshop for harassment, but the guy says he never sent the messages, and that she and her boyfriend were always fighting, no matter what.
Also that the boyfriend isn't going to be shifting focus of the investigation from Lonnie to himself, thank you very much.
While her mother Dolores (Barbara Niven, who can border on annoying in these movies rather quickly) asks different questions around town and tries other tactics to get information, the women do pool it all together eventually and Hannah figures out Darcy had to have been seeing someone on the side, which couldn't be Adam.
How does she know? The shopping list, and the fact Adam's allergic to almonds, but the cake Darcy got specifically had almonds in it.
Chad keeps trying to warn her off, but even the sheriff eventually caves, like, hey, Hannah DOES get useful stuff that we can't even unearth sometimes (why they don't just pull her in as a CI is beyond me, this would help with some legal aspects I'm sure). Not that our prosecutor is convinced, however, Hannah does sell him on a couple of her ideas which then help move the investigation forward.
Everything would have been a lot easier had they had the deceased's phone, but alas, whoever did the deed took it with them, which means it's the linchpin to the entire investigation.
It looks like they've hit a dead end until Hannah - while baking - realizes an important bit: several colours may look different under street lights. If the convertible car was parked under one, then it ISN'T orange.
Turns out, it's white, and the guy driving it is the B&B owner where the reunion was held at. Also, he conveniently spoke very highly of Darcy whenever asked.
Aaaand his wife hated her, case in point when she holds a gun to Hannah's head after Hannah puts the pieces together.
LUCKILY she'd called Chad on his office phone earlier, leaving him a message and ensuring he'd be following her out to where she is, because despite managing to evade the deranged wife for a bit, she would have been in a heck of a lot of trouble if he didn't use some special kung fu moves to disarm the other woman.
As it happens, the wife had been suspicious of her husband for a while, and the night of the reunion she followed Lonnie to Darcy's home, looking through her phone and figuring it all out, then using a pillow for good measure to seal the deal, so to speak. She didn't think Lonnie would ACTUALLY be blamed for anything; equally, it turns out that Darcy sent the harassing messages to herself for the case, which now falls apart without her.
People can get on with their lives, including the Swensen sisters, who attend the opening night of their mother's theater show, where she plays the main character, a comatose person on a bed that doesn't speak.
This is hilarious considering just how much she DOES talk on a regular basis, but the important part here is that Chad needs to reset his brain a little after seeing Hannah in a stunning red dress, and they end up agreeing to go out for dinner sometime. They've also finally exchanged phone numbers, so, really, they're well on the way to romanceville!
And I'm actually here for it.
I was initially wary of the male lead change, but Victor does have great chemistry with Alison, and they wrote out Mike's story neatly enough that it doesn't interfere too much with the rest. Plus, it kind of makes sense that Hannah would STILL be in a relationship with someone who's connected to the law in some way, shape or form, considering.
The movie is an hour and twenty minutes of amusing detective work, covering almost all the highs and lows of an investigation, and while it does deal with its subject matter respectfully, it also doesn't take itself too seriously so you can have a bit of fun with the pitfalls that happen along the way.
BUT the case gets solved, everyone walks away happy who was involved in it, and I'm actually looking forward to more of these as time goes on, because Hallmark managed to recapture the original spirit of Hannah Swensen where she doesn't behave as if she's better than the entire police force combined.
So, bring along the next one!
xx
*images and video not mine
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