Greetings,
Well, it looks like the good people at Hallmark have done it again. They have given us another good mystery movie. You may not believe this if you shun everything with which they are involved, due to high greeting card prices and the fact that I think they might have had something to do with The Christmas Shoes, which I am not exactly a fan of. Sorry. That would be enough for me. But, in all honesty, if there is one thing I enjoy about them, it is the mystery series and/or movies that they have produced, not to mention all the reruns of Murder, She Wrote and Matlock. And now they are embarking on bringing to life the Aurora Teagarden series with a movie based on what is actually the second book, A Bone to Pick. I don't why they did that, but it worked.
Okay, a little back story. I have personally never read any of the Aurora Teagarden series, which consist of eight titles published from 1990 to 2003, though I might do so now. Also, they were written by Charlaine Harris, the women who was also behind the True Blood series. Think about that. A book series which gave way to one of the most gratuitously violent and sexual TV shows of all time was written by the same woman who has now had one of her books become a part of the Hallmark oeuvre. Go figure. I suppose I can credit her for having range. But I digress. Let's get to the actual movie and the parts of it therein. And I only saw this once, a couple of nights ago, so I will do my best with this summary. Forgive any technical mistakes.
A Bone To Pick is about a young woman named Aurora Teagarden, played by the amazing Candace Cameron Bure. She is a professional librarian and is also a member of the Real Murders Club, which consists of people examining and hoping to maybe solve some unsolved crimes. In this first installment, an elderly woman, Jane, with whom she is merely acquainted, passes away and leaves the entire estate, house, money, everything, to Aurora. And not just the estate, but also a mystery. So, in other words, if you take all of what I just said into account, Aurora Teagarden is yet another person with whom I would gladly switch lives. Moving on.
The mystery solving begins when Aurora finds a skull in the house she had just inherited, and she wants to figure out just who it belongs to. Or used to belong, more accurately. She has plenty of suspects, like all of her new neighbors, for instance. That's going to make resale value drop a bit. But she also has plenty of help, mostly from her best friend, Sally, played by Lexa Doig. I actually think she and Candace have great chemistry playing friends, which is important in something like this. There's also a few cops she's working with, whether they want it or not. Of course, they sometimes see her as being in the way, especially the police captain, and her cop ex-boyfriend's new wife. Yeah, tings get complicated, to say the least. And all the while, Aurora is also dealing with her mother, Aida, played by Marilu Henner, who is hardcore wanting to marry off her daughter. Good thing for her, Aurora is also beginning a relationship with a minister named, Scott Aubrey. What a life, am I right?
Anyway, as the plot continues, the typical tropes of a story like this happen. False leads, our heroine in danger, all that good stuff. And that's fine to use tropes if it is done well, and I think it is here. Actually, I have to say this. This reminds me a lot - A LOT!- of the Mystery Woman series starring Kellie Martin, which ran on Hallmark from 2003 to 2007. Now, some people may think that it's this channel being redundant, but there are enough differences that, while it has a very similar essence, it also has its own identity. And I LOVED the Mystery Woman series, to say nothing of how much I miss it, so it's all fine with me.
So, yes, I thoroughly enjoyed A Bone To Pick. I know it's hard to believe, but I do, that we can have a good mystery, a good grown up story, that's NOT laced with profanity and overly sexualized whatnots. I feel like one of those weirdos who thinks you can make ice cream with just cream and eggs and sugar, and NO artificial stuff. WHAT? But, seriously, I think this is a pretty good TV movie. It's what we've come to expect from this channel, which I happen to think can be very good things. It's especially good if you want some family entertainment that's not watered down to a point where it's for three-year-olds, but that has a bit of an edge to it. That's something that these Hallmark Mysteries have been doing well for quite a while. So, check out A Bone To Pick. I'm sure they will repeat it. Also, they are set to release another installment based on the first book of the Teagarden series, Real Murders, this summer. I, personally, am looking forward to that, because I am giving this one a thumbs up.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
