Mum's the Word

These Hallmark mysteries follow the same basic structure: a female amateur sleuth with a business of some sort that she has with a female partner, and the partner is constantly trying to talk her out of doing investigations on her own; they live in an idyllic small town.

Throw a story at it and it's done.

Brooke Shields stars in "The Flower Shop Mystery: Mum's the Word" for Hallmark. She plays Abby Knight, a widow with a teenage daughter who returns from New York City, where she worked as a lawyer, to her small home town. There she opens a flower shop.

On her opening day, Abby's car is hit by someone whom she learns later may have been fleeing a crime scene where a young man was murdered. She launches her own investigation, but then meets a good- looking ex-soldier (Brennan Elliott) who works as a bartender. The two of them work together.

The cast is of a higher level than the other mysteries, with Shields, Elliott, and Beau Bridges as Abby's father.

They just need to pay a little more attention to the scripts.

There were a series of mysteries some years ago - Jane Doe and Mystery Woman, both of which featured good actresses in the leads and were slower than molasses.

The flower shop, garage sale, and Teagarden mysteries move a little faster and have more energy behind them. They're light fare for someone who doesn't want to think for a couple of hours.

I saw Brooke Shields in person some years ago - even from where I was standing, I could tell first how tall she is, and then how graceful. At 51, she's still a beauty and always nice to see. But these films need to be brought up a notch.