Dead Over Heels: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery

Given the current climate in this country - unrest, frustration, unhappiness, bad news every time you turn around, Hallmark has come into its own.

After years of being a sweetness and light network of small-town family values and chaste romance, it's in vogue. People want to watch attractive stars they know from soap operas or prime time comedies in light romances and mysteries with happy endings and no bad language.

Though it's obviously geared toward fundamentalist religious parts of the country - you can tell by the Bible and holy water ads - lots of people who fall outside this group are now addicted to Hallmark, people you'd never expect. And who can blame them?

Dead Over Heels: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery is from 2017, and it's an episode of the mystery series that stars pert Candace Cameron Bure. She plays a librarian and amateur sleuth.

Aurora has a chaste relationship with her boyfriend (Yannick Bisson), and in some of the episodes, lives with her real estate broker mother (Marilu Henner). Aurora runs a mystery club that discusses old unsolved murder cases.

In this particular episode, the police chief falls from a plane - dead - into Aurora's yard.

The stories are okay and inoffensive, the wide-eyed Bure is cute and familiar to audiences who saw her on "Full House."

The only problem I have is with the look of the show - all the women have long hair and sometimes can be hard to tell apart if you don't know the actresses very well. I'm not sure if this is because producers think that people have no sense of style in certain parts of the country or what.

Anyway, enjoyable.

Dead Over Heels: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery (2017)

A body fall from a small private plane beside detectives house and detective Aurora starts to investigate about the murder... Soo she realize her husband also include in that murder and lot of mysteries revealed... More suspect list but unpredictable climax twists... Must watch investigation thriller..!

Other review...

In Lawrenceton, librarian Aurora Teagarden - Ro to her friends - and her best friend, newspaper reporter Sally Allison, are in Ro's yard one winter day when a body flies out of a single engine airplane and lands dead on the ground, only feet from them. The victim is Lawrenceton Chief of Police, Frederick Burns, who Ro saw only yesterday, when he asked of the whereabouts of Ro's boyfriend, business executive and ex-CIA Martin Bartell, to who he wanted to speak about some undisclosed issue which Captain Burns warned Ro, a real murders buff who has often insinuated herself in murder cases in town, to stay out of. Captain Burns is survived by his wife, Bess Burns, the sister of Ro's officious boss, Lillian Tibbett. Detective Lynn Smith, the senior detective on the police force, is leading the murder investigation and is Acting Police Chief, the latter appointment, protocol, which is to the consternation of Detective Pete Lambert, who feels he is senior detective, he only having recently returned to Lawrenceton after a stint working in Seattle. Despite Lynn not appointing him to the case, Lambert is determined to solve the murder to make a name for himself in the eyes of Mayor Sternholz, who will be appointing the next Chief. Lambert seems a little too eager to pin the murder on Martin. Against Ro's wants, the murder also becomes the topic of the day among her real murders discussion club, as many citizens are concerned that the murder of their police chief could lead to pandemonium in town and a risk to their own safety. Regardless, Ro can't help but try to figure out the murder herself, which would help if she can find out about what Captain Burns wanted to speak to Martin. Another person factoring into the unofficial investigation is Tim Prentiss, Martin's former CIA colleague new to town, he with who Ro would like to see a future with Sally.

Martin is away on a business trip when the police chief Captain Burns approaches Aurora telling her he needs to speak to Martin as soon as he gets home. The next day Aurora is trying to fix a leaky outdoor faucet with Sally when a small plane flies overhead and dumps Captain Burns' dead body in front of them.

Meanwhile Martin and Ro introduce Sally to one of Martin's old CIA colleagues, Tim Prentiss. The two actually hit it off, joining Ro and Martin for dinners out and attending the True Crime meetings together.

Arthur gets named as the new police chief and then ends up stabbed at Chief Burns' memorial. Martin is being framed for murder...and the True Crimes club is on the case!

Martin and Ro's romance is heating up, in spite Aida planting the seed that Aurora is afraid of commitment. Aurora finds a ring box in Martin's pocket...which has her behaving a little uncharacteristically and she seems to have a secret admirer...oh! And Martin is allergic to cats.

The best part of this series is the large but tight supporting cast. The writing and romance development is wonderful. I love that they continue to use the same actors for all of the supporting characters. I love Candace Cameron Bure and she together with Yannick Bisson have wonderful chemistry. This is the third in the series with Martin. I love the relationships between family, friends and colleagues. I wish there were more mysteries on Hallmark like this.

"I should spend more time in book stores."-Martin.

Aurora (Bure) is having plumbing problems and with the help of her friend, Sally (Doig) they set about fixing it. While checking out the well's pump in the garden, the body of Chief Of Police, Captain Burns (March), falls from an aeroplane... at their feet. Being the compulsively curious amateur sleuth she is, Aurora sets out to track down the cop killer...

Storywise, this isn't as solid as previous instalments of the enthusiast crime solver. In a few scenes, it feels especially contrived. Specifically where the two sisters are concerned. The reaction of Bess Burns' (Cairns) reaction to her husband's death is kind of unbelievable. She doesn't appear to mourn him and at times even sees a bright side to his death. Then there's her sister, Lillian Tibbit (Harvie), who has an episode where she's the complete opposite of her normal personality, This would have been okay had Bess been more realistic. But to have two strange personalities in one story is one too much. This does pull the audiences attention away and out of the story and film.

This though is pretty much the only downside to the movie. The rest of the story is strong and sound. Filled with red herrings and false suspects. Though it shouldn't be too hard for you figure out whodunnit... though you may find yourself changing your mind a couple of times.

There's nothing too interesting in the direction, it's pretty standard stuff. Also, the special effect of the falling body looks cheap and nasty. Luckily it's at the start of the film and over in a couple of seconds.

It's the acting along with the story that will keep the attention of the audience. Just like the previous episodes, the acting is above average and nobody stands out more than anyone else. Everybody has the limelight, allowing the story to take precedence and helps to extend the mystery (there's nothing worse than having some actor or actress walk on screen and you know they're the bad guy or gal).

If you're a fan of the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries you will like this chapter of her life. You needn't have watched the previous episodes to enjoy this film, though you would probably get more enjoyment if you had.

A lot of reviewers seem to forget that these mystery movies are Hallmark productions, which probably means low budget. Don't expect a Kate Hepburn performance from the leading lady! Another common complaint is that the movies don't follow the book. Well, duh! How many movies based on books actually follow the book? And they also forget that is based on a 'cozy' mystery, meaning lighthearted (well, lighter than usual) murder mystery.

If you view this movie as a stand alone and don't try to compare it with a book, it's an enjoyable murder mystery without tons of blood and gore. The acting isn't world class, but it isn't intended to be. Remember, it's a Hallmark movie, not a mega bucks production. If you do that you may surprise yourself and actually enjoy it.