Movie Review: Garage Sale Mystery - The Beach Murder

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good mystery, fun sub-plots

Cons: Usual Hallmark cheese

The Bottom Line:

How does surfer drown?

That’s what Jenn must figure out

In this fun movie

“It’s Probably Nothing.”  “It’s Never Nothing with You, Jenn”

Amateur sleuths need a way to keep getting involved in murder.  Some people have a very large family and an abundance of friends.  But if you have a shop that can help bring in new ways to get you involved in murder, too.  That’s how Jennifer Shannon gets involved in The Beach Murder.

Jennifer (Lori Loughlin) has a new customer who is interested in vintage surf boards.  That’s because Anne’s husband Steve (David Paetkau) is obsessed with all things surfing, being an avid surfer himself.  Jennifer and Anne (Chiara Zanni) have become friends thanks to the many boards that Jennifer has been able to add to Steve’s collection.

However, things take a tragic turn when the police call to say that Steve’s body has been discovered on the beach.  It appears to be an accident, but Anne isn’t buying it.  Steve was a championship swimmer and a former lifeguard.  She just can’t believe he drown accidentally.  And Anne’s questions make sense to Jennifer, who begins to find things that make her question the official results as well.  What really happened to Steve?

Of course, we know Steve was murdered.  If he weren’t, there would be no movie for us to watch, or at least a very boring movie.  I had figured out the how earlier than Jennifer did, but coming up with the who was still a lot of fun.

The rest of the gang is around with a couple of sub-plots.  At Rags to Riches, the second-hand store that Jennifer owns with her best friend Dani (Sarah Strange), they are caught in the middle of a couple who is fighting by selling off each other’s things.  Meanwhile, on the home front, Jennifer’s son Logan (Connor Stanhope) is attempting to go out for the school play because of his crush on the lead actress.  Both are fun.  Yes, the mystery could use another couple more suspects to sustain a full movie on its own, but any fan of the series will be engaged thanks to these subplots.

Of course, this comes with my usual Hallmark movie warning.  The acting is adequate, but certainly nothing spectacular.  That’s hardly surprising since this is the first of four movies in the franchise we are getting this month, and this isn’t the first Garage Sale Mystery movie of the year, either.  Then again, some of the lines the actors have to say aren’t the best either.  Just keep that in mind when you sit down to watch and you’ll be fine.

I was smiling the entire way through the movie, and I’m sure any fan of this movie franchise will feel the same way about The Beach Murder.

This movie is part of the Garage Sale Mysteries Collection Three DVD set.