Past Malice

6/10 - I expected more from an Emma Fielding mystery

Idk why everyone is hating on Emma Fielding Past Malice. It's for entertainment I'm sure they weren't trying to win an Oscar. It's fiction and it's fun. People stop being so negative can't you just enjoy. If you don't like it find something else. Don't ruin it for others by telling the whole story.

Celebrated archaeologist Emma Fielding (Courtney Thorne-Smith) is recruited by her former roommate to investigate missing artifacts from a mansion with a supposed cursed history. The mystery deepens when she spots a dead body in a hidden chamber with no obvious entrance. FBI Special Agent Jim Connor (James Tupper) leads the murder case.

It's been a little while since I've seen Courtney Thorne-Smith. The mystery at the mansion reminds me of Scooby Doo. Early on, I was half expecting the ripping-off-the-mask reveal. This may be fine for Hallmark but it's a little too light for a big boy movie. There is next to no tension. There is enough likeability but not much else. This needs to be saved by the romantic chemistry but there is limited heat. It's like a lower level pilot for a second tier TV show. They really need a good hot coupling at the top.

An eccentric millionaire dies and two years later his estate is still being appraised. One of the appraisers is Courtney Thorne-Smith archeologist who is doing her second Emma Fielding story Past Malice.

The deceased has also amassed a lot of collectible antiques and he wasn't too discriminating about seeing what they might be worth. For example Professor Fielding has to tell his nephew that he does not have an original Mayflower Compact copy. None purportedly exists though if one were ever found I daresay it would be worth more than the rest of the estate combined.

There's also a legendary curse on the family and the death of the family butler and keeper of all the secrets and an eccentric and iconoclastic archaeological colleague of Fielding's seems to lend credence.

I can safely say that these people met their demises at the hands of a real criminal with a most earthly motive. Which Courtney Thorne-Smith and her companion FBI agent James Tupper do uncover.

Emma Fielding is a nice entry in that collection of feminine detectives for the millenial generation that Hallmark has produced.

"Is it because I'm a woman?"-Emma "There is no right answer to that."-Jim

Archeologist Emma Fielding gets asked by a friend to come to Chandler Castle...where things aren't quite right with and valuable artifacts that have been found by professor Webster have started to disappear. Did I mention there is also a witches curse? Not afraid of a mystery Emma arrives and shortly after Professor Webster ends up dead...good thing Emma called in her friend and FBI agent Jim Conner.

This is a beautiful home for a backdrop and the story is made interesting with a lot of fun history on local witches.

This isn't my favorite of the mystery series on Hallmark (that is held down by Aurora Teagarden, Hannah Swensen, and Mystery 101), but I enjoy Jim Conner's pursuit of Emma and a bit of their banter. The mystery in this one was decent and enough to probably recommend to mystery fans out there.