Movie Review: Murder on the Menu - A Morning Show Mystery

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Engaging mystery

Cons: Major spoiler for first film; cheese

The Bottom Line:

Body in the trunk

Does it tie to a cold case?

Fun mystery film

“Do You Have an Off Button?”

I’ve been waiting to return to the world of morning show host Billie Blessings since we first met her in January.  As part of Hallmark’s summer of mysteries, we finally got that chance with Murder on the Menu, the second movie in the Morning Show Mysteries franchise.

The movie opens with Billie (Holly Robinson Peete) hosting her cooking segment on Wake Up West Coast, the TV morning show she is part of.  Her special guest today is famed chef Primo Maxx (Chad Willett), who is back in his home town to announce plans to open the latest in his series of gourmet restaurants in the area.

After the show winds down for the day and Primo is getting ready to leave, a dead body is found in his car.  No one seems to know who the victim is.  Then that night, Billie is visited by a PI who claims that Primo got away with murder years ago in LA.  Is that true?  Has he killed again?

Of course, the police officer investigating the case is Ian, as played by Rick Fox.  We get more sparks between Ian and Billie as the case progresses, some of them from possibly rekindling a romance and some of them because they disagree over how much Billie should be involved in the case.

The case is quite interesting with several potential suspects and multiple clues.  Tying the mystery into the cold case from LA adds a nice layer to the plot.  I was pleasantly surprised by the climax, yet everything fit.

Being a Hallmark movie, this mystery comes with my usual cheese warning.  This is especially evident when we see Ian’s pre-teen daughter.  On the other hand, there is something so sweet about the scenes she is in that it is hard to object.  Just know it is coming when you sit down to watch, and you’ll be fine.

One final warning, they spoil the first movie in the first few minutes of this one, so if you haven’t seen it and care, you’ll definitely want to watch it before you see this one.

Murder on the Menu is a fun second mystery with these characters.  If you enjoyed the first film, you’ll definitely enjoy revisiting them here.