source: Garage Sale Mystery: Guilty Until Proven Innocent

6/10 - captivating mystery will hold your interest and keep you guessing

This mystery was written a bit differently than the others, whereas Jennifer was trying to prove her friend's innocence in a seemingly dead end mystery. Worth the watch!

Jennifer Shannon (Lori Loughlin) discovers a dead body. Her son is offered to have his high school grades upgraded by two friends. Her business partner Dannielle is offered a chance to hobnob with the elite in a new job offer as the Rags to Riches store is not doing so well. Jennifer meets an old college friend Sandra who asks Jennifer to sell off some of her contents in her store for a commission. Jennifer jumps at the chance but in Sandra's basement she finds a mummified body. It turns out to be Sandra's old boyfriend who was thought to have upped sticks and moved on. Sandra becomes the main suspect and is arrested. This is a cheaply made Hallmark movie. The main problem is that it is boring and it also does not have much of a mystery. The main suspect is easily guessable.

Typically with any of the films in the Garage Sale Mystery series the audience gets involved in the whodunit mystery and there are a number of potential suspects. We usually get a few side stories that include Jennifer Shannon's (Lori Loughlin) business partner, Danielle (Sarah Strange), and one or more of Jennifer's immediate family. This particular episode was no different. Danielle is propositioned with a new job offer to manage a prestigious art gallery and potentially meet a few wealthy and single men in the art gallery. Danielle is even advised her new job would entail her making periodic trips to Paris France which is very appealing to Danielle. As for Jennifer's family, her son Logan (Connor Stanhope) is facing his own internal dilemma as two of his video playing buddies have developed a scheme to hack into their high schools computer system to upgrade their semester grades and he needs to decide if this is both ethical and practical. In the meantime Jennifer is approached by an old college friend named Sandra Chambers (Kirsten Robek) who has been estranged from Jennifer for approximately 10 years. Sandra provides Jennifer with an offer she cannot turn down which is for Jennifer to take possession of her old friend Sandra's entire store's content on consignment. In return all Sandra asks for is a 20 percent commission on everything Jennifer sells in her Rags to Riches store. Unfortunately when these two ladies go into the garage basement amongst all the fruitful antique finds they also discover the dead body of Sandra's old boyfriend who Sandra had thought her old boyfriend had just up and disappeared a year or so ago on her without an explanation. Now Sandra and Jennifer have solved the mystery why Sandra's boyfriend completely disappeared, it was because he was murdered. So Jennifer takes it upon herself to try and solve this mysterious murder. I just felt that this particular episode was weak as far as a the list of potential suspects, and Danielle's decision whether to leave Rags to Riches for a better paying job, and her son's decision whether to proceed with a computer hack were all very weak plots. As usual, Lori Loughlin is quite charming as the amateur sleuth. I just felt that the writers could have put in a lot more effort to provide a more in depth plot, rather than the weak story line this episode provided. Thus the 5 out of 10 rating. I guess as with any garage sale there are some hits and misses.

Once again on one of her antiquing expeditions Lori Loughlin once again encounters murder. This time she's getting reacquainted with an old college chum Kirsten Robek who has a similar type of antique store and who is looking to dump it and get away. Loughlin discovers a hidden basement door with some real treasures and the mummified body of Robek's old boyfriend whom she thought had up and moved on without a trace. When another murder occurs it becomes real obvious who the killer is, no surprise there. I did think the subplot involving her Boy Scout son Connor Stanhope hacking into the school's computer to change back the grades his two friends had hacked in and changed previously was a bit much. Stanhope is a goody two shoes character but this was too much. This was good, but this series has seen better.

Garage Sale Mystery: Guilty Until Proved Innocent is a cut above the usual Hallmark mysteries. This series has antiques and collectibles, and often information about them, which makes it fun. It also sports a likable cast, mostly Canadian and starring Lori Loughlin. In this film, Jennifer (Loughlin) is offered some antiques and collectibles by a friend to sell in her shop. While in a barn that holds some of the antiques, she sees that there is an entrance to a basement. There, she discovers the body of her friends ex-fiancé, who allegedly left her for another woman. Turns out he didn't. Her friend is ultimately arrested, and Jennifer is determined to get her out of prison. Jennifer discovers some interesting information about baseball cards besides going to the health club where the fiancé hung out and locating the woman he was supposedly leaving her friend for. Okay story, easy to figure out, good for a rainy afternoon.

I watched all the Garage Sale Mysteries so far and loved these Movies. This would be a very good weekly 1hr show....or if that is not happening maybe more Movies like these in the near future (like Agatha Christie) It has a little bit of everything. Please continue ......... looking forward to more of these kind of movies, exciting, mysterious yet funny and relaxing in a way. I truly enjoy Jennifer Shannon and her family and Danny is great. Some of this show is filmed in Fort Langley. British Columbia, Canada and I live very close to this beautiful little Town, even recognize a lot of the surroundings. Just a beautiful place. Thank you

Guilty Until Proven Innocent