Pie to Die For: A Hannah Swensen Mystery

"Pie to Die For: A Hannah Swenson Mystery" is a great movie! I'm surprised that there are no reviews yet. Cameron Mathison was great in the early "Murder She Baked" movies. I don't remember exactly when he left the Hannah Swenson movies, but I was really upset that he left Hallmark for Great American Family. Victor Webster was not a good replacement for Mathison at first, but he is a great replacement now. He is really stepping into the role. This was a great and funny movie. Barbara Niven is at her best, as always. She is hilarious! She always steals the show from everybody! The sister Andrea and co-worker Lisa are great, too. The ending is a huge surprise. I never would have guessed it. This movie is a 10!

Not as bad as the last one, but there is still too little Hannah and too much Delores. If you are going to feature Barbara Niven, just change the titles so we know what to expect.

When did Andrea get a new husband (she calls herself Andrea Swenson Bennet)? Why is she suddenly back in Lake Eden? Supposedly she moved to Seattle - how does she afford to fly back to Minnesota so frequently?

The Chad-Hannah dynamic is better, but the fainting at the end was too contrived to be believed. It was nice to see them behave like normal people and date.

I'm puzzled by Chad's job - isn't he an attorney, not a detective?

It was hard to watch this movie. I felt like it was drowning in bad bleach jobs and really really bad hair extensions.

Another problem I had was with the three Central actors Alison Sweeny and Victor Websters are well past their "Hallmark Leads" period. They are both so long in the tooth they could more effectively play the PARENTS of the characters they played. Webster was lethargic. Through the entire movie he acted bored and very blase'.

Barbara Niven is scary to watch with her mass of bad hair extensions and affectations.

This could have been an enjoyable movie with any other set of Hallmark Actors.

Really like the more subtle and adult chemistry between Alison and Victor---the last few with Cameron had stilted fights and weird patronizing energy that doesn't work with now middle aged people. Almost feels like writer are using Barbara and sister characters to deal with more "silly" antics of the earlier seasons? Maybe lean into the characters growing over time and maintain the charm of bakery murders? This coupling has my vote over the forced chemistry of yore---this does read more natural. Also like the Easter eggs of introducing characters in episodes that become more central in later episodes, the rival actor in this episode and British prof in preceding episodes.

Call me desperate for new mystery content on Hallmark Mysteries, but I believe this is the best one yet of the Chad and Hannah Murder She Baked Mysteries. I am actually really enjoying the slow build between these two characters played by Victor Webster and Allison Sweeney. Both are wonderful actors, who I love independently...but even more together.

Hannah still hasn't found a treat to tempt Chad with, snickerdoodle?, but they finally share their first kiss as well as formal date. I am enjoying this slow reveal of Chad's character and we hear more about his time as a marine on their date, as well as experience his quick reflexes, language skills, and rusty fighting skills. Chad continues to speak in a flattering way about Hannah, both in her presence and outside of it...which I love!

In this mystery Hannah discovers the warm corpse of her mother's biggest acting rival at the local theater, Victoria, while delivering banana cream pies to her house for a party. Due to their rivalry Hannah's mom, Delores (Barbara Niven), becomes the prime suspect in the police chief Ealing's investigation. Hannah is very busy doing the heavy lifting for good friend and employee Lisa's family reunion, but she makes time to work on the case in order to help clear her mother. Hannah asks her sister Andrea for help getting ready for her first dinner date with Chad and on the case where Andrea, Mom Delores and Hannah divvy up the three classes that Victoria was taking. Delores gets the French Class, Andrea the martial arts class, and Hannah the dance class...which Chad finds out about and says they should take the class for real-together. When Hannah is attacked in her home by a paid professional, Chad comes to her assistance and aided by a frying pan from a quick thinking Hannah puts an end to the attempt.

I really like the candor between Hannah and Chad, they seem to talk openly about things that many would be silent about and then fret over later...like Chad confirming that it was one of her sisters in the pantry and Hannah explaining why she wanted to audit the dance class, which led to Chad telling her it was a 90 minute class she has plenty of time to get the instructor's attention. These two really seem to strike a nice (and healthy) balance with each other. I'm still excited to see where their relationship is going to go and I am enjoying the mysteries and the rest of the cast along the way. (Normally I miss Norm when he is not there, because he is such a fabulous wingman...but Pie to Die was so tightly written I didn't really have time to miss Norm. And I appreciated all the Chad and Hannah time in Pie to Die.)

My one and only complaint, and this is very minor, is that the mystery was wrapped up a little too quickly at the end. This is the fourth film with Victor Webster paired with Allison Sweeney as Hannah Swensen and it may be my favorite in the series so far and Hannah Swensen's Murder She Baked is my current favorite mystery on Hallmark Mysteries. (It has always been in my top three with the original Aurora Teagarden and Mystery 101...both of which I miss very much.) I can't wait for more Hannah Swensen Mysteries!