Greetings,
Not a lot of things make me giddy in my life, but having one of my favorite actresses returning to television is definitely one of them. And that is exactly what I got a couple of nights ago on the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel when I watched Kellie Martin star in Hailey Dean Mystery: Murder, With Love.
I may have mentioned this, but the Mystery Woman series, which also starred Kellie Martin as Samantha Kinsey, is something I thoroughly enjoyed. I still do, actually, as they are repeated quite a bit. Well, they aired about ten years ago, and I've been eager to get her back on the screen. Thankfully, this new movie, which I assume will be a series of such, has given us all that gift. The character she plays is a former prosecutor who is now a therapist, and the story is based on the books of Nancy Grace, who also makes an appearance here. In fact, I'd say that Hailey Dean is pretty much a fictionalized version of Nancy Grace herself. Hey, I'm not judging. If you read any of manuscripts, you will see that I am an expert on self-insert lead characters. Moving on.
The plot of the story is that Hailey's friend has both of her parents die in what may or may not be accidents. Isn't that always the way it is? When it is also discovered that tons of money is missing from her family, the grieving daughter is looked upon as a suspect. Hailey goes on a mission to help prove her friend's innocence. If it even exists. Dun, dun, DUUUNNN! Yeah, that just happened.
Honestly, when it comes to the actual writing of the mystery, I'd say it's one of the best this channel has ever served up. And they serve up a lot. A LOT! I was even quite surprised by what happens in the end. No, I'm not going to spoil it for you, because I think you should watch it for yourself. Actually, it was so good, I might have to read some of these books that Nancy Grace wrote. I didn't even know they existed until I heard about this movie. So, we'll have to see if they're just as good.
If there's one thing I noticed more than anything, it's how much Kellie Martin has grown as an actor. She has, after all, been doing it since she was a kid on Life Goes On, and her performance here is some of her best and most sophisticated work to date. She has always played great characters, as far as I've seen anyway, and this is no different. Kellie seems to be on point the most with these intelligent and strong women that she chooses to play.
So, I know that this review is a tad short, but I've only watched the movie once. Plus, I didn't know I was going to review it at the time, so I didn't take notes, and it's not on IMDB yet, thus, I have little information about the actors in the cast. Perhaps, I will have to update this when that becomes available. But what's important is that I tell you to check this out. I guarantee that it will be repeated, so keep your eyes open for the next airing. Once again, Murder, With Love is much in the vein of the other mystery movies on Hallmark. They deal with some heavy occurrences, like murder for example, but they are written is such a way that you really can watch it with the whole family without having to be cringing through the whole thing. What more could we ask for.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
