Ainsley McGregor Mysteries: A Case for the Winemaker

My husband happily watched the Aurora movies with me, but won't watch more of these after this. Even the opening scene with *all* of the background information was so awkward. Poor production quality is understandable, but poor writing is tough to watch.

I really appreciate what GAF is trying to do and want to support them. But why mystery? What good does that contribute to the world? Don't all of the other channels provide more than enough dead bodies to keep people satisfied? I wish they would do comedy instead. I'd love 23 minutes of Full House-style warm squishies at the end of a hard day.

It felt like they were trying to create Aurora Teagarden on a new network. Candice's character mentioned at least 3 times how "small" "light" or "petite" she was. As a person who had her own eating disorder in really life, you would think she wouldn't keep talking about how tiny she is, negative for a younger audience. The acting was bad and felt awkward. Her character keeps telling everyone to let the police do their job, but she then caves in and tries to solve it anyway. No chemistry at all. Overall, a very disappointing production and I will not be watching anymore. Sticking with Hallmark.

Having read all of the Teagarden mysteries. When they were turned into TV movies. I was quite excited. Unfortunately Candace Cameron Bure had other ideas.

She created a totally vacuous character. Unlike Teagarden in the books. Who continually evolves with each successive adventure. Bure set to defile the character and make her very unlikeable.

She always has to be right. She tampers with police evidence. She obstructs police enquiries. { I could not fathom why she was not arrested at least once ? } And is dangerous and destructive to all around her. With a ' friend' like her, you'd need no enemies.

Another observation is that the Teagarden of the novels, although chaste never appears sexually repressive unlike the Bure ' Teagarden ' Now I have not read any of the Ainsley McGregor books. But I will wager the Bure ' Mc Gregor ' is once again a fiction of her perverted imagination.

And since she is now pushing fifty. Isn't it about time she dropped the teenage character who resembles a ' gerbil on steroids ' ?

That aside, the script for this production was very tortuous. It wound all over the place and in and out. It was so easy to lose track.

Not helped by the incompetent sound engineers. They have very sophisticated equipment today. So why do they turn out such poor soundtracks ? Unlike their counterparts of the classical period of Hollywood.

Camera angles. Well there weren't any. It gave the impression of all been filmed on cell phones. Held by persons suffering from St Vitus dance. I'll make no comment on the lighting. But I think you would know what I might have said.

I have read other reviews about this production. From people who actually read the novels.

And with regard to the characters they appear to be in lockstep.

I do hope the production team is not contemplating throwing good money after bad. By filming further of these novels. Without they make very, very drastic changes.

I haven't read the book to know how close this storyline is to it, but the dialogue and acting are shoddy The setting is a fictional town in Texas. Yet, not a single person has a Texan drawl or twang. They do, however, have plenty of the interesting and quirky southern sayings like, "You're as stubborn as a mule with his heel caught in a stump."

In my opinion, the writer(s) could have done better. I was able to immediately figure out who the killer was, which made for a boring movie. It also was a disappointment as it came across as a wannabe mix of Hallmark's Aurora Teagarden Mystery and Mystery 101. Hopefully, the next one is better; otherwise, it's peace out GAF."

I agree with others that this is too much like an Aurora Teagarden movie (minus Marilu Henner).

But my real issue is Willing Suspension of Disbelief. This movie supposedly takes place somewhere in Texas, but is so obviously filmed elsewhere (Hello, British Columbia) that I just couldn't go with it.

Also, as with other GAC movies, there's a lack of "oomph". There needs to be more emotion and energy. I am not sure why this is so consistent across all their efforts. I wish they'd show more zip.

Candace is cute, the mystery is okay, the production values adequate, the cast is trying, but...nope.

Better luck next time!