The movie seemed to get off to a decent start as far as procedures, which can be distracting when they are sloppy in these movies. The chief was calling for warrants and it looked like the writers would be on the ball. Turns out that the trend flopped soon after that. Jeff handles all kinds of evidence with no gloves. And other things. So OK, this series won't be great on procedures either.
Another minor hole is that Jeff is supposed to have a bullet near his spine and "his doctor" orders him to go easy, yet he spends the rest of the movie running, jumping and fighting.
The mystery is pretty good albeit a bit heavy handed. There are plenty of suspects and some of them are pretty mean looking or acting suspiciously. We get a few red herrings. I didn't figure out whodunit.
The acting is OK. Sarah Lind wasn't sparkling, but as another reviewer said, she didn't have a lot of opportunity to shine. I also agree with that review that the chemistry between her and Metcaff wasn't great, but it was starting to brew. Like all these Hallmark M&M's the leads develop some romance over several movies and I expect the same here. Sometimes there is virtually none in the first installment.
One of my complaints with these series is how unprofessional it is for "amateurs" to have so much involvement and especially to take so many risks. At least in this series, both of the leads have some justification in their involvement and Jeff is trained as a cop so when he takes a risk it is probably calculated.
I look forward to more Martha's Vineyard Mysteries, but I feel bad for this smaller community if murders start piling up.
