Murder, She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery

I love the casting for this series - why is it only one season - It is great. Great storylines, chemistry between actors. I want this to come back. I dropped Netflix for Hallmark. This series, Aurora Teagarden Mysteries and the Garage sales one - are my favorites. I tried to watch the other one with Alison Sweeney - (who I like) - but I like Cameron and the actor who plays Norman. This was really good. Maybe they can do some movie specials I don't know - but hope to see it come back. Don't know how long I'll subscribe to Hallmark - depends if there are shows like the ones I've mentioned that I would enjoy. I do like Alison Sweeney and Candace and Lori L.

I suppose the title of the "Murder, She Baked" series of Hallmark movies is a take on the old "Murder She Wrote" series. Here Alison Sweeney is a small town baker, set in Minnesota (filmed in Canada). She runs a bakery that everyone in town raves about.

One morning her usual expected delivery of milk is late so she runs down the block to see what's up. She finds her long-time friend, who delivers the milk, is slumped in the truck's seat, gunned down.

Soon a detective from out of town shows up, he and she reluctantly start to share insights and clues, and eventually romantic glances.

All in all a fairly typical clean and entertaining Hallmark movie, but without what my wife and I call "the Hallmark kiss" about one minute before the end. The movie is well-acted and written such that several characters seem to be suspects but when the real murderer is revealed it is quite a surprise.

We watched it at home, streaming on Peacock.

A baker (Alison Sweeney) in small-town Minnesota turns amateur sleuth after finding her friend and delivery driver shot to death behind her shop. Shaken by the murder, she decides to do some of her own investigating but is continuously challenged by the new detective in town, Detective Mike Kingston (Mathison). Meanwhile, her mother tries to set her up with the friendly local dentist, Norman (Hogan), who is comfortable helping Hannah in her dangerous ideas to catch the killer. Hannah discovers Ron witnessed his miserly loan shark boss, Max, having an argument with someone, a day before he was killed. But when Hannah's sleuthing leads her to find Max murdered, she lands in trouble for her interference and must make up with her brother-in-law Todd and Mike as the plot thickens.

A solid debut episode of Murder, she baked which introduces the character well as well as setting the scene. The mystery is quite good as the victim is a delivery driver - who would want to kill him? It's puzzling enough to keep one watching, though the detective character can be a bit annoying with his reprimanding of Hannah for meddling. Then he's meant to be annoying.

I absolutely love Hannah Swensen and the Murder She Baked Mystery Series. The curious and observant single baker Hannah is endearing and her chemistry with both Mike and Norman is spot on. Her mom is fabulous as the meddling mother...along with her serious Eden Lake police officer brother-in-law and co-conspirator sister.

I'd love to try some of her baked goods and I was inspired to read the books this series was based on.

My three favorite Hallmark Mystery Series remain: Hannah Swensen's Murder she Baked, Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, and Mystery 101.

I like the series very much. Each episode reminds me a little of Jane Austen's novels in terms of the some of the characters and plots. For example, Hannah's mother conjures up Emma and her over-the-top neurotic Romanticism. There is a Pride and Prejudice sexual tension thing going on between Mike and Hannah. Mike is also haunted somewhat by a previous relationship, just as is Edward Ferrer in Sense and Sensibility. And Hannah's mother reminds me of the ditzy Mrs. Bennett in P&P and her inability to completely accept her daughter as-is. I also like the way Hannah and Andrea are close, as are Elizabeth and Jane in P&P. It's a kind of survival mechanism against their mother's pushiness. And Hannah's involvement in murder and mystery tracks with the morbid curiosity of Catherine, the heroine in Northanger Abbey. Just some thoughts for any JA fans out there...!