Murder, She Baked: A Peach Cobbler Mystery

Favorite Scene with Hannah Swensen (Alison Sweeney) - She and Norman getting the 411 in Minneapolis. She didn't have Much Luck while he did. Hannah Swensen and Alison Sweeney Rocked!!! Alison Sweeney is one of my Favorite Hallmark Movies And Mysteries and Hallmark Channel Heroines Ever!!! BTW, I Loved this Movie! I Loved, Loved, Loved Detective Mike Kingston (Cameron Mathison)!!! He - and Cameron Mathison - was So Dang Charming and So Dang Hot!!! I Loved how he was both Very Stern and Very Arrogant and Very Charming all at the same time! Cameron Mathison is one of my Favorite Hallmark Movies And Mysteries and Hallmark Channel Heroes Ever!!! While I Love Norman, I Love, Love, Love Mike and want him with Hannah! Set in Minnesota.

With The Cookie Jar, Hannah Swensen has a tasty monopoly on the bakery business of Lake Eden, Minnesota. But when a rival store opens, and one of the owners is found shot to death in the store, Hannah is determined to prove that she wasn't the only one who had an axe to grind with the Quinn sisters. Somebody wasn't fooled by the Georgia Peaches and their sweet-as-pie act--and now it's up to Hannah to track down whoever had the right ingredients to whip up a murder. Peach cobblers, competition between two bakeries and murder - a predictable but fun mystery which is well-paced, has good characters as well as nice setting and a good build up to the murder.

The third entry in the Murder She Baked cozy mystery series on Hallmark, starring Alison Sweeney. In this episode a new bakery opens in the small town of Eden Lake which cuts in to Hannah's profits at The Cookie Jar. To make matters worse the new baker/owner is a college friend of detective Mike and his deceased wife! Egged on by her family, Hannah orders one of the Magnolia bakery's famous peach cobblers, a supposed family recipe. Along with her family and the mayor, Hannah does a blind taste test in which Hannah's cobbler wins amongst all of the judges. At least two of the judges...including Hannah herself think the Magnolia's pie tastes familiar. That night Hannah figures out why and shares the reason with her sister, who in a fit of defending Hannah bursts out with the reason at the mayor's daughter's wedding rehearsal in front of most of the town. The baker of The Magnolia bakery leaves in tears with a proclamation that she will bring her cobblers to the wedding. Day of the wedding Hannah does a good deed, someone ends up dead and for the first time Hannah is the prime suspect!!!!! Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and our dentist Norman seems to be winning major points supporting and helping Hannah. Mike, our handsome detective, is avoiding Hannah because she is the prime suspect in his case. Meanwhile the real mystery is who will be Hannah's date for the big day? Sweet, funny and a must watch in the Murder She Baked series.

While I applaud this series for trying something different with a Hallmark love interest, the way they ended this particular episode was infuriating. We have an established main character with a big-heart who consistently treats Norman poorly. This episode focuses on giving us a little more back-story on Mike and also letting Norman show a few new sides of himself, stregnthening his bond with Hannah. He straight up asks her out on Valentines day and she accepts. Then, after Mike asks her out too, she suddenly changes her plans in a surprise twist to have dinner with her mom and sister instead. This solves nothing. It is supposed to be a solution to not hurting anyone's feelings but it concretely is her cancelling her plans with Norman so she doesn't have to discourage Mike. He would be cancelled on either way. There isn't a lingering "decision" to be made, she clearly made it but is trying to be non-confrontational about it so she has a backup guy if things don't work out with Mike..... Shameful. I hope Norman ends up with the assistant baker, she seems positive and delightful. The murder twists were good in this episode though. Didn't actually see the ending coming. So good points for that!

These "Murder, She Baked" series of movies will never be mistaken for great movies but they are entertaining, partly because they have to be complete by 85 minutes so there isn't any dragging. Plus Alison Sweeney, who plays baker Hannah Swensen, is very attractive and very personable. As in the others there is a murder mystery to be solved but that never really takes the focus off the real meat of these movies. Whether Hannah will end up with Mike the Cop or with Norman the Dentist. In this one a new bakery opens up across the street and, as the movie begins, Hannah finds the lady dead in her kitchen. Based on the gunshot wound she appears to be murdered. The resolution gets a bit complicated, including the role of her twin sister (same actress plays both roles), but once again Mike finds that Hannah is helpful in solving the mystery. As always her mother and sister are suitably annoying, it helps the story line move forward, they are OK in small doses. We found a set of two DVDs at our public library that contains five of the "Murder, She Baked" movies. We are watching all of them at home.

6/10 - good mystery that makes for a great 2 hours

I have liked the first two episodes of Murder, She Baked. But this is the first episode that I genuinely enjoyed all the way through. Hannah is understandably distraught when she comes upon another recently murdered body, especially when Hannah is being suspected of committing the murder. While no one truly believes that Hannah is the murderer, it nonetheless lends an emotional undercurrent to the episode that is well played by everyone. Part of the interest of this episode is watching how different characters react. Those looking for a solid, well plotted murder mystery should probably pass on all the episodes of Murder, She Baked. This show is a pleasing hodge podge of characters and emotions wrapped up in a murder mystery. One of my favorite scenes was small town baker Hannah going to the big city of Minneapolis. Hannah is there to dig up dirt, to solve the murder. But Hannah becomes frazzled as everyone she questions is either oblivious to her charm or even worse, averse to her baked goods! The seeming romantic triangle doesn't really work for me, but I did enjoy the emotional support that Hannah had from her sister and mother, in this episode. Barbara Niven as Hannah's mother was especially effective, I thought, playing a range of emotions from worried, to annoyed, to furious.

I love these books and episodes, but why is Hannah not a slightly chubby redhead, as she's described in the books?

In this Murder She Baked: A Peach Cobbler Mystery, Hannah Swenson's profession of baker actually comes into play as part of the plot. In this case someone opens a rival bakery across the street and it will be a war for customers in the small town of Eden Falls, Minnesota. Rumor has it that rival Michelle Harrison just imports her stuff and it's not baked on premise. But that pales when Harrison is killed and Alison Sweeney is discovered over the body. Later on the gun that killed Harrison is found in Alison's bakery. Sweeney is as usual caught between Cameron Mattis and Gabriel Hogan, she must feel like a volleyball at times. Her mother Barbara Niven has found a little romance with Roark Critchlow a guy that seems a bit too smooth. He's also got a connection to the sister of the late bakery rival also played by Michelle Harrison. Those shots of all the baked goods in the shop. 1000 calories just for looking at it and on television too not live. Fans of the series won't be disappointed.

This episode really develops various aspects of the triangle of Hannah, Mike and Norman. For one thing, we find out more about Mike's past, his late wife, and one of their mutual friends who also had a crush on Mike. Meanwhile, with Mike distracted by events, Norman has a chance to strengthen his relationship with Hannah. We see the results of the murder at the start of the movie, and then there is a flashback of what leads up to it. These things take up about half the movie. Personally I hate this type of flashback. I also hate when the lead character, who is also an established upstanding citizen, is suspected of the murder. Yep, Hannah literally walks right into being a suspect. I also hate when the protagonist ignores the law doing illegal things in the name of "helping" the investigation. Admittedly, Hannah has skirted the line on this in previous episodes, but this time ... I have liked previous episodes of the series of movies, primarily because of Alison Sweeney. Hannah's heart is so big, it is hard not to like her. In this one, there were too many of my pet peeves, so I didn't care for it. However, many viewers without my prejudices will probably enjoy this one because there is so much going on.