A Bone to Pick: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery (2015)

You won't be disappointed!

the audience applauded

good back-story, and good acting

Brilliant and touching

Aside from a dead body or two, this series is on the conservative side and fun to watch. I like the lead actress even if the writing isn't sherlock holmes. One thing I hope they will fix is the overly critical (and somewhat irritating mother). Love the actress who plays the mother but her character gets annoying due to all the snide remarks toward her daughter, who has a real mind for crime! More fun to see mom join in with the murders club and find a new angle with mother/daughter IMO. Worth watching.

I am a mystery buff (favorite authors include Sue Grafton, Paretsky, Kellerman (Faye), Braun, Evanovich, Cannell, Christie, George and Hammett) who enjoys a wide range of genres. I appreciate cozies because they offer relief from blood, gore and rough language and usually are very witty. Thus, I enjoy the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries offering of the Aurora Teagarden installments. I have not read these books, but the movies are fun and uplifting. I also love romance and there's some of that in these movies as well. The series launches with "A Bone to Pick," which focuses on a mysterious inheritance for our heroine, consisting of a house, a human skull and murder mystery to solve. While Aurora ("Roe" to her friends) is a librarian she is also a passionate member of the Real Murders Club, so she is a dedicated amateur sleuth who is not above circumventing the law on occasion to solve a murder mystery. This, of course upsets her proper and professional mother who is a well-known real estate broker with her own successful agency and hates the Real Murders Club; her best friend, who is a newspaper reporter; her former boyfriend who is a detective along with his very pregnant detective wife who is no fan of Roe's; and the police captain who is even less a fan. However, Roe has an ally, another who is also a member of the Real Murders Club and who is in love with Roe's mother, who hates the Club. Roe's mother also is interested in helping her daughter to find "Mr. Right," and settle down. So we have a fun and feisty collection of characters against which background Roe sets out to solve the murder mystery she inherited.

If it weren't for the fact that our lead character is more than flirting with an obstruction of justice charge I would rate the A Bone To Pick a bit higher than I do. In real life good looks and appeal wouldn't get you out of the jackpot that Aurora Teagarden, town librarian and amateur sleuth finds herself working toward.Candace Cameron Bure the younger, as religious, but less controversial than her brother Kirk produces and stars in this and currently two other films with Aurora Teagarden in the lead. She has an interesting hobby and she and a group meet to discuss old murder cases. Influenced no doubt by Agatha Christie's Jane Marple she knows that she can be as good a detective as any who do this for a living. In fact she's a charter member in a club for people who like to review famous old murders and look at them from different angles to solve.In fact it's almost a dream come true when an old spinster woman played by Barbara Wallace, member in good standing of that amateur murder fanciers club dies and not only leaves Bure her house and money, but an actual human skull. Even a mystery all her own to solve.Though she leads the local cops to the rest of the body when she finds it, she keeps the skull for herself. Bure's ace in the hole to solving the crime. It does lead her in many directions before the right one. She also exasperates the local police including detective Miranda Frigon who even though as pregnant as the female police chief in Fargo is still working.Bure has her posse including her mother Marilu Henner and her best friend reporter Lexa Doig. She exasperates both, but Bure and Doig have an interesting Lucy and Ethel like relationship.I guess all's forgiven when you solve a murder, especially since two more Aurora Teagarden films have been made for Hallmark.

Librarian and amateur sleuth Aurora Teagarden's elderly friend dies and leaves Aurora her house. After a break-in, Aurora starts poking around the old house and discovers the skull of a murder victim. She begins investigating the crime but this puts her at odds with the police, including the detective assigned to the case -- who just happens to be the pregnant wife of Aurora's ex-boyfriend.This is based on a book from a series written by Charlaine Harris, the author of the books True Blood is based off of. Don't worry (or get your hopes up?), this is nothing like True Blood. Haven't read the books so I can't compare but this is a light, upbeat mystery with some humor and even a hint of (completely sexless) romance with a minister. It's Candace Cameron Bure and Hallmark. You didn't expect Hannibal Lecter to show up, did you? A cop pointing a gun at someone says "get your dang hands in the air." So yeah, I think it's safe to call this 'family friendly.'Candace is likable and pretty as usual. The rest of the cast is good. Fairly typical for TV movies -- mostly little-known Canadian actors with a couple of recognizable standouts (TV vet Marilu Henner and the lovely Lexa Doig). Henner is enjoyable as the mom meddling in her daughter's love life and Doig is fun as the sidekick who gets most of the good lines. The scenes between Candace and Lexa are the movie's highlights. Altogether it's a fun movie. Nothing challenging but entertaining. I imagine fans of the books will be more critical than those like me who aren't familiar with the source material. If you're a fan of the kinds of movies Candace makes, you'll most likely enjoy this.