Ainsley McGregor Mysteries: A Case for the Winemaker

I love CBB, I really do. I was happy to see her in another mystery. This one didn't get me hooked, but I'll watch a new one if they make any.

This film was a bit too character-wise, they were all over the place. Trying too hard to establish a fun quirky town.

Ainsley herself is a former criminologist, who teaches now. She opens a craft market and runs a book club. Her brother is locl sheriff. Her best friend's husband is a suspect. I wish the writers picked one of these reasons for her to be involved in the investigation. Way too much for Ainsley to do. Focus on one or two things: like she's the sister and the one who found the body. Or she's an off-duty criminologist who helps police in her free time. Etc.

And the book club looks a lot like Aurora Teagarden's club. Probably it's in the books, but I didn't read it. And I insist that it was a mess in this film. Their involvement seemed so forced.

The romantic line was a bit weird to watch. They didn't pretend Ainsley was a blushful maiden, even though the blurring filters were a bit too obvious. We knew she was a woman in her 40-s, he was a man in his 40-s. What's with the clumsy flirting?.. Making a big deal of a dinner invitation, then the whole come home for a cake thing (they really had cake), etc. I get it, these will ber uber-family-friendly films, but it's just way too weird.

As for the mystery itself it was better than I expected! So waiting for another one, hopefully less messy with more adult relationship.

I feel like they were trying to differentiate this character from Aurora Teagarden. You know, a real criminologist versus an amateur sleuth. But one of the things that made the Aurora movies great was the supporting characters.

I just never believed the actor playing her brother as the sheriff. Although I did like the brother and sister dynamics between the two of them. Maybe he needs a demotion so a stronger sheriff can come on board.

The love interest character is handsome but didn't really seem like a good match for someone who had worked for the Chicago police department. I didn't buy their connection.

I always like Cameron so I will wait to see future episodes, but if this movie plays at the same time as an Aurora movie, I'm watching Aurora.

Let's start of with this taking place in Texas. Nope, not even close. Nowhere in Texas looks anything like the location of this show. In fact, it was actually filmed in Victoria British Columbia, almost 1800 miles from the closet border of Texas. I cannot for the life of me figure out why this was supposed to be Texas. There are no lakes surrounded by mountains anywhere in Texas. Next, none of the characters sound like or dress like Texas. Plastering Texas flags all over the set cannot make up for the glaring 2000 miles difference. I'm just blown away by the cluelessness of trying to pass this off as Texas. Next, just to beat a dead horse, there are no Mexican Americans, even as extras. Are the producers so dense they don't know how many Hispanics there are in Texas. If you're going to try to continue this silly charade, at least bring some actual Texans to fill in as extras.

The tropes are overflowing. Civilian female "criminologist" is smarter than all the local yokel sheriffs (with four stars on his collar no less. Acting and writing are meh.

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.

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."