Movie Review: Last Scene Alive - An Aurora Teagarden Mystery

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good, twisty mystery

Cons: Couple regulars missing; usual Hallmark cheese

The Bottom Line:

Hollywood in town

Roe as film’s main character

Twists in mystery

“My Daughter?  Curious?  How Unusual.”

Cozy authors love to bring a movie production to town.  It gives them a great way of introducing a victim and suspects without killing off anyone else in town.  That’s exactly what Charlene Harris did in Last Scene Alive, and now that Hallmark has turned the book into a movie, we’ve got a movie about a murder on a movie set.

In this case, it is Aurora “Roe” Teagarden (Candice Cameron Bure) who has brought the film crew to town, at least in advertently.  Her former boyfriend, bestselling mystery author, Robin Daniels (Robin Dunne) has written a new mystery, and the main character is based on Roe.  He’s sold the film rights before the book even hits the show, and the film production has come to town to get an authentic setting.  Robin is in town as well, something that makes Roe’s current boyfriend, Martin Bartell (Yannick Bisson), very unhappy.

Celia Shaw (Courtney Richter) has been cast to star in the film, and she is thrilled to meet Roe.  She is going out of her way to capture the essence of the character, which is ironic since Roe seems to be the only person not head over heels at having the film crew in town.  Roe is getting pulled into the behind the scenes drama against her will as Robin keeps asking for her opinion on things.

Which is why Roe is on set the first day of filming.  However, before they get too far into the day’s schedule, Celia is found murdered in her trailer.  No one seemed too happy with her, but who wanted to kill her?

Okay, so another reason that authors probably use the Hollywood film crew backdrop for their story is that so many people find the behind the scenes of movies so fascinating.  I know I’m one of them, so I do love these set ups.  This is a good one as the suspects are strong, and the backstage drama is ripe with motives.

The movie takes full advantage of the suspects.  I was surprised multiple times as we worked our way to the climax, but by the time Roe figured it out, it all made perfect sense.

I was a bit disappointed to find that her two strongest sidekicks weren’t in the movie.  Sally was just out of town on business, but it sounds like John has been written out of the movies completely.  I’m not surprised based on his character’s arc in the last couple of movies, but I’m disappointed since I liked him.  A couple other regulars or usual background characters step up to fill the sidekick role, and I did enjoy getting to see them.

Of course, my usual Hallmark cheese applies.  The acting in these Hallmark movies is okay, but it’s not going to win any awards.  As long as you know that going in, you’ll be fine.

The twists in the mystery make up for any disappointment I felt in the regular characters who were missing.  If you are a fan of these movies, you’ll definitely enjoy Last Scene Alive.

Looking for a DVD copy?  This movie is part of the Aurora Teagarden DVD Collection Two.