What I've Learned about Hallmark Mysteries by Cheryl Bolen

A friend turned me onto the Hallmark Mystery Channel almost two years ago because I dabble as a hobbyist antiques dealer, and he thought I’d like the Garage Sale Mysteries. Boy, did I! Unfortunately, the channel pulled the plug on the excellent series when its star, Lori Loughlin, was arrested in connection with the Varsity Blues scandal for spending half a million dollars to pave the way for her daughters’ college admissions. 

But my husband and I – neither fans of American network programming – were hooked on these mystery movies even though they are formulaic. They are still well done. 

Female Protagonists

With few exceptions, the Hallmark Mystery Movies fit a pattern. In every series, the protagonist is a female. You’ve got the assistant small town librarian in the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, a series based on books by Charlaine Harris. Then you’ve got Murder She Baked based on books written by Kensington author Joann Fluke. You’ve got the Crossword Mysteries about, you guessed it, a gal who creates crossword puzzles for a New York daily newspaper. There’s Murder 101 about a female professor who just happens to teach a course on crime fiction, and another professor is featured in the Emma Fielding Mysteries that showcase an anthropologist whose male interest is an FBI antiquities investigator.

Then there’s the Chronicle Mysteries about a podcaster (starring the same Alison Sweeney who stars in Murder She Baked).

There are three series featuring TV personalties. The woman who does a cooking segment on The Morning Show Murders (based on Al Roker’s mysteries), as well as Seattle consumer reporter who stars in the Ruby Herring Mysteries each star in shows where they do double duty after hours solving crimes, and in the Matchmaker Mysteries, the heroine has a television show where she plays matchmaker.

Another series, Picture Perfect, features a photographer. The Hailey Dean Mysteries, based on books by Nancy Grace, who does cameos in the series, is set in Atlanta. Hailey’s a former prosecutor who is now a therapist.

All of the above feature female protagonists, and each of them solves the crime on her own, and each of them has a love interest. The heroine in Murder She Baked actually has two love interests—the town veterinarian and a police detective. They also have a cast of endearing continuing characters, usually townspeople, co-workers, and relatives of the heroine. In the case of Arora Teagarden, her mother is the actress Marilu Henner.

One thing each of these series has in common occurs before the finale when the female protagonist goes off on her own to solve the crime, placing herself in an extremely dangerous situation. (And the viewer is thinking she’s too stupid to live at this point. Doesn’t she know there’s a murderer out there?) The male interest – frequently a policeman – tries to come to her rescue, but our intrepid heroine typically extricates herself from danger just in the knick of time.

Ethnic Diversity

Like all Hallmark movies, ethnic diversity is shown. The hero and heroine in the Morning Show Murders are African Americans, and the hero and heroine in Picture Perfect are Hispanic. Also, each series features diverse characters.

Each episode also has several plausible suspects, and unlike British crime dramas, these crimes are well motivated with no “mass murders” or killing off of the cast.

While there are a few small-town settings as in Aurora Teagarden or Murder She Baked, most are in urban settings.

One series that defies the above is the Gourmet Detective. In it, the tables are turned. The San Francisco police detective is the female, and the foodie is the fellow. Jointly, they solve crimes equally. He may even provide more brains and she more brawn. But he definitely takes the lead in the romance department, and the sparks do fly.

These two-hour shows provide a satisfying mystery, a familiarly welcome cast of characters, and a sweet romance.

But I still miss The Garage Sale Mysteries.—Cheryl Bolen is New York Times Bestselling and Amazon All Star author of more than 40 books, most romances set in Regency England. 

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