Garage Sale Mystery (Hallmark)

I want to start by saying, in researching the books this movie series is based on, they appear to be more along the line of thrillers, and not cozies. Hallmark adapted them into the cozy style. (For a series similar in subject, written in true cozy form, I suggest the Garage Sale Mysteries by Sarah Harris. They are really wonderful books.)Since I’ve never read the books this series is based on, I can’t do a comparison between them. That being said, I really enjoyed this movie.About the movie:In GARAGE SALE MYSTERY protagonist, Jennifer Shannon (played by Lori Loughlin) is a married mom of two children. She co-owns a resale shop with her friend, Danielle (Sarah Strange). Jennifer hits all the garage sale in town looking for treasure to resale in her shop, as well as on eBay. Jennifer soon makes a connection to local robberies and garage sales, and begins to believe the accidental death of a friend was no accident, but instead murder connected to the robberies, and she plans to prove it.My thoughts:I loved going on the garage sale trips with Jennifer. It was fun to see the way she scanned the merchandise and zoomed in on the best pieces. I really enjoyed when I recognized a piece like she did, and I knew the value of the item. Watching made me want to start going to yard sales (except that whole getting up way early on a Saturday morning thing does no appeal to me). I loved Jennifer’s resale shop. She had a lot of amazing pieces in there. The scenes in the shop with co-owner Danielle (Dani) were some of my favorites. Dani was unique and quirky, and balanced nicely off Jennifer’s more down to earth personality. I also really liked Jennifer’s husband and children.As far as the mystery went, I found it to be very creative, and frighteningly enough, something that could happen in real life. Thieves scoping out garage sales in rather wealthy neighborhoods to get an idea of the wealth of the sellers really does seem plausible. What seemed less realistic to me was the owners allowing people to roam through their homes to look at items they didn’t want to bring outside. These were garage sales, not estate sales. Maybe it happens more than I know, but I would never allow strangers to roam around my house, or let them in to use my bathroom! And I’m not even wealthy!Jennifer took to investigating very quickly. Although, like a lot leads in a mystery, Jennifer tends to get a little too lost in her investigations. I’m sure she doesn’t think she’s being obvious in her questioning of people, but sitting there watching the movie, I just wanted to grab her arm and pull her back! A refreshing part of the story was when she went to the police with her suspicions about how the thieves were casing homes, and one detective was willing to hear her out and actually believed her. He did find it a bit of a stretch that her friend’s death had anything to do with the robberies. But they worked together nicely. Of course, there is a murder, so Jennifer was right about that. I did guess the killer early on, but a blame that on the director of the movie allowing the killer to be a little too obvious, because in books, I hardly ever guess right. Just another reason to read. You can’t tell the killer is looking all shifty. ;-)The cast:Lori Loughlin is very well suited to the role of Jennifer. I really enjoyed the way she played the role. She’s very likable and that makes her fun to watch. The actor who plays Jennifer’s husband, Jason Shannon, Rick Ravenello was a good match for Loughlin. They felt like a real couple to me. Actress Sarah Strange played the role of Danielle, Jennifer’s business partner. This actress made her character very believable. The rest of the cast, did a great job in their roles and made for an excellent ensemble.Looking back on my review, it almost sounds like I didn’t enjoy GARAGE SALE MYSTERY. That’s not true at all. I had a lot of fun watching it. And my purchase of the DVD was well worth the price (which was very reasonable) because I will watch this one over and over.Cozy mystery fans will enjoy GARAGE SALE MYSTERY. It’s good, clean mystery that everyone in the family can enjoy. If you don’t get the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel, consider purchasing the DVDs available, or speak to your library about getting them.

Hallmark's "Garage Sale Mystery" is a pleasant little movie with attractive characters and a twisty plot; something lighter than the hard-boiled fare available on most television channels these days but not so light that it's pure confection.Lori Loughlin plays the owner of a second-hand antique store who finds a lot of her stock at garage and yard sales. She's also a fan of police dramas on television so when she notices that a recent spate of burglaries happens to coincide with the fact the victims all had yard sales she puts two and two together and comes up with four: Were the burglars using the sales as an opportunity to do some quiet recon of the homes? She takes her concern to the police who do not take her seriously... at first. When she later discovers the body of a friend who has apparently died after falling down some stairs she has trouble believing the woman's death was an accident.There are some interesting subplots in the narrative: Her business partner's bad luck on the dating scene, her daughter's break-up with her longtime boyfriend, a leaky roof, some fake jewelry, a missing Buddha statue, and an incredibly valuable vase give viewers something to think about while Loughlin's character tries to solve what she thinks might be the murder of her friend.The verdict: A pleasant film, something to relax with on one of those nights when you just feel like watching something that doesn't overtax the brain.

Routine fodder from Hallmark, there really wasn't much of a mystery as the culprit(s) are obvious at the outset; the only thing missing was the why, delivered at the very end. Otherwise it was pleasant enough, featuring characters highly manufactured for cuteness sake, no one felt real. It was like watching Nancy Drew as an adult as played by Lori Loughlin (Jennifer Shannon, a professional garage sale shopper). Loughlin played the character very-very-very enthusiastically. A little miss know-it-all who just had to convince the police that a crime had been committed.This production suffers from familiarity and a bizarre attempt at `style' by an over zealous camera man given to using gimmicks (the camera zooms in and out in a herky-jerky fashion, leaving half the scene blurry while focusing on a few items. Scenes are abruptly cut. It was like being confined in a music video without the music!).

I loved this movie, but then I'm a mystery buff. Before this movie I never viewed garage sales as possible scenes for a mystery. But it sure worked for this film. And I loved Jennifer's (Lori Laughlin) curiosity and how her mind worked. Not even the police made the connection between the yard sales and three robberies until she brought it to one detective's attention. I also loved how supportive and fun her family and business partner were as she helped solved the case and her friend's murder.I gave this 4 stars because there one downside. It was a wee bit predictable, as far as the murder was concerned. Otherwise I would have given it a full five stars for its humor, the acting, romance and mystery. I highly recommend it for those who love mysteries and Hallmark movies.

Housewife has a used goods store. She goes to yard sales to find "treasures" to sell in her store or on eBay. She notices one day that several of the houses she visited had been robbed. Then one day her friend (who had a yard sale coincidentally) was found dead and robbed. So she turns to amateur sleuth to solve the crime.This is what TV used to be like. No filth. No gratuitous stomach turning violence. No sex. No half naked people. Just normal decent kind people living their lives. Nothing perfect. Nothing stepford. But nothing outrageous to get attention like today's world. It was entertainment. Of course there was a murder. There was a blood spot. There was a corpse. But nothing grotesque or disgusting.

A great time filler for a Saturday afternoon. Good story line well acted. Good production.

I would call this movie an "easy to watch" one. The story deals with a murder, but it's not intense, or very frightening. However, having said that, I wouldn't recommend this for preteens, as probably most of it would be over their heads. Some of the acting is good, some not so good, but overall, it was still possible to enjoy the movie. No sex, no bad language and very little violence.

Great quality - where can I buy the DVD Plum Pudding Murder Mystery it is a Hallmark and I can not find it

I enjoyed it and could watch it with the family

This was a much better movie than I anticipated. It was a very well acted and interesting murder mystery. I didn't expect Hallmark to make a movie quite like this and was pleasantly surprised to see how well it was done.