The Cases of Mystery Lane: Death Is Listening

Silly, a little over the top - and delightfully entertaining! Good to see that Hallmark will be continuing with this one. There have been a couple that have tried my patience. The crazy detective couple, Birdie and Aiden, portrayed by Aimee Garcia and Paul Campbell, are adorable as they enjoy snickerdoodles at a suspect's home, build elaborate mousetraps, salsa dance through a nursing home, and drive the officer in charge of the latest murder case (Matt Hamilton) insane. Lots of fun and so superior to some of Hallmark's offerings. Right up there with Hannah Swenson, a series I also enjoy in its various incarnations. Light entertainment.

I liked the first one and was glad to see another. However, I am not sure why the writers decided to make the husband sillier and made the wife silly. I think the writers wanted to make them a cute couple but did not pull it off for me. And if I were taking a swig every time I heard babe I would have been falling over drunk by the end of the movie. I am guessing there will be another and I am hoping they haven't started on the script yet. Lose the Babe calling and lose the silliness and the over acting. Give the detective a more realistic role and don't make him silly. Better script writing and directing is much needed.

It's me, the Med Tech who loved Aimee Garcia and her character in Lucifer. As previously mentioned I was excited to see her in a Hallmark mystery, but was a bit dissatisfied with the first "The Cases of Mystery Lane". I was pretty critical of the poor handling of marriage vows and several other aspects of the first film. I was happy to see the morose topic of divorce wasn't part of this second offering and that they leaned in to the comedic aspect of this mystery. But it's possible that the pendulum has swung too far and maybe they have gone a little overboard with the two "geek" or "nerd" personas. I am going to say again that I absolutely love Aimee Garcia. She really won me over as a fan playing a quick talking, quirky nerd...but what is really turning me off of this series is the male lead. (Not a complaint about the actor, but a complaint about the character he has been asked to play.) The character is an unemployed man-child, who is afraid of mice and willing to let his wife work as a lawyer while he sits at home in his bathrobe playing with robots? He is socially awkward and shows up to yoga like he is a 1970's track star saying that "people want see thighs like these". Here is a tip...no, we do not want to see those thighs. I'm sure someone thinks this is "cute" and "fun", but I just see a train wreck. I am not sure how Birdie Case is keeping her job as a lawyer, her mom has some really unhealthy boundaries with her at work. Both of the Cases are taking the P. I. Course at a community college, with no real explanation of how they are paying for their big house or anything really since Birdie is randomly MIA at her real job. Also, they keep making a big deal about Birdie hiding from her husband that she is playing cards on line and she's good at it. (In most states on-line poker is illegal...probably not something the "heroine" should be promoting and then there is the lying to one's husband.) Maybe she is less of a geek/nerd and more of an addict and this is a real cry for help. As a nerd there are a few things that I did enjoy like the Rube-Goldberg set up...although using it for a house mouse trap is entirely ridiculous as that mouse would have had his snack and been gone due to the noise LONG before the Rubbermaid container came down to trap him, just proving that this is a tame mouse and not a wild one. Darwin, people, look it up. In general I enjoy quirky nerdy characters, it's in my nature. Normally there is one on a show and it just works. Occasionally, they nerd out with someone else...but then it goes back to the normals. You need some normalcy to keep the muggles interested in the story. I appreciate that Hallmark is really attempting to do a comedic mystery series, but I think some real tightening of the script and some major tweaking of the characters needs to happen in order for this to be truly watchable and a recommendation from me. This is very far from my favorite Hallmark mysteries (Aurora Teagarden, Hannah Swensen, and Mystery 101) and not in a good way. I am all for trying something new. I am thrilled that hallmark is putting out new mysteries. I am all in favor of geeky or nerdy characters (but maybe just one) and I am definitely in favor of Aimee Garcia! Hopefully this is a series that can be cleaned up and saved, because I would like to support it...but in it's current form I can not.

Probably a bit weaker than best Hallmarky mysteries - mystery wise. But I enjoyed this film a lot because of two leads and super cozy setting. We meet Birdie and Aldon again, they are true crime fans, and have a chance to meet their hero. Except they don't: the author of a well-known true crime podcast is killed. Officer Air Quotes is on it, but even the Cases are helpful. I'm not gonna ask why Birdie is allowed to skip work and go helping police. Or how does a mouse make a hole in one single page of a newspaper. Or why a police officer outsources most important tasks to a couple of civilians... Anyways I really enjoyed this installment. Love mysteries that don't revolve around the female lead and a police officer and the whole will they - won't they thing.

Listen I am not expecting Masterpiece Mystery quality from Hallmark, but I have rewound this movie more times than I can count since attempting to follow the plot. In addition to the putative murder mystery, there are about 5 subplots going on: each spouse is hiding a significant secret, there is some crazy tempestuous mother- daughter dynamics, and then some sort of frenemies situation. Hands down however the MOST annoying part of this movie is the MAN CHILD male lead, followed quickly behind by the incessant beating of the HEY WE ARE NERDS drum by both leads. I really wish Hallmark mysteries would return to adapting successful mysteries series rather than attempting to produce original scripts.

I enjoyed watching the second entry of the Mystery Lane Mysteries. The quirky detective couple are a fresh spin to the Hallmark mysteries and I love "Officer Air Quotes." The story was engaging starting with a cold case murder. There are a lot of familiar faces as usual which I always love. I like that they have a serious murder mystery but manage to inject humor into it. The main characters are flawed and relatable. There's no super slow burn love story because it's about a couple navigating the challenges of being a couple. That's a definite breath of fresh air. I'm looking forward to the next one.

source: The Cases of Mystery Lane: Death Is Listening