Crossword Mysteries: Proposing Murder

Cruciverbalist Tess Harper (Lacey Chabert) and police friend Logan (Brennan Elliott) team up to work on another murder mystery, this one involving a puzzle fan who has Tess work his proposal of marriage into her daily crossword.

The chemistry between Chabert and Elliott is always strong. Again, he tries to keep her away from his case, but she is too interested and too valuable, just like an Aurora Teagarden mystery. The two sleuths work the case from different angles, occasionally crossing paths to share clues.

A surfeit of suspects and a raft of red herrings keep the detecting duo guessing until the very end. Meanwhile, the dueling dicks keep any mutual attraction on the back burner, where it can smolderappropriately.

Most of us don't watch Hallmark movies expecting some great production. No, we watch them because we enjoy the actors and the characters they create. If the story is interesting then that is a bonus. We like Lacey Chabert, she always plays a likable character. As she does here, working for the New York newspaper and one of her ongoing responsibilities is the crossword puzzle. Seems when strangers meet her they always mention her puzzles.

One of her old friends is a history professor at a local college, as the movie starts we see that he is surprised at home and is found murdered. Then the movie flashes to "5 days earlier" and what we see are all the efforts to investigate the murder and find the guilty person.

The story is convoluted and interesting enough that it kept us entertained. As various people in his life became suspects I was surprised when the actual killer was revealed and the reasons why.

Streaming on Peacock, my wife and I watched it at home.

It wasn't quite as good as the pilot film, of course. But, as I stated elsewhere, first sequels rarely equal the first film. In this case, the only minor flaw is that the true culprit becomes pretty obvious early on. For anyone who's spent the last twenty years watching MURDER SHE WROTE re-runs, anyway!

Seen a few of this series(?). Really nice. Good to see Lacey again.

This is my first dip into Hallmark Mysteries.

I was familiar with Lacy Chabert from somewhere, but not Brennan Elliott.

Given the acting role resumes for both Lacy and Brennan, I would expect them to work together well, and they do. They are believable as a pair who respect and exasperate each other.

And with the overused plot device of the professional male detective versus the intuitive and spunky female amateur, Brennan and Lacy so far make it work better than many other mystery shows.

Of the two Crossword Mysteries I have watched so far--"A Puzzle to Die For" and "Proposing Murder"--I would rate "Proposing Murder" higher. I found it slightly more believable, and more "puzzling".

As someone who enjoys working crossword puzzles myself, I like the conceit that Tess could transfer her skill in creating crossword puzzles into solving crime. I smiled at the end of this episode, when Tess teasingly asks Logan, "So, are we a team yet?"