Episode aired Jan 27, 2019
TV-GTV-G
1h 26min

7.0/10

1.4K

S1.E1

A college professor teaching "Whodunnit" fiction gets involved in the police investigation of the theft of a mega dollar research plant, the death of a student, disappearance of another and ... Read allA college professor teaching "Whodunnit" fiction gets involved in the police investigation of the theft of a mega dollar research plant, the death of a student, disappearance of another and an alleged suicide.A college professor teaching "Whodunnit" fiction gets involved in the police investigation of the theft of a mega dollar research plant, the death of a student, disappearance of another and an alleged suicide.

Director
- Blair Hayes
Writers
- Robin Bernheim(teleplay)
- Lee Goldberg(teleplay)
- John Christian Plummer(teleplay)
Stars

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Robin Thomas and Jill Wagner in Mystery 101 (2019)

Amy Winslow teaches mystery fiction at the college where she is a professor, but now real crime and real mysteries are erupting around her with the theft of a very valuable lab specimen, murder, a student's disappearance and an apparent suicide. Detective Travis Cole of the local police is investigating, but Professor Winslow is determined to help. Her keen powers of observation and rapid deductive abilities may prove valuable, if Detective Cole will only admit it. —joshua13

Taglines
- When a college student is found dead, English professor Amy uses her crime fiction expertise to unravel the case faster than detective Travis, who ends up working with Amy to catch the killer.
Genres
Certificate
- TV-G
Parents guide

Trivia
Jill Wagner and Kristoffer Polaha were both in Pearl in Paradise (2018), where both were similarly the romantic leads.

Goofs
Professor Winslow tells the detective she can tell he was married by seeing the mark on his forefinger. The forefinger is the index finger, not the ring finger, but as the talk continues, he points to his ring finger.

Quotes
Detective Travis Cole: OK, but I gotta... I gotta cross my "i"s and dot my "t"s.

Connections
Followed by Mystery 101: Playing Dead (2019)

Soundtracks
Who Can It Be Now?
Written by Colin Hay
Performed by Colin Hay
[Played in the opening motorcycle scene]

Top review

7/10

The actors

So often in anything Hallmark, how the viewer connects with the actors makes all the difference. I read one review that said that both Wagner and Polaha act natural, not fake, and I realized that was the description I was looking for in this movie. They also connect well with each other after you get past the obligatory animosity especially on the skeptical detective's part.

The difficult thing in a new amateur detective series is getting past the skepticism of the professional detective(s). It is totally justifiable on their part. Amateur's can destroy a prosecution and as one other reviewer points out, Amy makes a bunch of those mistakes even though they get glossed over and ignored. In this movie, getting past the initial skepticism was clumsy and far too quick. The transition was instant. Burke was resistant one second and then totally caved and became like a puppy dog as far as accepting Amy's participation.

I think it's obvious that if this becomes a series (which it does), then something will happen between Amy and Travis. This is just the start. We have another budding romance in the two assistants. Both relationships are slightly overplayed.

The mystery itself had a nice number of possible suspects and some of the usual red herrings. Overall, the movie was entertaining, as a nice mystery with an appealing cast.

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