“Maybe It’s a Mannequin.” “It’s Never a Mannequin”
We’ve gotten two Hannah Swensen mystery movies in fairly quick succession on Hallmark this year. Two months after we last checked in with them, we get Best Served Cold. And yes, this is another fun mystery in the franchise.
After a brief prologue from six weeks ago, we check in with the characters as Hannah’s boyfriend, district attorney Chad Norton (Victor Webster), has just been given a big case. The pawn shop in town was selling fake gold coins, and he’s prosecuting the owners. He’s taken on the case at the last minute since the attorney assigned to it, Lucas, has gone missing.
Hannah (Alison Sweeney) thinks something fishy is going on, so she starts trying to find Lucas. Instead, she finds a dead body. How will it impact the case?
This book is theoretically based on Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder, one of the more recent entries in the novel series. I say theoretically because I don’t remember any of these elements in the book. Granted, it has been five years since I read it. But the teasers for the book don’t sound like anything in this movie. As an aside, I think Hannah’s opening monologue explains a lot of what went wrong the one time I tried to make the title dessert.
But that’s no criticism of the mystery we got here. I found it very creative and different in a good way. I was engaged the entire way through, and I loved how the movie ended. Very creative and well done if implausible in real life.
Hannah works with her mother, Delores (Barbara Niven) several times, and she gets some scenes to shine. The rest of the usuals get only a very supporting part here, and there are some we don’t see. I feel like we are dealing with some budget issues with these movies at this point, but I could be wrong. While I missed seeing more of the regulars, I did like the story we got.
Yes, this is a Hallmark movie, so we get more of the low budget issues, but they are kept to a minimum. Most of the acting and writing are well done. Alison Sweeney once again wrote this movie, as she’s done with the last several. I’m sure that’s one reason the dialogue is so strong.
Best Served Cold is another hot movie in the Hannah Swensen franchise. Fans will be delighted watching these characters back in action.
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