“I’ll Be Good Cop. You Seem Like You’ve Already Chosen Bad Cop.”
I was surprised when I saw that we were getting a second Nelly Knows Mysteries from Hallmark. It’s been a year and a half since we were first introduced to these characters, and I thought they were going to be yet another one and done mystery movie. But I’m glad we got to see more of Nelly since I enjoyed All Manners of Murder.
In case you’ve forgotten, Nelly (Pascale Hutton) is an advice columnist in a small town. Her latest column includes a letter from someone looking to reconnect with family to deliver bad news. Somehow, that means Nelly is roped in when the letter writer hosts a lavish dinner party to reconnect with her estranged family and then deliver the bad news. Suspecting trouble, Nelly invites Detective Mike Hogan (Kavan Smith) along. That turns out to be wise since someone winds up murdered before dessert can be served. Can Nelly and Mike team up again to solve the murder.
It’s been so long since I watched the first one, I mainly only remembered that it wasn’t my favorite. Looking back at my review, I saw that one of my issues was Nelly’s official involvement in that case. It happens again, although, somehow, it didn’t bother me as much this time. I’m happy to say that my other complaint, the forced humor, wasn’t an issue here. Overall, the characters seemed calmed down and more grounded, which I appreciated.
The mystery here was good. One aspect was obvious to me early on, but the characters caught up with me not too much further into the film, and I didn’t figure out where things were going until Nelly and Mike did. Along the way, the suspects kept me engaged.
If you are familiar with Hallmark movies, you know what to expect acting wise. It was a little stronger than it can often be, which is always nice.
A new character was introduced that I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of as the series goes along, but I was a little confused as to why that happened in this movie since he had such a small part. I’m assuming they are planning for future installments, but still.
On the other hand, we learned more about Mike, which I liked. I really do like the chemistry between Mike and Nelly and hope we get to see their relationship develop further.
Yes, I’m definitely hoping for a third movie in this franchise, although nothing appears to be on the horizon yet. If you are a Hallmark mystery movie fan, you’ll be glad you watched All Manners of Murder.
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