[Warning: General spoilers ahead.]
For their fourth film together, Hearties faves and Hallmark staples Pascale Hutton and Kavan Smith are coming for the Sleuthers with Nelly Knows Mysteries: A Fatal Engagement, a fun throwback, Girl Friday-style mystery about an advice columnist in small-town Babbleton who pairs up with a new detective who reluctantly realizes she’s actually an asset.
Hutton’s Pascsle is the titular Nelly, who writes the local advice column and knows everybody in town–and, more importantly, all their business. Smith is the newly arrived Detective Michel Hogan, who catches his first murder case when Nelly finds the body of her childhood friend’s boyfriend when she goes to set him straight about his perceived bad behavior.
Her friend, Dahlia (The Order‘s Sarah Grey), isn’t completely clear of suspicion so Nelly initially steps in to help protect her, until Dahlia asks for her help finding the killer. That puts Nelly on the path–and initially in the way of–Michael, until he recognizes that her inside scoop on everybody can help him close in on the killer.
Nelly’s innate talent for getting strangers to tell her the most random and useful nuggets is also beneficial to the case, so she and Michael soon officially/unofficially team up. Which of course then attracts the attention of the killer and puts her in harm’s way.
It’s a breezy outing that makes the most of Hutton and Smith’s ridiculously infectious chemistry, alongside an old-school jazzy soundtrack and Nelly’s signature style that could have walked right out of a much, much lighter black-and-white 40s gumshoe murder mystery.
David I. Strasser directs from a first script by Katherine Wagner. Familiar Hallmarkies along for the ride include Nelson Wong, Sunita Prasad, Kendall Cross, Jill Morrison, and Aaron and Kate Craven having way too much fun playing a couple, plus Highlander: The Series favorite Jim Byrnes and Billy the Kid‘s Veronica Long and newcomer Andrea Reindl.
Nelly Knows Mysteries: A Fatal Engagement premieres Friday at 9 pm/8c on Hallmark Mystery and streaming on various outlets in the US. No word yet on a Canadian outlet. We’ll update when we get details. Here are a couple of sneak peeks and today’s Facebook Live.
Photos courtesy of Muse Entertainment and Hallmark Media; video courtesy of Hallmark Media.
