source: Flower Shop Mystery: Mum's the Word

Me and the wife really enjoyed watching this and we recommend it. James Welch Henderson Arkansas 9/12/21.

Too too bad there are only three movies in this series. The story line is great...but...Brooke Shields...WOW! Why can't all actors in HM movies act like her. She was natural, spontaneous, didn't read the words off the page, she acted with nuance, none of the young actors of HM are as natural. What a joy. Really enjoyed this movie.

Abby, our former lawyer turned meddling flower shop owner, runs in to former high school date Elvis Jones when he pan handles her in the morning just as Abby is opening her shop. Elvis is a bit down on his luck, having just got out of prison for theft. Abby remembers Elvis as being a gentleman back in the day and gives him $10...and an uplifting thought... "I kind of look at life like Lilies, their perennial. If they don't bloom one year, they always have next year. They always have another chance."-Abby "I hate mums!" Later that day, Abby witnesses someone running out of the alley, who then gets into the suv behind her and hits her car in a hit and run situation. Abby gets the plate and in her first meeting with the new bar owner next door, Marco, she gets him to agree to use a contact to find out who the car owner is. "I think I won that round. I think I am going to like this game."-Marco. As it turns out, a dead body is found on the other end of the alley and Abby's hit and run perpetrator could be a suspect. Abby starts to get involved when she hears that the number one suspect is none other than Elvis, who she can't believe would ever kill anyone. "Your assignment, Abby, is to go back to work and stay out of trouble."-Marco Abby and Marco start to become partners...and great partners they are! "Now that you have G. I. Joe to protect you."-Nikki. "Don't say a word? Were you afraid the little lady was going to beat her gums?"-Abby. "You are just like your mother, Abby. Heart of gold, spine of steel."-Abby's Dad. This isn't my favorite of the Hallmark mysteries, but the banter is really good and the mystery itself was decent. Worth a watch.

If you like the other Hallmark Mysteries you will like this. I call them gentle mysteries because they are easy on the mind, they have no violence or blood shed in them.

This movie makes me feel very old and having nothing to do with the film itself. Seeing Beau Bridges makes me recall seeing him as a child actor, a jungle kid in the film Zamba. Now over 60 years later he's playing Brooke Shields's elderly father in Flower Shop Mystery: Mum's The Word. Brooke has returned to her small town given up being a high pressure big city lawyer. She's opening a florist's shop with her friend Kate Drummond. On the day of her opening her car gets dinged in a hit and run and she also runs into the guy who took her to the senior prom, Wayne Hard now on the streets as a homeless person. Later on she finds that Hard is the suspect in the murder of a young man and she just doesn't believe it. Her lawyer instincts kick in especially after Hard is killed. No mystery here, the perpetrator is truly obvious. The only mystery here is how the incidents are connected and why was the original murder killed. Turns out she was just the right person to solve this case. It has to do with black market flowers and I'll say no more other than it's quite a lucrative racket. Aiding and abetting Brooke's sleuthing is Brennan Elliott who is a former detective opening up and bar and grille down the street from Brooke's Florist shop. No doubt they will be an item in future films, there were two made, who knows if there will be more. A nice entry in the Hallmark mystery movie series.

These Hallmark mysteries follow the same basic structure: a female amateur sleuth with a business of some sort that she has with a female partner, and the partner is constantly trying to talk her out of doing investigations on her own; they live in an idyllic small town. Throw a story at it and it's done. Brooke Shields stars in "The Flower Shop Mystery: Mum's the Word" for Hallmark. She plays Abby Knight, a widow with a teenage daughter who returns from New York City, where she worked as a lawyer, to her small home town. There she opens a flower shop. On her opening day, Abby's car is hit by someone whom she learns later may have been fleeing a crime scene where a young man was murdered. She launches her own investigation, but then meets a good- looking ex-soldier (Brennan Elliott) who works as a bartender. The two of them work together. The cast is of a higher level than the other mysteries, with Shields, Elliott, and Beau Bridges as Abby's father. They just need to pay a little more attention to the scripts. There were a series of mysteries some years ago - Jane Doe and Mystery Woman, both of which featured good actresses in the leads and were slower than molasses. The flower shop, garage sale, and Teagarden mysteries move a little faster and have more energy behind them. They're light fare for someone who doesn't want to think for a couple of hours. I saw Brooke Shields in person some years ago - even from where I was standing, I could tell first how tall she is, and then how graceful. At 51, she's still a beauty and always nice to see. But these films need to be brought up a notch.

Compared to some of the newer movies Hallmark is investing in, I really like the storyline and cast interaction on theis series.

Brooke is too old to be Abby. Abby is short, red haired, freckled and young. She dropped out of law school. In the books, her husband is taller than her. He is an investigator and bar owner. Her dad is an ex cop in a wheelchair. She has women working for her that are interesting. She has a mom who thinks she is an artist. Why is so much stuff different?

If I had not read the Flower Shop Mystery books,I may have enjoyed the movie. However, the characters are not at all like the books. I was very disappointed. Although I like Brooke Shields, she is not Abby Knight.Short, red hair and freckles? And where was Abby's wacky artist mom? And cousin? And when did Abby get married, have a grown daughter and then become a widow? Where were the great people that work in the flower shop with Abby? The only character that remotely resembled the books was Marco...and then the name of his bar was different and his past. The cozy mysteries written by Kate Collins are great and I was really looking forward to the movie. Very disappointed.