What's on this summer: Hallmark Movies and Mysteries

When you live in Texas, summer starts in May. Time for lots of reading and watching movies.

 I was looking forward to some new Mysteries on Hallmark, especially Murder She Baked which takes place in Minnesota. (visions of cooler places). Looks like we have to wait until August when there will be 4 new Garage Sale Mystery movies on Sundays at 8c. They have the following sneak peeks for the first two. Nothing yet on the other two.



Garage Sale Mystery: The Beach airs Sunday August 6th at 8c

"Annie Winters is a long-time customer of Rags-to-Riches and her husband Garret is a wealthy internet entrepreneur. When Garret’s dead body is found washed up on the beach, it looks like an apparent surfing accident. But Annie doesn’t believe the death was accidental and pleads with Jenn to take a closer look. Stars Lori Loughlin, Sarah Strange and Kevin O'Grady."


Garage Sale Mystery: Murder by Text airs Sunday August 13th at 8c

"Famous country singer John Dalton's concert rehearsal is stalled when the entire crew receives a suicide note from Lita, the band’s bassist. After discovering that a Taser was used to immobilize her before her death, Jenn is skeptical that Lita’s death was actually suicide. Stars Lori Loughlin, Sarah Strange and Steve Bacic".

Meanwhile they are showing some reruns of their other mystery movies.

June 30th

Aurora Teagarden Mystery: Three Bedrooms and One Corpse 6c
                                              The Julius House 8c

July 3

Hanna Swenson: Murder She Baked - A Deadly Recipe 6c

Here's a pic of the books the series is based on.




Hallmark is showing a lot of Christmas movies for July - Christmas in July. Not mysteries but probably good movies.

Watch for a rerun of Site Unseen: An Emma Fielding Mystery. It was really good.

"Brilliant, dedicated, and driven, archaeologist Emma Fielding is trying to unearth evidence of a 17th century coastal Maine settlement that predates Jamestown, one of the most significant archaeological finds in years. But the dead body that accompanies it has embroiled Emma and her students in a different kind of exploration. Stars Courtney Thorne-Smith and James Tupper."

Here is the website:  http://www.hallmarkmoviesandmysteries.com/

What's on this summer: TCM and Film Noir

Do you watch TCM? Turner Classic Movies?
If you haven't explored this channel, you are missing some great classic mysteries.

Here is a link to their weekly schedule. Just to give you a snapshot. Notice their movies have a category by them, so you can easily find mysteries.
http://www.tcm.com/schedule/weekly.html?tz=est&sdate=2017-06-23

For instance, 6/24/17 at 9:30 a.m., there is a Suspense Mystery listed.
"After Midnight with Boston Blackie". This is a 1940's series. It was on the radio also. Ok it is before my time, but we really enjoy this old series.

Here is what I really wanted to tell you about. Get your DVR's ready.


Rear Window is showing 6/24/17 7 p.m. central standard time. (cst) This is featured on the TCM segment entitled "The Essentials" which is on Saturday nights at 8 pm.

The Essentials is hosted by Alec Baldwin. He has a weekly guest also. For the past few weeks, his guest was David Letterman. Tina Fey will be his guest June 24 - August 4. No kidding.

The show was previously hosted by Robert Osborne, who passed away recently. His most recent guests were Sally Field and Drew Barrymore.

Rear Window will be followed by three other Suspense Mysteries on 6/24, 6/25. They are not part of The Essentials.

The Window - 9:15 p.m. cst
Witness to a Murder - 10:45 p.m. cst

6/25/17
The Skull Murder Mystery - 12:30 a.m. cst

Here's another of TCM specialty segments.
Noir Alley on Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. cst
Check it out with this link. Really cool page.
http://noiralley.tcm.com/

So what is film noir? "Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly such that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classical film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s."
Each movie is introduced by Eddie Muller.

"Eddie Muller is an American writer based in San Francisco and is a second-generation San Franciscan per his website. He is known for writing books about movies, particularly film noir. Founder and president of the Film Noir Foundation, and co-programmer of the San Francisco Noir City film festival, Muller is considered a noir expert and is called on to write and talk about the film genre, notably on wry commentary tracks for Fox's film noir series of DVDs."

Here are a few of the movies coming up this summer.

June 25

High Wall: "After a brain-damaged man confesses to murder and is committed, Dr. Ann Lorrison tries to prove his innocence."

 

July 2

 

 They Live By Night (1949): "An escaped convict, injured during a robbery, falls in love with the woman who nurses him back to health, but their relationship seems doomed from the beginning."

 

July 7

 

T-Men (1948): Tauted as "Terrific and True! Two US Treasury agents hunt a successful counterfeiting ring."

July 16


Gun Crazy (1950): "A well meaning crack shot husband is pressured by his beautiful marksman wife to go on an interstate robbery spree, where he finds out just how depraved and deadly she really is.

July 23


Deadline at Dawn (1946): "When a woman he meets is murdered, a soon to be drafted sailor has until dawn to find the killer, aided by a weary dance hall girl."

July 30


Born to Kill (1948): "A calculating divorcée risks her chances at wealth and security with a man she doesn't love by getting involved with the hotheaded murderer romancing her foster sister."

Don't you love the promo posters?

Next up: Hallmark Mysteries and Movies

Sorry about the font...problem between the  chair and the monitor.

 

 

 

 

  

 

   

 

What's on this summer - PBS

All the network television shows are off for the season. Not that I watch that many, but I have a few I like such as Elementary, Hawaii 5-0. (I like the banter between Danny and Steve) :)
Did you notice how this last season of Elementary ended like the last Sherlock episode?

So what's going to be on this summer for mystery lovers?

Here's what I found out.

Longmire will not be on Netflix until Fall 2017.
Wayward Pines will not be on in 2017. It was left with a cliffhanger so there is room for another season, but the writers haven't decided what's next.

Lets start with PBS



Granchester: Season 3 started 6/18/17. Sunday 8 p.m. central time

"James Norton (Happy Valley) stars as the handsome, jazz-loving vicar Sidney Chambers, with Robson Green as his law-enforcement ally, Inspector Geordie Keating, in Grantchester, a mystery series based on the acclaimed novels by James Runcie. Although Sidney lives the life of a clergyman, sometimes he can’t help but fall into more worldly habits as he solves murders in the bucolic village of Grantchester, tirelessly searching for justice, spiritual fulfillment, love, and a really hip jazz club.
The crime-solving duo returns for Season 3 this summer. When we last left the sleepy village, Sidney faced a moral dilemma: be with the woman he loves, or take the moral high road. The vicar has never been a saint, but is this a step too far?"

Such a good series. The first episode took place at Christmas time with snow. Great to watch with it being 90+ out. 7 Episodes! You can watch the first episode on your local PBS website or they usually reshow it before the new episode.




Prime Suspect: Tennison: Season 1 starts 06/25/17 Sunday 9 p.m. central time

" Jane Tennison isn’t on the force for long before she starts to learn the cold facts of police work. She turns the head of her handsome boss, DI Bradfield, but also impresses him with her instincts. He enlists her help, and Jane becomes immersed in her first murder investigation".
3 Episodes



Endeavor: Season 4 starts 8/20/17 Sunday 8 p.m. central time

"Shaun Evans (The Take, The Last Weekend, Silk), charms audiences with his portrayal of the cerebral and solitary Detective Constable Morse in Endeavour, written by Inspector Lewis creator and Inspector Morse writer Russell Lewis.
In Season 4, it’s the summer of 1967, and the effects of the Cold War and sixties counterculture are being felt in Oxford. How will this changing landscape affect our favorite detectives?"

The PBS website doesn't say how many episodes of Endeavor there will be. Looks like you can watch previous season episodes online.

They are showing Midsomer Murders on Thursday nights too. Two episodes back to back!

Next up: TCM and Film Noir!

Award Winning and Nominated Books

Good Grief! I fell like I am in a sequel to Lemony Snicket and a Series of Unfortunate Events!

After a short vacation, we have had a lot of home large and small appliance "distractions" and technology "distractions." So I have been absent from here.

For our June Mystery Book Club meeting, we read any books from the Award Winning and Nominated Books for 2017 and late 2016.  Below is the list of everything the members in our MBC read from the Awards list. It's a lot, isn't it.

I read A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny. This book won an Agatha Award. Louise Penny is one of the book club's favorite authors. I would describe her as a story teller...you feel like you are in the story, can see the scenery, see the characters and smell the great food they describe. If you have read any of her books in the Gamache series, Ruth is my favorite character.  :)

I wanted to quickly share the list, in case you are looking for summer reading.
You can find the complete list and awards at http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/

Enjoy!

Award Group	Title	Author
* indicates winner
Agatha	Murder in Morningside  Heights	Victoria Thompson
Agatha	Fogged Inn	Barbara Ross
Agatha*	The Semester of Our Discontent	Cynthia Kuhn
Agatha*, Lefty	A Great Reckoning	Louise Penny
Agatha, Anthony, Lefty	Design for Dying	Renee Patrick
Agatha, Lefty	Nature of the Beast	Louise Penny
Agatha, Lefty	Decanting a Murder	Nadine Nettman
Agatha, Lefty	Terror in Taffeta	Marla Cooper
Agatha, Mary Higgins Clark	Say No More	Hank Phillipi Ryan
Anthony	You Will Know Me	Megan Abbott
Anthony, Barry	Wilde Lake	Laura Lippman
Anthony, Barry, Edgar, Shamus	IQ	Joe Ide
Anthony, Barry, Edgar, Shamus, Thriller	Where it Hurts	Reed Farrel Coleman
Anthony, Barry, Left, Macavity	The Killing Kind	Chris Holm
Anthony, Edgar	Shot in Detroit	Patricia Abbott
Anthony, Edgar, Lefty	Heart of Stone	James W. Ziskin
Arthur, Ellis *	Strange Things Done	Elle Wild
Barry	Missing Presumed	Susie Steiner
Barry	The Darkest Secret	Alex Marwood
Barry	Collecting the Dead	Spencer Kope
Barry	The Wrong Side of Goodbye	Michael Connelly
Barry	The Queen's Accomplice	Susan Elia Macneal
Edgar	The Ex	Alafair  Burke
Edgar	The Lost Girls	Heather Young
Edgar	Jane Steele	Lyndsay Faye
Edgar	A Brilliant Death	Robin Yocum
Edgar	What Remains of Me	Alison Gaylin
Edgar*, Anthony, Barry, Steel Dagger, Ned Kelly	Rain Dogs	Adrian McKinty
Edgar*, Barry	Under the Harrow	Flynn Berry
Edgar*, Thriller	Before the Fall	Noah Hawley
Gold Dagger, Steel Dagger	Real Tigers	Mick Herron
Left, Agatha	Murder in G Major	Alexia Gordon
Lefty	Die Like an Eagle	Donna Andrews
Lefty	Crowned and Dangerous	Rhys Bowen
Lefty*, Agatha	Body in the Bayou	Ellen Byron
Lefty*, Agatha*	Reek of Red Herrings	Catriona McPherson
Mary Higgins Clark	Quiet Neighbors	Catriona McPherson
New Blood Dagger	Freedom Child	Jax Miller
Shamus	Brush Back	Sara Paretsky
Thriller	Underground Airlines	Ben H. Winters