Carrot Cake Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery

I love Hannah Swensen's Murder She Baked mystery series...it has been my favorite on the Hallmark channel, but if I am honest I miss the old Eden Lake (aka the old sets). It had a very small town feel and this new reboot is sleeker, shinier with a bigger city feel which unfortunately makes it less personal or "cosy" as the books they were based on intended.

This was a great mystery and gave a lot more face-time between Hannah and her fiancé Mike than "Sweet Revenge", which was the first film in this new reboot. I still miss Hannah's sister Andrea and her husband...and I have not warmed to this younger sister Michelle.

Don't let my critique be misconstrued, I am loving having Hannah Swensen back on Hallmark with fresh mysteries. I love Alison Sweeney as Hannah Swensen. She and Cameron Mathison have wonderful on screen chemistry and I was more than thrilled to see them both back for more. I am still completely enjoying Barbara Niven as Hannah's quirky and yet laser focused mom (she is still beating the dentist drum!). She adds a lot of comedy to the series...and she is beautiful to boot. I am glad they have so many returning characters...including my favorite character Norman played by Gabriel Hogan. He continues to be Hannah's best wingman and good friend. His and Hannah's search for Patches was great.

Hannah and Norman discover a skeleton, uncovering a 25 year mystery. In an unusual twist, Mike actually encourages Hannah to investigate the cold case and in a sweet way even helps her...causing him to walk a thin line between that and his job which falls under the scrutiny of his boss...and eventually creates a strain in his and Hannah's relationship.

I thought Mike's encouragement of Hannah's investigation seemed really out of character as he has always been a bit overprotective of Hannah in that regard. In the past he has always wanted her to leave it to the police, including him. (Selfishly, I did enjoy them working together as it gave them so much on-screen time together...even if it was out of character. Let's hope the cat tree warms Hannah's heart.)

I am excited to hear there will be more Hannah Swensen to come and I cannot wait. This was a good solid mystery and I recommend it to cosy mystery fans, fans of Alison Sweeney, Cameron Mathison and Barbara Niven. Better than Sweet Revenge...but not quite as good as the original pre-reboot series. I have hope however, I know the cast is fantastic and I think the writers are going to get the series back to being my absolute favorite on Hallmark!

I lost interest pretty quickly in this one. Hannah seemed more like a teenage drama queen than an adult. And how does she keep the bakery going when she's out solving mysteries? Mike was wimpy, and deserved to have the engagement broken. The worst was seeing a patient wearing nasal cannula oxygen while on a ventilator. It's physically impossible - the writers REALLY need to consult someone in healthcare. (ANYONE!) The whole thing fell apart from that moment. Although it was pretty funny to see that Eugene/Ellis didn't have a single IV.

They need to step up their game if this series is to survive.

Watching this was like greeting an old friend, or putting on your favorite slippers - it just felt right. So glad Hallmark brought this series back! Happy to see Cameron Mathison back on Hallmark, and Alison Sweeney was fantastic as always. They have a chemistry together that has always been evident in these films, and no less this one. All of the supporting actors are back, with Barbara Niven stealing every scene she was in. The movie had a new take on the mystery, with more of an historical murder to solve, and was very engaging. Looking forward already to the next one (which Hallmark has already announced)!

The mystery is fine - some new topics covered. I totally relate to the Swensen family dynamic, but the situation between Hannah and Mike is really dragging out - maybe Delores is right and Hannah should be with Norman after all! I feel like they're too old to take so much time if Hannah really wants to be with Kingston. Andrea and Bill are again missing here, which loses several dimensions with them having links to the main characters plus a young family as well - they need Hannah to be a mum to fill this void, or Norman to be a dad, or both, either together or with different spouses. Hope they make more episodes.

After all the other movies in this series, I miss the old settings and characters are missing. So disappointed that Hannah would have such a knee jerk reaction. She is usually so level-headed. I hope things are more back to normal in the next one. LOVE these movies and Allison Sweeney and Cameron Mathison. The storyline was hard to follow at times. It was still good, the 2 hours flew by, but used to having that good feeling when the movie was over. I know the stories are about murder but they usually have a happy ending for the main characters. Real life is so hard, we need these movies to escape for a short time. Keep making them! This is just my least favorite of them so far.