"The plot thickens."
Hello everyone!
Quite literally, actually.
Joanne Fluke was on to something when she invented Hannah Swensen, her baker-slash-detective, at amateur levels of course, because generally speaking we as amateurs enjoy having someone else's eyes to look through when some sort of crime happens.
The movie series for her book adaptations has been running at Hallmark for a few years now, even after the rebrand from Murder She Baked to Hannah Swensen Mysteries, and that's probably proof enough that people really enjoy it.
Besides, what's not to like about some eye candy like Cameron Mathison, right?
Right.
So put on your thinking caps and grab your kitchen utensils: tonight's choice is A Zest for Death.
Hannah (Alison Sweeney) is overjoyed to have her oven fixed so she can deliver all the baked goodies to the impatient residents of Lake Eden (and as someone who now works in an actual bakery, I can promise you: if the people don't get what they're used to wanting, they will RIOT), but she's still missing Mike (Mathison), whom, if you remember, she broke up with in the previous installment.
Why?
Because she's an idiot, that's why, and thinks the law and universe should bend to her will rather than the other way around, but I digress.
After a regular doesn't come pick up her lemon meringue pie, she decides on a home delivery, spots the woman in an argument with someone, and the woman explains it's her brother, who doesn't like that she's about to do something drastic.
She also shows Hannah a coin collection her aunt had, and said aunt just recently passed.
This all seems well and good, and the Swensens are hunting a house for the youngest daughter Michelle when the same woman (the pie woman, that is) turns up dead in her own home, which of course pulls Mike into the action as this is his field and his profession.
And oh also, the sheriff is ABSOLUTELY not about this whole, Mike and Hannah split, because he misses the baked goodies that used to always wind up at the police station prior.
So get your heads together, you guys!
As evidence mounts towards Jed, the handyman who's just been released from prison after being tried for theft, Hannah's instincts tingle because that seems too easy, and also she can't resist a good murder, which is something Mike knows well enough that he doesn't even try to stop her at this point in time.
Turns out that it's also not helpful to lie to the police trying to help your boyfriend, but that's okay, since the Swensen women slowly uncover that their victim may have had some sort of affair happening in her personal life, and that she'd been fired from a pretty important position because of supposed fraud and/or embezzlement?
Lake Eden is like those villages in Midsomer Murders, it just keeps on giving!
Once the victim's brother also shows up on the scene, we as viewers can actually see how unhinged Hannah is, as she swears up and down to anyone who'll listen that the man CAN'T be the brother and is ABSOLUTELY a fraud because she SAW the actual brother and of course, if the victim (who by now has a proven track record of hiding things) told her that, it MUST be the truth.
I'm not sure how Mike hasn't locked her up as certifiable by this point, to be honest, considering not only do people actually KNOW the victim's brother and can attest to his identity, the police have also done their due diligence and vetted him. But it doesn't even cross Hannah's mind that she's been lied to, the oldest trick in the book: say someone's related to you instead of you're having an affair with them.
Especially since they also have another steady girlfriend on the side!
Shenanigans, breaking ins and other misunderstandings later, it turns out that everything's actually pretty simple: the realtor who was showing the houses to Michelle, and who was actually there as they discovered the body? She was shown those coins, got greedy, walloped the woman over the head, and then tried to pin the blame on the handyman just because she could.
The oldest motive, or one of them: money, aka greed.
And this is all discovered by Hannah who noticed the calendar pages in pictures don't match, but thankfully she doesn't need her sister to message Mike this time as her beau already extracted a promise that she TELL HIM before running head-first into danger, so that he can rush down there and help (this after he gets summoned to yank her out of the victim's house which she broke into for sleuthing, that is).
All's well that ends well, and considering Hannah and Mike have also had a bit of a heart-to-heart (I disagree Mike had anything to apologize for, and Hannah doesn't ACTUALLY apologize either, but eh), they agree to a fresh start and taking it day by day, which is hilarious to me because Hallmark spent FIVE WHOLE MOVIES building their relationship, then broke it within the span of two.
But that's how we wrap folks!
And unfortunately, Mathison will no longer feature in the Swensen Mysteries, as I believe he signed an exclusive contract with Great American Media, as per online information, and we already know Victor Webster is replacing him, so I don't know WHY they even bothered getting Hannah and Mike back together.
That aside, the supporting cast, as always, turns out great, and the mystery is easy enough to follow along and engages your little grey cells, as Poirot would call them, but it isn't headache-inducing so that's nice.
It's a step-up from the Carrot Cake Murder one, but I don't think I'll be continuing the series in video format based on all the changes, honestly.
It's been fun while it lasted but, I don't know. I might change my mind; for now, this is it as far as Hannah Swensen goes. We'll see what the future brings!
xx
*images and video not mine
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