“The sign says don’t knock for Christ sake…..”
Hello, my dear fellow armchair sleuths. This is my review of the 2023 Canadian movie that appeared on the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel during January 2024.
Here is the main cast and the roles they played:
- Paul Campbell as Alden Case
- Aimee Garcia as Birdie Case, Paul’s wife
- Jessie Moss as Kyle Heniker
- Jaqueline Samuda as Eleonore Perez, Birdie’s mother and her boss
- Jennifer Coping as Paula St. Gervais
- Ryan Mah as Tim Grant
- James Woodland as Orleans “Lean” McGuiness, also known as Fredrick Gasko, Crime Boss
I would like to preface my review by letting all of you know that I have really enjoyed several of the movies/series that have been shown on the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel, such as “The Flower Shop Mysteries” with Brooke Shields, “The Fixer Upper Mysteries” with Jewel, and last but not least, “The Garage Sale Mysteries” with Lori Laughlin prior to her fall from grace. Each of these mysteries showcased likable lead characters, had good chemistry, an easy-to-follow story, and a fairly believable plot and ending. I was hopeful that this movie (with the possibility of it becoming a series) was as entertaining as the aforementioned movies.
The story begins with a knock on the door of apartment 101 at the Cecil Bay Apartment building. An angry man answers the door and shouts, “The sign says don’t knock for Christ sake…” The next thing we see is the tenant being tasered to death.
The next scene shows Alden Case entering the Massapoag Community College classroom where he is taking a class in hopes of becoming a private detective. The teacher gives the class an assignment: they are supposed to attempt surveillance on a person they know.
We are then introduced to Birdie Case, Alden’s wife; Eleonore Perez, Birdie’s mother and her boss at the Perez Law Firm; Kyle Heniker, a narcissistic type lawyer; Paula St. Gervais, a nondescript office assistant; and Tim Grant, another lawyer at the firm.
We learn that Alden has not told Birdie the truth about the classes he is taking. Apparently, he told Birdie he was taking an accounting class for a more stable line of work after he and Birdie unwisely invested in a cryptocurrency company. However, Alden is not the only spouse keeping secrets. Birdie was going to divorce Alden after the cryptocurrency debacle, but never got around to serving him papers. Additionally, Birdie has an online poker gaming addiction.
In fairness to Alden, he decides to tell Birdie the truth about him actually taking private investigating classes instead of accounting classes. He makes Birdie a delicious breakfast that even included a cup of latte with a heart-shaped foam on top. Birdie, however, takes a call from Kyle, the narcissistic lawyer, who reminds Birdie they have an important meeting in the office in a few minutes and that he also bought her a cup of her favorite coffee. Birdie tells Alden she has to leave, not even touching her breakfast nor kissing him goodbye.
Alden, now becoming suspicious and a little jealous, decides that he will do surveillance on Kyle. Is something going on between Kyle and Birdie? Well, in the meantime, we see news coverage of the body of a man found at a construction site. The body belongs to Orleans “Lean” McGuiness, who has been missing for over three decades and was apparently living at the Cecil Bay Apartments under the alias of Fredrick Gasko — remember the tenant that was tasered at the beginning of this movie? Yes, this is the very same person. Questions arise: what was the motive? Who killed this man? How did his body end up at a construction site that coincidentally was owned by Kyle Heniker’s uncle?
Returning to the nightly surveillance of Kyle by Alden, after following Kyle for several hours, Alden follows Kyle to the Perez Law Firm where Birdie and Kyle work. Alden, using binoculars, sees Kyle running from the building and decides to go inside and find out what is going on. Alden first goes into Birdie’s office, and when he opens one of the drawers, he finds an envelope with divorce papers — dissolution of marriage — with his name on them. He also finds a book on Birdie’s desk titled “The Strategy of Winning at Poker.” He now appears very confused.
Next, he goes into Tim Grant’s office, the other seasoned lawyer, and finds Tim hanging from the ceiling, an apparent suicide. Why did Tim feel it necessary to end his life? Or was this something else? Murder? There was no suicide note and no means of how Tim was able to hang himself. Very strange.
Now, I must say that at this point, I found the subsequent events and revelations a bit hard to believe. Kyle and Tim were allegedly in a romantic relationship, confirmed by Tim’s widow, who told Alden and Birdie she was fine with this setup. She went on to confirm that Tim showed no real signs of depression of late, and that Tim and Kyle were planning to go on a cruise together the next month. The only thing she said that was of some concern is that Tim was acting a bit unusual when he began to serve eviction notices to the tenants at the Cecil Bay Apartment Complex. The owners were in the process of evicting all of the current tenants to make way for the construction of a new high-end condominium complex.
I would like to bring up some additional concerns prior to concluding my review of this movie. I truly did not see any real chemistry between Alden and Birdie. I could not detect an honest, caring, and loving relationship. Additionally, it was difficult to believe that Birdie, a successful lawyer, would remain in a marriage with Alden, not able to keep a stable job, collect, and resell robots, and seems immature. It was also hard for me to see Birdie tolerate the emotional and verbal abuse of her mother, who was the boss at the law firm.
The ending, albeit a bit far-fetched, did offer a reasonable conclusion. I do not know if this movie will be made into a series. Should there be a series, the writing and storylines need to be more believable, and the relationship of the main characters needs to be worked on.
I will be brutally honest and give this movie two out of five stars — one for an interesting concept, a play on words, “The Cases of Mystery Lane” — their last name is Case, and they live on Mystery Lane — and the occasional successful attempts at humor. Until next time, take care, my fellow sleuths.
Susan Biel
