Kim Heniadis Although this is the second movie in the Aurora Teagarden Mystery series, the storyline actually follows the first book in the series. Knowing this, I don't think it matters that they switched around the order. Once again, Candace Cameron Bure, does a wonderful job in portraying the main character. I love that she is so intelligent, as well as being a bit sweet, but with nerves of steel. The new love interest in this movie, a mystery writer, balances her out perfectly. He's intelligent too, but uses a bit more caution when it comes to heading into a dangerous situation.I enjoyed the mystery itself as well, although I knew early on who the killer was, because of a remark that was made, and it just seemed really out of place. But since there was so many deaths/crimes it was interesting to try to figure out how each one was accomplished. And the twist at the end really made up for figuring out who the killer was early on.Aurora's relationship with her old boyfriend's wife changed a bit by the end of this movie, and I'm glad it did. Although there's still some tension, it wasn't as catty as it had been. I was also amused again by seeing books by Charlaine Harris during a scene that took place in the library. If you weren't aware, this series, along with Sookie Stackhouse series (aka True Blood), and the Midnight, Texas series which is coming to TV later this year (you can read my reviews here, here and here) were all books written by Charlaine Harris.If you enjoy reading Cozies, or like watching mysteries without blood and gore, then you should give the Aurora Teagarden mysteries a try.

blanche-2 Candace Cameron Bure is Aurora Teagarden in "Real Murders: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery" from 2015.In this film, someone is using famous murders from the past to knock off people in the murder mystery club to which librarian Aurora belongs. She gets to work trying to solve the crimes, coming up against her nemesis, Detective Lynn Smith (Miranda Frigon), the wife of Aurora's former boyfriend. In the last film, Aurora delivered Lynn's baby so I don't see how it is she's still hostile.Anyway, I didn't like this one - I thought the denouement was pretty dumb. I guess Candace Cameron Bure is an acquired taste. She's way too perky and childish for me. Marilu Henner plays her mother, and I believe the rest are Canadian actors.I love all mysteries, which is why I'm checking out the Hallmark movies.

ZoZo13 I was in the mood for a light night without lots of drama and heartbreak. Instead, I got heart burn! Let's face it, we don't expect heavy drama or even great acting from the Hallmark Channel, but occasionally I will see a movie that is entertaining. This was not one of them.Candace Cameron Bure is incredibly annoying, acting so childish with her little girl tics. She actually bounces when she walks! Her dialogue is worse, and nonsensical...cutesy to the point of nausea.She must come cheap. I can't see any producers paying good actor salaries for anyone so ill equipped to act. Everyone else seems to be just as stilted in their roles. There is only one professional..a female detective who they have turned into a bitter, backbiting shrew. They must do it because Teagarden has to look smarter and better than the most intelligent person in this town.How to improve the show?? Get this chick some adult education classes before she turns 40, which is very, very soon.

kira02bit I am actually a fairly big fan of cozy murder mystery books series, so I am certainly not against the Hallmark Channel adapting them for TV. However, one would assume that they would make certain that the series in question is a good fit for the channel. The Flower Shop Mysteries (with Brooke Shields) and the Bake Shop Mysteries (with Alison Sweeney) are a fairly good fit. Hallmark's modus operandi seems to be taking a fairly innocuous book series with a hopefully built in audience, hiring a familiar actress of a certain age who can play cute with some familiar veterans in the supporting cast, and usually pairing said actress opposite a blandly handsome borderline asexual love interest (the Flower Shop mysteries Brennan Elliot is actually an exception here in that he seems to have a pulse and sex appeal) in the quest to find out whodunnit.By contrast, Charlaine Harris's Aurora Teagarden mysteries are most definitely a questionable fit for Hallmark. Centering on a likable heroine with a morbid hobby of researching and sometimes getting embroiled in real life murders, the series is often ghoulish with its violence, motives and supporting characters. The first in the book series focuses on very gruesome murder perpetrated on members of a Real Murders research group. When watching the TV version, red flags that this series will be an adaptation failure crop up almost immediately. First, gruesome murders that happen to likable characters in the book are prevented in the film to give it that homey feel that Hallmark loves. Second, Aurora's family background is changed around to give her a much more traditional family presentation to make her more cuddly to Hallmark viewers.Last, but certainly not least, is the complete misfire in casting. Aurora's mother is supposed to be a society doyenne realtor and force to be reckoned with. The books likens her to Lauren Bacall, the film series gives us a distracted Marilu Henner (probably wondering how to wring her agent's neck and get away with it). Robin Dunne is cast as the love interest here, a visiting novelist who is either the killer or a target. Naturally, he shares absolutely no discernible chemistry with the leading lady and has apparently been directed to play everything in such a low wattage fashion so that viewers can be assured that nothing but the most chaste of flirtation is happening.The worst decision is the miscasting of Candace Cameron Bure in the lead. I am completely puzzled as to how anyone in the sublimely talentless Cameron family keeps scoring acting gigs. The Aurora Teagarden of Harris's novels is described as a short, pleasingly plump, bespectacled librarian-type with a lusty sex drive and a borderline unhealthy (but fun) morbid curiosity. There is not one characteristic of this character that comes through in Bure's performance. Physically, she is completely wrong for the role as she bears absolutely no resemblance to Harris's character. Indeed Bure's performance sanitizes pretty much anything that would have given Aurora flavor as a character and replaces it with an over-caffeinated, hyper-cute nonsense performance that seems more like Bure's audition reel for the Full House reboot than anything that demonstrates an actual performance or an attempt to prove she can...well, act at all.Just when you think it cannot get worse, the climax where Aurora outsmarts the villain(s) arrives (which is completely different from the book by the way) and you realize just how utterly clueless and foolish this whole endeavor was from the start. Aurora seems less like a resourceful and brave character, then a childish moron with the IQ of a 12-year-old with ADHD and some highly questionable luck.A complete disaster, even by Hallmark standards, and a total waste of time.