bkoganbing In this Murder She Baked: A Peach Cobbler Mystery, Hannah Swenson's profession of baker actually comes into play as part of the plot. In this case someone opens a rival bakery across the street and it will be a war for customers in the small town of Eden Falls, Minnesota. Rumor has it that rival Michelle Harrison just imports her stuff and it's not baked on premise. But that pales when Harrison is killed and Alison Sweeney is discovered over the body. Later on the gun that killed Harrison is found in Alison's bakery.Sweeney is as usual caught between Cameron Mattis and Gabriel Hogan, she must feel like a volleyball at times. Her mother Barbara Niven has found a little romance with Roark Critchlow a guy that seems a bit too smooth. He's also got a connection to the sister of the late bakery rival also played by Michelle Harrison.Those shots of all the baked goods in the shop. 1000 calories just for looking at it and on television too not live.Fans of the series won't be disappointed.

blanche-2 In "Murder, She Baked: A Peach Cobbler Mystery," Hannah (Alison Sweeney) has decided she is more attracted to Detective Mike Kingston (Cameron Mathison) than the dentist Norman Rhodes. Norman i ready for a commitment, but recent widower Mike is not. Hannah hasn't told either man how she feels.She wonders if she has made the right decision when Melanie Quinn, a college friend of Mike's, opens a bakery across the street from Hannah's bakery! And she sees Mike exiting it.Melanie's sister Valerie is heavily promoting the bakery, and Hannah is losing some business. Apparently, Melanie makes one helluva peach cobbler, too. Hannah tries her hand at one, which is better than Melanie's, so she's asked to bring some to a wedding. There's something familiar about Melanie's cobbler - Hannah realizes it's frozen and sold at the grocery store. After a debacle, Melanie comes to Hannah, admitting she can't bake and asking for help with the peach cobbler for the wedding. Hannah helps and leaves Melanie with baking instructions and gets ready for the wedding. Melanie never appears.That night, going by Melanie's bakery, Hannah sees the lights on. Inside she finds Melanie's dead body. And she also finds herself a suspect in Melanie's murder. In order to clear her, everyone joins in the investigation into the murder to find the true killer. Since Mike is on the police force and told to stay away from her, Hannah leans heavily on Norman.As usual this was a pleasant mystery with attractive stars. It's no great shakes since Hallmark is a family channel and aims for a kind of banal entertainment. However, this series has warmth and likability.

pensman A "friend" of Hannah's opens a bakery right across the street from Hannah. And Melanie Quinn is quite snarky about her special peach cobbler. The taste however is familiar to Hannah: It's a frozen cobbler from the supermarket. Hannah knows then that Melanie can't bake. Then there is the usual: Hannah makes a cobbler that her friends acclaim as superior; there is a confrontation scene where Melanie accosts Hannah and states she will bake a special Southern cobbler; Melanie shows up in tears at Hannah's admitting she can't bake and needs Hannah's help. Hannah goes over to help Melanie and while there Melanie says she hates pretending but in three months she will be closing because her sister (Vanessa)—the backer of the bakery—said that's how long the bakery had to stay open. Bang, Melanie is dead. Best if you DVR this episode, watch the first 20 minutes and then zip to the last fifteen to see if you were right about who did it: you will be. Forgot, there is the usual subplot with Hannah's mom desperate as usual to find a man; of course, she finds the wrong one.

Heather Hallmark's cozy mysteries movie series (Murder She Baked, The Gourmet Detective, Flower Shop Mysteries, etc.) is intended to be fun and family-friendly, so think of them as more like episodes of a T.V. show. They're romance movies but have an actual plot. They're best for watching while you cook and clean, because you can follow the plot without paying full attention. That's why it's perfect that the Murder She Baked series is about a pastry chef. Her narration, her cooking tips, and the fact that she uses her baking expertise to help her solve mysteries is what makes the series worth watching. Especially since foodie movies are usually incredibly depressing, and thus unappealing to me. I love how seeing Hannah bake makes me excited about baking. Also, the fact that Hannah listens to a radio show that gives cheesy romance advice, similar to The Delilah Show and the host looks similar to Delilah Rene Luke, is a relatable guilty pleasure.