"What if's aren't evidence."
Hello everyone!
Look at us go, we're on the second-to-last movie of this franchise, and this now makes me want to go back and rewatch some other Hallmark series that I thoroughly enjoyed so that I can review them on here.
But alas, while the dogs are barking and the caravan passes on, there's also a bunch of new movies that I've yet to have a look at, which means Hallmark might take a backseat for a short while.
Returning to the topic at hand, we are once again in Eden Lake this week with Hannah Swenson who just can't keep her nose out of trouble, no matter whether either of her boyfriends wants it to be so, and it's kind of funny because apparently she's the person everything happens around.
So naturally if you like mystery, mayhem, and a touch of romance in any of your movies or series, I think this is the one for you. Like I've said before, it may not be top of its class in terms of mystery solving to begin with, but it's highly entertaining if nothing else.
Murder, She Baked: A Deadly Recipe tells us that basically no one is safe, no matter how much they might think they are!
As always, the links to the previous movies that have come before this one can be found at the bottom of this page, but basically it's just murder after murder in the little town of Eden Lake, with Hannah split between her two suitors, dentist Norman and detective Mike, and at this point you'd definitely think she'd be able to make a choice, right?
HA, wrong.
But anyway.
A very heavily pregnant Andrea is helping her husband Bill run a campaign with elections for the sheriff just around the corner, not that people generally think he's going to win it, despite the fact that the polls are currently in his favour.
See, the current sheriff usually solves a big case right before elections and thus wins them, which is a bit of a cop-out if he's useless for the rest of his elected time, but that's just me.
Even the mayor knows how the cookie crumbles though, but the sheriff has a beef with practically everybody at the station, in town, and maybe in the state area, since he has such a winning personality. In fact, he does what he does extra best: he takes the case Bill has been working hard on and nearly cracked from Bill to handle himself, since he can smell it'll be a big one and it'll further his career.
What case, you ask?
Well there's been a car theft ring going around Eden Lake and no one's been able to find any of the thieves or stop them, and at the very beginning of the movie one of said thieves actually mows over Hannah during his getaway, leaving behind a bracelet with a family crest that will (eventually) crack the case wide open, but for the time being it's just a piece of evidence.
And Hannah's busy anyway spearheading Eden Lake's annual cookbook, where she not only has to help a committee pick out winning recipes to feature, but she's also trying to figure out a secret ingredient to some chocolate fudge mufffins, which takes her pretty much all movie.
And of course, throughout all this, Mike and Norman are having their friendly rivalry when it comes to her, though Norman is initially away on a conference.
Things take a drastic change when Andrea and Hannah find the sheriff dead one evening, and Bill becomes prime suspect in the investigation which Mike is the head of, despite the fact that both Mike and Hannah are trying to exonerate him. It does of course turn out that he was actually only sort of stalking his wife and not there for the sheriff at all, but that doesn't give them much else to work with.
They eventually uncover a few more suspects - because of course Hannah's going to be nosying about even if Mike tells her she really needs to sit this one out since she's partial because of her family's involvement - and they find out that an employee of Hannah's mother, Paige also had a standing frosty relationship with the sheriff.
Why?
Well as it so happens, his wife was in the process of divorcing him, and she explains there's bad blood between Paige and their family because Paige used to date the sheriff's son, Peter, but when the sheriff found out he went ballistic and a huge argument ensued which sent Peter flying out the door in a rage, and straight into an accident that took his life.
The sheriff never forgave himself, and neither did Paige, who eventually gave birth to a daughter Lucy - and wouldn't you know it but she isn't Kevin's, who's currently Paige's husband. No, Lucy is Peter's child, and the sheriff was trying to get custody of the girl, which of course wasn't flying with her family.
As all this comes out, however (with some helpful sleuthing from Hannah and some delicate questioning by Mike), our crime solving duo help the sheriff's widow and Paige reconcile through Kevin, which prompts Mike to kiss Hannah because, well, she's pretty amazing, all in all.
If only she could amazingly make up her mind! Mike looks awesome in uniform, come on.
Especially with her house broken into, which prompts Norman and Mike both to offer to sleep on her couch for safety, which she declines, but they do need to solve this mystery once and for all, as it seems the sheriff's murder is tied to the car theft ring, as is the black truck that's been following Hannah around town (even the residents have figured out by now she's the one to watch out for!).
And in the end another string gets solved when Mike takes Hannah home and they follow the black truck together, because the crest finally yields results in being from a family in town - coincidentally, the one who supplied the chocolate fudge muffins for the cookbook (which Hannah solved the mystery of, by the way, as raspberry syrup was the secret ingredient).
In a shoot-out at the garage the family owns, Mike and Hannah come out on top, but something doesn't feel right to Hannah either way, especially after speaking to the owner again. Sure, car theft she can see, but murder? Nah.
And even Mike is skeptical because they don't fit the profile, so the sheriff's murderer is still at large, though everything comes falling apart like a house of cards when Hannah discovers some unsent love letters in a desk at the police station.
They belong to none other than desk clerk Janet, who turns out to have been the sheriff's confidante since the death of his son, and who secretly loved him all these years. But when she confessed her love, he was appalled and disgusted, and wanted nothing to do with her, which prompted her to smack him over the head with a brick in a fit of rage. She confesses as much to Hannah, and Hannah takes her back to the station for booking, which is just as well as both her and Bill's phones go off at the same time.
Andrea's in labour!
And with the birth of baby Tracy Hannah, the film winds down as Norman comes to visit, but even Andrea now openly wonders just where in this triangle/pyramid Mike fits into.
Don't we all, Andrea?
You'll have to wait for that answer just a little bit longer, however, because NATURALLY there's none in this movie either, Hannah is as split on this as she was before, which at this point is becoming aggravating and annoying as time has passed - at least a year if not a little bit more - and you'd think a grown woman would be able to make up her mind already!
Thankfully the supporting cast bring their A-game, especially the ever-delightful Barbara Niven. Sweeney and Mathison, of course, continue to be the amazing crime-fighters we've come to love, although the sooner she figures out his blue-eyed boyish charm is the one for her, the better.
This particular movie felt like it had the most convoluted case out of all of them so far, but it was definitely enjoyable to watch and it looks like Bill's now going to be the sheriff, which is one silver lining in an otherwise pretty sad outcome.
Eden Lake just can't seem to catch its breath though, but don't worry!
Most of your questions, if not all, will be answered next week in the final installment of this saga, so tune in then and see just which of the bachelors Hannah ends up choosing - and what the future has in store for her.
xx
*images and video not mine
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