Movie Review: Deadly Deed - A Fixer Upper Mystery

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Confusing mystery, advance on the romantic front

Cons: Hallmark cheese

The Bottom Line:

Charity house death

Filled with some great twists and turns

And fun characters

Good Deed Leads to Murder

Hallmark seems to be spacing out their original mystery movies a bit more this year.  Best I can tell, March only has one new movie, and it’s a return to Lighthouse Cove and the Fixer Upper Mystery franchise with Deadly Deed.

Shannon Hughes (Jewel) has agreed to renovate a home into several low income apartments.  The local bank has donated the foreclosed property, and one condition is that the project has to be finished in three months.  It’s daunting, but with the number of volunteers, including some of the proposed residents, it should be doable.

Before work begins on the first day, the bank’s president, Potter, comes by for a photo op for the local paper.  He was against this house being donated, but the bank’s board overruled him, and after the picture is taken, he makes his displeasure known, making several of the people there mad.  That night, Shannon returns to drop off some supplies needed for the next day and discovers Potter’s body.  Who did he make mad enough to kill him?

I was impressed with the mystery here.  Sometimes in Hallmark movies, it is obvious who the killer is thanks to the lack of actors playing suspects.  Here, there were enough suspects and twists that I was certainly confused until Shannon pieced things together at the end.

Meanwhile, we got some development in Shannon’s relationship with Mac (Colin Ferguson) thanks in part of a visit from his teenaged niece Callie (Lilah Fitzgerald).  I was a bit worried early on, but Callie was a great addition to the movie.  She provides a clue or two for the mystery as well as nudging Shannon and Mac forward.  She bordered a bit on the cute side, but I will take that over surly teenager, which is where I thought they might be going when she was mentioned at first.

Of course, we do have the usual Hallmark movie cheese warning.  The acting is good, but there is that factor in all Hallmark productions.  Just keep it in mind and you’ll be fine.

Deadly Deed was a fun mystery that kept me engaged the entire time.  Next time you are looking for a light mystery movie, be sure to give this one a try.

This movie rounds out the 3 Movie Fixer Upper Mysteries DVD set.