There really isn't any suspense and the villain's confession and monologue was pretty comical. Not sure if this is supposed to be Lifetime's answer to Aurora Teagarden (head of a book club that's interested in murders turned sleuth), but it's not quite there quality-wise. I love all the mystery series on Hallmark, so if Lifetime can get a good one as well, and give us a break from the psycho of the week, that would be welcomed. I read this was based on a book, so I'll try to read that to see how close it was. The movie seemed pretty light on the details of the case and aside from being their friend, it didn't give us a ton of reasons to care about the initial victim. I guess that's reason enough, but this person was still involved in things they probably should not have been.
I may have to watch again, but I don't remember seeing/hearing what crime each club member committed? I would think that would be important to help establish their personalities (sort of like Leverage) since there were so many of them. I feel like so far only Toni and the character played by Rainbow Sun seem as if they are the members of the club that are needed for the story. Also, while watching the villain's confession, there were a lot of cliches in the speech as well as a lot of vagueness as to the why. No spoilers, but I don't think ************ is a good actor/actress so watching them as a villain didn't do it for me.
I saw a reviewer elsewhere say this one felt like a pilot and I have to agree. So maybe the second one will be better with the story and characters more fleshed out. I saw the cast list for the second one and it seems like most if not all will be back. The cast has decent enough chemistry and I think it's obvious who they will pair Hollis (Toni) with if this gets more movies. I did kind of expect this to be a Leverage-inspired murder mystery with all of the ex-cons bringing some "skill" to the table. I also expected a "And then there were none" kind of vibe, but that wasn't present either.
Speaking of Hallmark, it was nice to see Keith Robinson although it's funny bc he's the male lead in a new mystery series over there. Some of the other familiar faces are Lifetime and tv movie staples, so if nothing else, you'll recognize just about everyone from something else.
Worth one watch because it's not a psycho of the week.
