Mystery 101: Playing Dead

Posted July 2, 2019 by karenbaron in Hallmark T.V. Movie, Movie Review, Mystery / 0 Comments

Format: T.V. Movie

Mystery 101: Playing Dead

Network: Hallmark Movies & Mysteries

Series Number: 2

Director: Blair Hayes

Teleplay by: John Christian Plummer

Cast:

Jill Wagner (Professor Amy Winslow)
Kristoffer Polaha (Detective Travis Cole)
Robin Thomas (Graham)
Louriza Tronco (Lacey)
Preston Vanderslice (Bud)
Sarah Dugdale (Claire)
Derek Green (Chief Tate)
Matthew Kevin Anderson (Duncan)
Luke Camilleri (Elliot)
Rekha Sharma (Bella)
Aaron Douglas (Karl)
Robert Moloney (Vincent)
Christie Burke (Josie)
James Rha (Dr. Gentry)
Colin Lawrence (Sebastian)
Michael Kopsa (George)
Kareem Malcolm (Russ)
Meena Mann (Journalist)
AJ Simmons (Concierge)

Plot Summary:

Crime Fiction Professor Amy and Detective Travis attend a play where a prop gun fires a real bullet, narrowly missing the star Bella. Declaring the theater a crime scene, Travis interviews suspects galore and, luckily, he has Amy by his side who uses her expertise in whodunits.

My Rating:

My Thoughts:

A lot is going on in this movie, and that’s fun to see how the sleuth and the detective can see if they all are connected or if it’s a bunch of different things that are just happening.

I do feel bad for Sarah Dugdale’s character Claire as she tried to stop a burglary in process and got hit over the head. She was in the hospital throughout most of the movie.

Professor Amy Winslow is not only teaching about crimes happening in fiction novels but is also helping out in a play that has a famous actress staring in during this film. Amy helps out when the other actors and actresses don’t get something. She is just as impressive as in the first movie. I love the way Amy is going to solve the mystery with or without Travis’s help. Jill Wagner is doing a fantastic job, and I love her chemistry with Kristoffer Polaha.

Detective Travis Cole is still the police detective, but he is trying to solve not only the robberies but what is happening at the play. He has his hands full and trying to keep Amy away from trouble. Well, let’s say Kristoffer has to let her help to keep an eye on her. Kristoffer Polaha is fabulous in this role, and he has the that laid back detective vibe down. He and Jill Wagner are marvelous together.

The mystery in this one is very complicated since we have the robberies, a shooting of a gun at the opening night of the play, and the lead actress had a heart attack. While investigating, they found out reasons for some people to do it but not a good enough reason. The motive that they initially thought wasn’t it, and I didn’t figure it out until Amy did. Wow, this was a good movie.

I highly recommend this movie to all you mystery lovers out there.