Candace Cameron Bure is back as Aurora Teagarden in another Hallmark movie adapted from Charlaine Harris' series of crime novels. I've never read any of the books but I did see the first Aurora Teagarden movie and liked it a lot. The plot to this one has members of Aurora's book club being targeted by a killer who is mimicking famous murders. Aurora investigates (mostly in purple jeans) with a mystery writer newly arrived in town and eager to help.
As I said, I liked the last Aurora movie but I wound up liking this one even more. Candace is as lovely and engaging as ever. I was happy to see the cast of supporting players from the first movie has returned here, most notably the delightful Lexa Doig as Aurora's best friend. In this movie she doesn't get to play sidekick, though, as that role is taken by Robin Dunne. She does get plenty of enjoyable scenes, including one particularly amusing one with her parents. For his part as investigative sidekick and potential love interest, Robin Dunne is charming and fun. I was pleasantly surprised by this as the last time I saw him in a TV movie he was remarkably wooden and seemed bored by the whole thing. Here he steals the show and has a playful chemistry with Candace that I enjoyed a lot. He's a vast improvement over the forgettable minister love interest from the first movie. Again, I'm not familiar with the books but I hope if there are more of these movies made that his character is a part of them.
On the negative side, the movie is darker in spots than it probably needed to be. It's hard to do a story where your lead character's friends are being murdered while still keeping things light and frothy. The movie doesn't always maintain that balance well, especially in the first half. There are also some issues with the sound quality at points, such as the grocery store scene where it appears dialogue may have been dubbed for whatever reason. Not a big thing but it is a tad distracting. Another nitpick would be the gruff police captain who is nothing more than an irritating cliché. He exists just to show up and yell about Aurora's meddling. Finally, the solution to the murders is a little too similar to the first movie.
The complaints I have are minor, ultimately. For a made-for-TV movie, it's well done and very entertaining. It keeps your interest throughout with good characters and a decent murder mystery. If you liked the first one, I'm sure you will love this one. If you didn't like the first one, I doubt this will win you over. Candace fans will, of course, find lots to enjoy here.
As I said, I liked the last Aurora movie but I wound up liking this one even more. Candace is as lovely and engaging as ever. I was happy to see the cast of supporting players from the first movie has returned here, most notably the delightful Lexa Doig as Aurora's best friend. In this movie she doesn't get to play sidekick, though, as that role is taken by Robin Dunne. She does get plenty of enjoyable scenes, including one particularly amusing one with her parents. For his part as investigative sidekick and potential love interest, Robin Dunne is charming and fun. I was pleasantly surprised by this as the last time I saw him in a TV movie he was remarkably wooden and seemed bored by the whole thing. Here he steals the show and has a playful chemistry with Candace that I enjoyed a lot. He's a vast improvement over the forgettable minister love interest from the first movie. Again, I'm not familiar with the books but I hope if there are more of these movies made that his character is a part of them.
On the negative side, the movie is darker in spots than it probably needed to be. It's hard to do a story where your lead character's friends are being murdered while still keeping things light and frothy. The movie doesn't always maintain that balance well, especially in the first half. There are also some issues with the sound quality at points, such as the grocery store scene where it appears dialogue may have been dubbed for whatever reason. Not a big thing but it is a tad distracting. Another nitpick would be the gruff police captain who is nothing more than an irritating cliché. He exists just to show up and yell about Aurora's meddling. Finally, the solution to the murders is a little too similar to the first movie.
The complaints I have are minor, ultimately. For a made-for-TV movie, it's well done and very entertaining. It keeps your interest throughout with good characters and a decent murder mystery. If you liked the first one, I'm sure you will love this one. If you didn't like the first one, I doubt this will win you over. Candace fans will, of course, find lots to enjoy here.