Movie Review: An Inheritance to Die For - An Aurora Teagarden Mystery

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Great mystery, characters we love

Cons: Ending is rushed; light dose of Hallmark cheese

The Bottom Line:

Sally’s aunt in killed

Someone in family guilty?

Fun; not all wrapped up

“I Only Know One Way to Get Roe’s Attention When She’s in Research Mode.”  “But a Marching Band Would Disturb the Other Patrons.”

It’s a given that if you are a main character in a long running mystery series, your family and friends are in danger.  However, sometimes that can extend to the family of your friends.  That’s certainly the case with An Inheritance to Die For, the second Aurora Teagarden mystery movie we are getting from Hallmark this month.

You see, this movie finds us getting to know a bit more about the family of Sally Allison (Lexa Doig), Aurora’s (Candace Cameron Bure) best friend.  We meet Sally’s aunt Gladys (Karen Kruper) briefly before the action really picks up at the wedding of Sally’s cousin.  However, the wedding ends in tragedy when Gladys dies during the reception.  Even worse, it wasn’t her bad heart as everyone thought but instead it was murder, specifically poison.  There seem to be several people with motives, all of whom are pointing their fingers at each other.  Can Aurora cut through the lies and find the killer?

Naturally, the murder and investigation hit a little close to home for Sally, and there are a couple of scenes that deal with this, but for the most part, the emphasis is on the puzzle and Aurora trying to unravel what exactly has happened.  There are plenty of twists and turns, and they kept me guessing until the very end.  Unfortunately, the ending was a bit rushed.  I had to watch the climax again to make sure I understood who all had done what to whom and why. 

With the last movie, I complained about Aurora’s mother, Aida (Marilu Henner) needing something different to do.  She got that here.  Yes, she does warn Aurora about the danger of investigating what is happening, but she finds herself very involved in events, too.  I really enjoyed getting to see that storyline develop and how it played into the main mystery.

Now, I started off this review by talking about how we got to see more of Sally’s family.  Of course, the ones we really spent time with are the suspects.  For example, her father comes to town for the wedding, but we hardly see him.  Not that we needed to see more of him for the plot to work, but it would have been nice.

The characters we did get to spend time with are great, however.  There is a fun scene at the start of the movie with the Real Murders Club, and we see them again a couple of times as Aurora works through theories on who had motive to commit the crime.  And yes, Nick (Niall Matter), Aurora’s new love interest, is a big part of the film.  I enjoyed seeing how their relationship developed here.  I’m definitely on board with their romance.

And actors are as charming as always bringing their characters to life.  Yes, there is a dose of the usual Hallmark cheese in the writing and acting, but it is a light dose.

Even with the ending being a bit rushed I still really enjoyed it.  An Inheritance to Die For is an enjoyable entry in the Aurora Teagarden film franchise.

This movie is part of the Aurora Teagarden Mystery Collection 3.