Pros: Fun kidnapping mystery
Cons: One part of timing doesn’t seem to quite work;
Hallmark cheese
The Bottom Line:
A friend goes missing
Hailey suspects something wrong
Fun mystery flick
Hailey Investigates When a Friend Vanishes
Hallmark is getting quite a few cozy mystery franchises
rotating now, and I’m enjoying all of them.
One of their newer ones is the Hailey Dean series, based on books
written by Nancy Grace. Deadly Estate is
the most recent, and it’s another great ride.
Hailey Dean (Kellie Martin) is a former prosecutor turned
therapist who can’t quite seem to stay out of crime. Of course, when the case hits close to home,
it is impossible to resist.
Hailey’s friend Pam (Michelle Harrison) lost both of her
parents in a car crash a couple of months ago.
Pam is dealing as best she can, but she is struggling to sell her
parent’s house. She’s finally ready to
take that step. It might help that she’s
dating her realtor, Ryan (Jim Thorburn).
Ryan surprises Pam with an impromptu getaway right after the open house,
and she quickly agrees.
However, Pam misses a therapy session with Hailey’s partner
the morning she is supposed to leave with Ryan.
That doesn’t sit right with Hailey, and she goes to Pam’s house only to
find more things that don’t fit. A phone
call from Pam only makes Hailey more suspicious. When another attack happens, Hailey has
finally convinced the police that something fishy is going on. But can she work with them to find Pam before
it is too late?
I found this mystery very intriguing. I also appreciate the fact that we were
investigating a disappearance and not a murder.
Variety is wonderful. I’m not
completely convinced that the timing of things the police pieced together at
the end works, but maybe I missed something there. Even so, the who and why certainly make sense
when we reach the suspenseful climax.
We briefly got to meet Hailey’s family in the previous
movie, and I was a bit disappointed we didn’t see more of them this time
around. However, I did enjoy seeing the
characters who did return like her new boyfriend and a homicide cop and DA’s
investigator. The relationships there
are a lot of fun, and I enjoyed spending time with them.
This does have the usual Hallmark movie quality to it, giving
us some cheesy dialogue and acting. It’s
not too bad, and as long as you know that going in, you’ll be fine.
Hailey lost her fiancé in a shooting several years before we
met her. That storyline is touched on
again here, and based on what we learn, I can’t wait to see where they go with
this particular storyline in future movies.
So turn on Deadly
Estate and settle in for a couple of hours of fun and intrigue.
This movie is part of the Hailey Dean Mysteries Collection One DVD set.
This movie is part of the Hailey Dean Mysteries Collection One DVD set.
I've been on the fence about these movies because while they look good Nancy Grace drives me up the wall and I know she wrote them (or had someone write them). I think I need to get past that because this one sounds like fun!
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