The great art theft!
The third film in the Aurora Teagarden film series and based on the book of the same name. I think it got better now. I mean I liked previous two, but this kind of crime-mysteries I like a lot. This is by far the closely related to Aurora. Nothing like she directly involved in it, but when her mother's firm associated with the latest murder in the town, she got to step in like the previous occasions to find the truth. That gave strength to the film plot to evolve vigorously. When I say such strong word for a television film, that means for the television standards only.
She was covering for her busy mother, but it was not like any other day, because she finds a dead body in the backyard of the house she was showing for a customer. The dead woman worked for her mother. Now the question is who did it? And the motivation! From the customers to someone from the work, it could be anybody. All Aurora had a small clue, that she did not know it until the last moment. But did she catch the killer using it as a bait, and if she did so, how it all happened was unfolded in the remaining tale.
As usual the police chief was annoying. I mean not for me/viewers, but for Aurora for her enthusiasm in crime solving which he sees as an obstruction. In this, she directly associated, since she was the first to report it to the cops. So there's nothing much they could do about it, other than letting her do whatever she want, but within the legal circle.
Her effort to solve it was more to save her mother, thinking she could become a future victim or be framed for it. Unlike cops, she begins her investigation with the employees of her mother's firm. Like usual, the inquiry initiated, but it did not take her anywhere to resolve the case. Except her suspicious on the man she's been with on the day she found the body.
❝I'm a librarian. I have a masters degree in finding information.❞
Coming to that mystery man, he was like her new romance companion. He showed more interest to her as much she suspected him. So in the entire stretch of the narration, the romance became a distant word. Initially I was not happy that in every sequel, they had brought in the new guys as her love interest. All the above, they all had disappeared in the following film. The best part was, the romance was not given a strong preference in any of those As the viewers, we could see the connections. But it helped to build the story better. Besides, a fresh face gives a fresh perspective on whatever going on.
The art theme was nicely used. But this is the series where uncovering the crime a main priority. So whatever the smartness used to do the crime/murder, you won't witness them. Then suddenly at the end comes out the suspect, revealing the purpose of committing it. It is a television film, and it always has a happy ending. As the title says, it is Aurora's tale and she has to accomplish it. That's how her character built. It is totally understandable, but it also makes the cops useless. I would have liked her involved alongside them to do the job, rather single handily manage all the time.
The first act was good. From the basic plot, it was developed with a lot more suspenseful in the second act. Though the final act was cliché. I did not guess who was the culprit, but anybody would know how it all unfolds as it followed a basic blueprint of murder/crime mystery. Because if the probe reveals the motivation or a baitable evidence so early, then it loses nearly half the grip to keep the excitement going. This film had a decent ending, but too sudden and too quick, especially while confronting the bad guy, then it's all done. Once again all the actors were good. The director had been replaced, though she did good. I think I've said everything I wanted to, so now I'm looking forward for the next one to review.
7/10
