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Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel : Joanne Fluke – Hannah Swensen, Charlaine Harris – Aurora Teagarden, & Peter King – Gourmet Detective

So, I recently got messages from Donna Mc and Alfred, and rather than just respond to them in the comments I thought I’d share their messages and my own response as it’s own post, since it seems like such big news for Cozy Mystery lovers!

From Donna Mc:

… did you hear that the Hallmark Channel is producing a series based on the Joanne Fluke cookie mysteries AND that a gorgeous blond is portraying Hannah? That is wild! But apparently true! Excited about the show, puzzled about the gorgeous blond.

From Alfred (40 minutes later):

… Allison Sweeney … it looks like they are going to be doing a mystery series featuring Joanne Fluke’s Chocolate Chip cookie mystery series on Hallmark – thought you might like to make a column out of it.

Thank you , Donna and Alfred! I rely on Cozy Mystery readers like the two of you to get wind of this fantastic Cozy Mystery news. I did some searches and found out that the good news doesn’t stop there! Apparently as part of Hallmark Movie Channel’s transition into Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, Hallmark is going to be putting out a whole bunch of Cozy Mystery movie adaptations, all of them set to air some time in 2015! I can’t wait!

As Donna and Alfred mentioned, one of these is going to be the adaptation of Joanne Fluke‘s Hannah Swensen Mystery Series, starting with Sugar Cookie Murder – though other sources have reported that the first movie will be Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder. Either way, the movies will star actress Alison Sweeney, 13-season veteran of Days Of Our Lives as well as a host of The Biggest Loser.  Admittedly, Hannah is supposed to have very curly red hair, not blonde – but I suppose every movie adaptation will need to make whatever changes they think are necessary. (Also, as those of us who follow Hannah’s sleuthing adventures know, Hannah is not slim, and rarely wears makeup…)

But as I said this is just the start of the good news! Two other Cozy movie adaptation series have been announced! The first is an adaptation of Charlaine Harris‘s Aurora Teagarden books, starring Candace Cameron Bure. I’ll admit, I’ve already got high expectations since the Teagarden series holds a very special place in my heart. I followed the series and was very disappointed when Charlaine Harris moved on to newer series, though those are also very well written. Some of you may remember Candace Cameron Bure from her days as Donna Jo “D.J.” Tanner from the long-running sitcom Full House. Well now she’ll be playing librarian Aurora Teagarden!

The third is an adaptation of Peter King‘s Gourmet Detective Mystery Series, starring Hallmark movie regular Dylan Neal. As with Sweeney, most viewers are likely to recognize Neal from soap operas – specifically his 119 episode run on The Bold and the Beautiful. Neal will be playing food consultant Goodwin Harper. Dylan Neal has been a cast member of the (regular) Hallmark channel’s Cedar Cove series.

It’s looking like this might be a really good year to be a fan of Cozy movie adaptations of some of our popular Cozy Mystery series! So, I guess now I’ve got a question for all of you – of these three terrific mystery series, which are you most looking forward to seeing a movie adaptation? Please make sure to leave a comment below!

Comments

    • is anyone disappointed with allison sweeney as hannah swensen in murder she baked? absolutely LOVE her as an actress but she just doesn’t quite capture the essence of our beloved hannah. we’ve been led to envision her as this quirky, lovable, 2nd hand shopping wiry-haired redhead, just a smidge on the pudgy side like the rest of us. curiously, the casting directors stayed true physical characteristics of detective mike & dentist norman–but not hannah!

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      • momoftwoinva, at first I was a little surprised about her playing Hannah, but after watching all of the episodes they’ve aired so far, I’ve decided she’s doing a great job. I’m just not looking at the movies as being based on Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen series, rather on a totally different one.

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      • I love Hannah Swensen series , I would love to see many many more…I call her the cookie lady.

        This is not a cancel reply, its a keeping with the cookie lady,
        Hannah Swensen. Thank you for your time.

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  4. I thought the Aurora Teagarden series was going to start being shown in our area Jan. 11th, but checked the site and it isn’t. Slight disappointment. I started reading the books some years ago. I am very excited about your announcement for the Joanna Fluke series and just hope the Hallmark mystery channel is on. Strangely enough it disappears here occasionally.

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    • GaMtGrl, I loved the Aurora mysteries, and for years I help out hope that Charlaine Harris would start writing them again. However, when I saw how enormously popular her Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire series was, I finally came to the realization that Aurora was not going to have a re-birth…

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  6. I am looking forward to the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries. I have all her books and am looking forward to seeing them brought to life on TV. Although I have liked many, I am getting tired of all the paranormal, vampire and fantasy mysteries.

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    • Pat, I read a couple of paranormal series, but I never really caught the all-things-paranormal bug. It’s just as well that we don’t get the HBO channel, since the True Blood television series would have been lost on me.

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      • I tried “True Blood” @ a friend’s. Too violent and twisted for me. I like at least a heroine or hero I can admire in a series. “X-Files ” got dark and creepy but we could cheer for Scully and Mulder. “True Detective” also had dark twists and turns but we could hope that the two men could solve the crimes and perhaps become friends.

        I am simply amazed that zombies and vampires and witches and horror have hung on for so long. Reflecting the young’s disillusionment with today’s society? Their skepticism about humanity? Rather a depressing bore.

        I would much rather see a heroine or hero walk down the mean streets or the cozy streets and solve crimes. I really liked the Ricki Lake Harry Fairsteen movie!

        In my viewing I tend to like a bit of a harder edge to stories but with a humane character at the center. I love “Mankell’s Wallander” series, starring Krister Henriksson. Swedish with subtitles but written and acted with great care, with a flawed and humane hero at the centre. Season 2 is on Netflix

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        • Marja, I haven’t seen True Detective either.

          I saw a really terrific show on TCM called A Night at the Movies: The Horrors of Stephen King featuring Stephen King talking about horror movies. He likened 1957s I Was a Teenage Werewolf to the Twilight movies. Thinking back to the 1950s movies, I can’t imagine teens in the 1950s becoming infatuated with all things Jekyll and Hyde. I just looked to see which movies might have been most geared toward teens back then and came up with East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, and Jail House Rock. Can you imagine those movies with zombies, vampires, and witches?

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          • I confess that I did love Hammer “horror” films when I was a teenager watching them on ChillerTheatre. Mainly because I had a big ole crush on Christopher Lee. His sonorous bass voice still gives me the right kind of chills!

            I put “horror” in quotes because those films are almost charming or quaint next to the gore and torture of contemporary horror. Big UGH and a shudder. I’m a little worried about their societal effects, frankly.

            Of course I’m with you 100 percent on the diet industry thing. It’s a real shame.

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            • Marja, good thing you didn’t meet Christopher Lee in Transylvania! His voice would have done you in!

              Your comment about today’s horror movies reminded me to ask my daughter about The Babadook – which she thought she might see. It’s supposed to be really, really scary. I saw it featured on CBS Sunday Morning, and had to rewind when I heard that it stars Essie Davis (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries). I did not recognize her at all!

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  7. I’m looking forward to the Hannah Swenson series. I don’t watch much tv, but this I think I might like. Mysteries are my favorite and the cozy kind are fun. Karen

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  8. I went on to Charlene Harris Facebook page and saw that Aurora Teagarden series was suppose to be shown Jan 11 as Billie stated above. Then I did a Google search for the movie and found out Hallmark will be showing it Spring 2015. One more reason to look forward to spring.

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    • Sheila, if you find out when in Spring 2015 it’s going to air, please let me know. When I do the monthly mystery movies, I have found that the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel’s schedule is a little more complicated than it needs to be.

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  9. Is it okay to answer “all of the above”? I’d heard about the Teagarden mysteries and have been looking forward to those, but the other two surprised me. Sweeney is a good actress but I have a difficult time seeing her as Hannah, someone I’ve always imagined as a bit older, a bit plumper and plainer, but still pretty. The Hallmark Channel does make great movies, though, so I will probably like this version.

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    • Donna Mc, yes, I think it’s OK!

      It will be nice to have a few shows back on the air that aren’t quite as brutal as a lot of the other mystery shows are. I totally agree with your description of Hannah. I wonder how they will deal with her being so much taller, plumper, & plainer than her sister Andrea, let alone how they’ll handle her mom’s attitude towards her… But, if this is what it takes to get a show on the air (which I think is pretty obvious!) then so be it!

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  10. Looking forward to Joanne Fluke adapt wish they started with the first one and also like Dylan have not read teagarden series but like Candace will look forward to the new movies ps HAPPY NEW YEAR Danna glad you’re still going strong. Gotten way behind in my cozy reading but trying to catch up so will be using your list a lot this year Thanks for being here

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  11. Looking forward to the Joanne Fluke series . Also saw an ad on Hallmark that the Good Witch is going to be a tv series looking forward to that too.

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  12. Hannah Swenson was my introduction to modern cozy mysteries, so I’m looking forward to it! I’ve finally learned never to expect adaptations (especially mid to lower budget ones) to adhere closely to the sources. I’m looking forward to being able to “visit” Lake Eden. And I find that after reading too many of these books in the series, the writing gets tiresome, so maybe TV will reignite my enjoyment of the stories.

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    • Isabel, what a great way to be introduced to modern Cozy Mysteries. I usually try not to read my favorite authors’ Cozies back-to-back. (I think that the Hamish Macbeth series is the only one I whipped right through.) I try to skip around, otherwise I’m afraid I’d become a little tired about either the characters, settings, actual mysteries, or authors’ writing techniques. Hopefully the movies will show you what you’ve been missing!

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  13. hi. no-one mentioned the adaptations of the Peter King series. these books were really great, very foodie and good mysteries too. and some interesting locales, as i recall. this is the one i’ll be waiting for.

    yes, i was also very fond of aurora teagarden, have all the books, so i’ll give that a try whenever it shows up.

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  14. I am looking forward to the Hannah Swenson series. I have started reading these this winter. I had started about a year ago with the first few ones and then stopped for awhile. Now I am back to reading them. I am looking forward to the Hallmark movie.

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    • Diana, I have so many favorite Cozy Mystery authors that I sometimes actually forget to read some of their mysteries for a while! I try to read one every so often, but sometimes they get lost on my Kindle queue. So, I can certainly identify with your “stop and go” reading of the Hannah Swensen mysteries.

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  15. Like others, I saw Teagarden for Jan. 11 and then moved to “Spring 2015”. From the books I liked the Gourmet Detective and can’t wait to see those on TV. Glad to see Hallmark going for more mysteries. With all the violence on regular/cable channels, looking forward to “nice, clean” programs. Can’t wait to see what others they might have in store for us.

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    • Jacki, yikes! I appear to be one of the few who didn’t know about the Aurora Teagarden series starting today! I agree with you about Hallmark bringing us Cozier mysteries to watch. I’m guessing that I would have been able to watch these movies with my daughter when she was thirteen. (Yes, my children were a little sheltered!)

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  17. For me, it will be interesting to see how the Joanne Fluke adaption is handled. Will the lighthearted tone of the books be kept? I hope so! I would rather not see them take some melodramatic, soap-opera-esque track. The romance between Hannah and the two men is the part of the books I like least, but I can sure see some production driven choice making it the main storyline. I really like ALL the supporting characters in the series. They each have definite personalities, and I really hope those aren’t diluted and muddled. But, most of all, because a sense of place is so key to my enjoyment of cozies, I want the locales chosen to stand in for Eden Lake, MN, to be great! I don’t want them to look like Big Bear, CA or Vancouver, BC. Pretty sure I won’t get my wish for this, though! Silly me! But I will give the first movie chance, and I can’t wait to see it!

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    • Susy, I don’t think I would be able to tell the difference between one beautiful lake and another, but I do hope they don’t rely on the fake snow machines. So many of the Hannah Swensen Cozies take place during the extremely cold winters. (Also, I hope they include Moishe!)

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  18. I felt exactly the same way when Charlaine Harris discontinued the Aurora Teagarden series. I hope I don’t miss the movies, thanks for the notice to keep an eye out for them.

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  19. Sounds good about the Joanne Fluke series, but just wish they would leave the characters as they are in the book. That is part of the charm of the characters Hollywood can be so dumb sometimes.

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    • Patti S, I know it would be nice if they would leave characters the way they are in the novels, but I have a feeling that the producers knows what will interest the public. I’m guessing that the majority of the people who will watch the shows have never read the novels.

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    • I agree, I think the characters should be closer to the description in the books. I don’t get the Hallmark channel so may never see it anyway.

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      • Wendy, I guess that if it takes glamorizing a character so that the books can be made into movies, well, that says a lot about our society, but it also brings us our favorite mysteries.

        (I’m sorry you might not be able to see the shows…)

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  20. Can’t wait for the Teagarden movie – loved the books .Was disappointed with the movie One for the Money adaptation of Evanovich’s S. Plum series. Hopefully they will stay true to the Hannah Swensen books- if not I’ll probably not watch beyond the first one. I am still trying to wrap my head around Sweeney as Hannah. She is a good actress but in my mind not Hannah. Will be interested to see ………..

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    • Denise, I still haven’t seen One for the Money. I mentioned before that Alison Sweeney is exactly how I have envisioned Hannah’s sister (Andrea) to be: beautiful, thin, blond, ex-cheerleader who still fits into her cheerleading outfit… I doubt Delores Swensen will be able to find any fault to try to correct with this Hannah…

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  21. I forgot to say how much I miss Harris’ s Aurora Teagarden. Also miss her stories set in Shakespeare (I forgot what state, AR?). I suppose she was very wise to get in on the ground floor of the vampire&c. genre but those books just don’t attract me.

    Could be my loss but there are so many other great books to read!

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  22. I imagine if they made a TV movie of Corrina Chapman she would not be the full-figured Earth mother of Greenwood’s wonderful series set in the bakery. She’d either be a Size 2 in a fat suit or a ( gasp!) “Ginormous” Size 10. I hate how women are represented in movies. And if they are a real size, they have to have a ginormous boyfriend. Because, you know, its okay in Hollywood for men to be little tubby but women have to be anorexic … gah!

    Rant over …

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    • Corrinna’s boyfriend is a slender, handsome and muscular Israeli former Mossad agent. Aha! A slender guy can love a large woman! Such a rarity.

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    • Marja, totally! A huuuuuuuuuuuuge size 10! I doubt they would even bother to use a fat suit. (I think in the Inspector Lynley mysteriess, they simply made the actress portraying Barbara Havers wear her coat on at all times.)

      I had better get this comment posted before I start ranting about how Hollywood sends these messages! No wonder dieting is a multi billion dollar business!

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  23. I admit Alison Sweeney isn’t exactly how I would picture Hannah either, but she is an excellent actress. Also, I imagine she would be delighted to be considered too thin for the part, since she has struggled with her weight over the years, and her current svelte figure is the result of a lot of hard work. She’s also rather tall and big-boned, so it’s not like they cast Sarah Michelle Gellar or anything like that

    I also can cut some slack to the producers of the movies, since Fluke herself kind of changed Norman during the course of the books. In the first book he’s a good 10 years Hannah’s senior (at least), and if I remember correctly, rather balding and non-descript. Somehow over the course of the books he seems to have become younger, more vivid and a bit sexier (although still not as sexy in Hannah’s mind as Mike). I find it a little jarring to re-read her early books, good as they are, because Norman seems such a different person (inside and out).

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    • Julia, my gosh, you are totally right! I hadn’t noticed as Norman began to morph into a younger man, not to mention “a bit sexier”. It would be “jarring” to see Norman as he was back then and know how he is now. I do remember that at the beginning of the series, Delores just about had to push Hannah into seeing Norman at all!

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  24. I picture Debra Messing as more of a Hannah in Joanne Fluke’s mysteries. Alison Sweeney would make a good Andrea, however. I picture more of a Tom Selleck character for Mike rather than Cameron Matheson. No idea on who would make a good Norman. I am glad this series is coming to the movies. I too hope it isn’t too soap opera like.

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  25. I just noticed on the Hallmark website that the Aurora Teagarden mystery ‘A Bone to Pick’ is scheduled for April 19th.

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  26. I have read all of Peter King’s Gourmet Detective books and really enjoyed them. Would love to see them made into a series of movies!

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  27. I finally watched Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder and I will say I wasn’t crazy about it. Hannah wouldn’t be thin, beautiful and jog everyday. I was disappointed in the casting of a lot of the characters. Aside from Hannah, I expected her Mother to be more classy.. I would have liked it better if i wasn’t trying to compare it to the books.

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    • LMI, now that you bring it up…

      I thought the movie was cute, and I probably would have enjoyed it more if it had been a movie about a beautiful, in-shape woman who jogged to work, with beautiful, long blond hair, and two very handsome men suitors. (I got a kick that they kept the dialogue about Hannah’s unkempt hair when the beauty salon lady said Hannah had to do something about that hair! Who wouldn’t love to have the hair this Hannah has!?)

      I don’t know why they bought the rights to the Joanne Fluke/Hannah Swensen brand and then changed it so very drastically. I liked the movie, but didn’t think it had much to do with the series some of us have been following for so many years.

      I’ll definitely watch the next movie, and am looking forward to it, I just won’t think of it as a Joanne Fluke/Hannah Swensen movie.

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    • I liked the movie, but it was not the book series and I didn’t expect it to be. The Aurora Teagarden movie was enjoyable, but not what I remember abt. the book. Few of movies made from books are, although it seems like the BBC or Masterpiece versions are a little closer to the book they come from. Just my opinion. Have a good day.

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      • Billie, it’s been so long since I read my Aurora Teagarden mysteries that I can only vaguely remember them, so don’t know how accurate the movie is to Charlaine Harris’ books. I enjoyed the movie, though.

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  28. I haven’t seen a chocolate chip cookie murder, because I was watching for it on the regular Hallmark channel. Will it be repeated on either channel? It’s June already.

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  29. I’ve seen all of these movies, or at least those that have aired, and my only complaint is that they’re so white! Where are all the people of color?

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