Mystery 101 (TV Series) Words Can Kill (2019) User Reviews

I wish I had one movie per month to watch

[MIssM19 · 8/10 · 19 September 2019]

Amy and Travis are back in our screens! I love this duo. They work good together, they are fun, and their flirty banter is the best! I wish their relationship keeps growing ad getting stronger.

I think this movie was a little more complex than the previous two. It was difficult to guess who the guilty person was. Every guest character is guilty at some time and it throws you off.

One detail bothered me: Amy walking through the crime scene in her high heels? IN THE GRASS? She didn't even put on those bags on her feet, or at least a pair of trainers... and then in the next scene Travis literally says: "We need to do it by the books" I just found that funny.

Let's agree that the real hero of this movie was the front desk lady at the hotel.

Three mysteries for a group of mystery writers to solve

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 21 September 2019]

Big doings over at the college where Jill Wagner teaches, there's a College Book Festival going on and a bunch of writers are coming. But the college's own Robin Thomas is the real star of the show. He taught the class in mystery writing that his daughter Wagner teaches now.

For all these professional sleuths three murders happen during the course of the event. A stalker, a publisher, and a rival of Thomas's in many things from the old days.

There are as usual no shortage of suspects. But one of these three does not fit with the other two. Once the team of Wagner and Kristoffer Polaha figure that one out, the solution for the other two takes a quantum leap forward.

A good one for this series.

These movies just keep getting better

[bensonmum2 · 7/10 · 4 August 2021]

Words Can Kill is the fourth Hallmark mystery movie I've watched recently. In Words Can Kill, Professor Amy Winslow (Jill Wagner) is responsible for putting together a mystery writers' convention. Her father, Graham Winslow (Robin Thomas), Is set to be the star of the show. But when his previous publisher is found dead, Graham becomes a key suspect. Amy will move mountains to prove her father is innocent.

As I continue to roll through these Hallmark mysteries, they just keep getting better and better. Maybe I've gotten lucky and accidentally picked the good ones, but whatever, I'm really enjoying the movie journey I'm on. I had great fun with Words Can Kill. The plot has some nice twists and turns, culminating in a very satisfactory conclusion. This one kept me guessing right up to the end (even though I really should have spotted the killer from a mile away). The growing relationship between Amy and Detective Burke is another highlight. Jill Wagner and Kristoffer Polaha are solid. And I was impressed with Robin Thomas as Amy's father. Given a larger role in this film, he excelled.

I can't write one of these without listing a few of the problems I had with the movie. Without going into detail: several one dimensional characters, standard mystery tropes, and some iffy acting. But it's easy for me to overlook these weaknesses given how much I enjoyed the rest.

Finally, one of the things I like about these movies is how much they remind me of the mystery novels I grew up reading, with similar plots, similar pacing, and similar reveals. The movies have that mystery novel "feeling" - nothing heavy or groundbreaking, just entertainment and escape.

7/10.

Who takes an owl to a trailer for self-protection?

[cgvsluis · 7/10 · 19 October 2020]

Who can it be knocking at my door?... I am really enjoying the on-screen chemistry that they have slowly built over time between Amy and Travis. There is mutual admiration and respect that is evident between these two, not to mention trust and a burgeoning relationship. In this installment someone breaks in to Amy's College Campus Office the night before Amy and her College department host a book event that brings in Authors and publishers a like. Amy's father, Graham, is one of the featured authors and thus we delve into some blasts from his past. We get to meet, Amy's mother's former beau as well as her Dad's first publisher and the thief of his first novel...which is how we learn the origin story for his now wildly popular series about Atticus Keller. Over time, Travis has started to read more mystery novels...a little of Amy rubbing off on him, and in a humorous moment wants to know how he walks out of a book event having purchased more books than she did. As the cosy mystery genre demands there is a murder(...and in this case two!) for which Graham falls under suspicion and is arrested. This seems to cause a strain on Amy and Travis' burgeoning friendship...but thankfully resolved when together they put away the rightful killer. I really enjoy the concept of Amy's college course, wish one like that was available when I went to school at the University of Washington! I also really enjoy the mystery novel tidbits that are shared...in this one the concept of the unreliable narrator is discussed along with Agatha Christie's Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which I have subsequently added to my "to read list". (Thank you!) The mystery 101 series is fun, the mysteries are enjoyable and this is good clean entertainment

Loved it!!

[shellysowens · 10/10 · 17 September 2019]

Kept me guessing until the end! Great writing and great acting!

good for Hallmark

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 8 January 2022]

College professor Amy Winslow (Jill Wagner) enters her office when a masked person knocks her down running past her. She calls her police detective friend Travis Burke (Kristoffer Polaha) but nothing seems to be stolen. The college is hosting a book festival where her father is a key speaker although he's not happy that his hated rival had rented a booth. His police friend Phil Jenk from Reno PD arrives with a suspicious note.

The character Betsy Crane is being too broad although I do like the Phil Jenk character. He's playing both faces which makes him a good suspect. I like the Who What dichotomy which serves to put up a structure for the investigations. Hallmark mysteries can be bland. One grades on a curve sometimes. This is better than most and it's a good one from the series. It's good as a TV mystery movie.

Great!

[Becky145 · 10/10 · 25 April 2020]

So far this is my favorite Mystery 101. I have seen 3 now. I kind of picked out the who dunnit early but then you question things more and things definitely were not as they seemed. There was nothing obvious about all the goings ons that really happened. When they wrap it up and show what happened... you have that ahhhhhh moment. My only complaint was wardrobe put Jill in sage green outfits too many times. The final navy/magenta plum combo was refreshing and lovely.

A colander

[Jackbv123 · 6/10 · 8 January 2021]

Maybe the two Hallmark channels should change their names to some variation on the Fantasy channel. Oh, I love a lot of movies on the two channels, but in order to do so, more often than not, I have to suspend expectation for realism. Sometimes more than others. This movie has a little mystery but a lot of plot holes. It hurts my brain to even try to list them.

For starters, how about arresting a respected member of the community based on evidence that's planted in an unlocked car. This despite the fact he has no motive and there are easily two or three other people who have openly argued bitterly with the victim, including threats. I can just see the DA visiting Travis' office and asking him what he is thinking.

Another reviewer pointed out Amy contaminating the crime scene once but failed to point out at least one other time. Travis refuses to take Amy to the hotel room once in order to play it "by the books" and then lets her tag along every time after that. Then one of the key players "falls while rock climbing"? I never did figure out whether they were calling that a murder immediately. If not, why not? If so, why no reconstruction of the timeline to determine where Graham was at that time?

Like another reviewer, I had bets with myself early on whodunnit and as time went on kept doubling down until I was proved correct. My deduction was not based on any clues the characters had though. Those were pretty complicated.

The only thing that keeps bringing me back to this series is the combination of Jill Wagner and Kristoffer Polaha. Love them both. I think either one of them could connect with anyone opposite them but even so they are great together.

WOW !!! Loved It!!!

[agambre · 10/10 · 16 September 2019]

Kudos again to the writers and entire casts! Mystery 101 series is the best HMMM series by far. As usual, it was not easy to guess the bad guy. Toward the end of the movie, i even did a process of elimination from all the festival guests in the hotel still didn't get it right. Who would have thought that a little nice British lady a murderer?? It reminded me of nice guy Eldon in Episode 1. Jill and Kris once again showed their versatility as actors. Hope Amy's and Travis' relationships blossom on the next episode, Dead Talk. I miss Lacey Daniels' character though.

Mystery 101: Words Can Kill

[JoBloTheMovieCritic · 6/10 · 19 September 2019]

6/10 - one of the more predictable HMM originals, but still a good watch

3 murders - who done it?

[tub51461 · 8/10 · 21 March 2020]

This was one really good film, but right from the get-go, my curiosity got the best of me and I started placing my bets. Sure as hell, I was right about one person in the end. It was definitely worth watching from start to finish to see it unfold, but it was really funny how the innocent look so damn guilty.

Words can kill

[coltras35 · 7/10 · 4 June 2023]

It starts with a masked intruder knocking College professor Amy Winslow (Jill Wagner) as he runs past her. She calls her police detective friend Travis Burke (Kristoffer Polaha) but nothing seems to be stolen. She is then sidetracked by college book festival where her father is a key speaker. He isn't too happy that a rival is also attending. Then a guest at the college book festival is killed, Amy and Travis clash after he arrests an unlikely person for murder. Amy must fight to prove he's got the wrong person behind bars.

The beautiful Jill Wagner and Kristofer - the leads - have a great chemistry, which what makes this Hallmark mystery so watchable, and the mystery itself is quite good, there's plenty of hooks in the plot, all designed to keep you watching. With Hallmark/Lifetime films, you either love 'me or hate 'em, but I'm with the former. Of course, there's varying qualities to good, average and not so good. Words can kill is one of the good ones.

Cookie cutter mystery theme TV film that is all foam and no beer

[Ed-Shullivan · 3/10 · 30 March 2020]

I can't say anything positive about this so called made for TV mystery other than the word "mystery" is included in the film title. Lead actress Jill Wagner may be attractive to look at but the story line and her delivery were about as stale as a ten (10) year old box of expired crackers. Nothing suspenseful, nothing mysterious and certainly nothing memorable.

I can only rate it a 3 out of 10

Characters good, mystery not so good

[wjspears · 9/10 · 6 May 2021]

The chemistry between the main characters is still very strong, and very believable. The only drawback I would say, is that Travis and Amy ought to, at least, be going on the occasional dinner date by now!

MAJOR SPOILERS

Mystery-story wise, I found this to be a less than convincing episode, It was the least believable of the three shows that I have watched so far.

1. Having one of the murders be totally unrelated to anything else going on in the main story is sort of a "no-no" in crime fiction.

Midsomer Murders often has multiple events happening, that turn out not really to be related to the main plotline. But the actual murders themselves are always connected, in one way or another.

2. Killing a publisher in order to prevent a movie/book deal contract from happening makes no logical sense. The contract is undoubtedly still valid regardless if the the publisher dies.

3. What kind of a fool would agree to meet a person they are blackmailing on a mountain top where rock climbing goes on? Death wish, anyone?!!

I still enjoyed the show. Jill Wagner (Amy Winslow), Kristoffer Polaha (Travis Burke) and Robin Thomas (Graham Winslow) are all terrific actors and characters.

The chemistry between Amy and her dad is close to as memorable as Veronica Mars had with her father, Keith Mars, on Veronica Mars. (Which is a high compliment coming from me--Kristen Bell and Enrico Colantoni were remarkable together, imo).

Addendum

Having watched this a second time, I was far too nit-picky the first time around.

This was a really well constructed murder mystery. My objections still seem valid, but they really don't damage the mystery story itself.

I am changing my rating from a "7" to a "9", with the added comment:

In the shouting match between Amy and her father, Amy's speech (and Jill Wagner's delivery) was worth a point all by itself:

"No! You listen to me, Dad. Mom was taken away from us way too soon.

I'm not about to let that happen to you. I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do, Dad. So, you can either get on board or not, but I'm gonna do it anyway!"

NOT IN MY BACK YARD

[Tiny T · 3/10 · 16 March 2022]

I'm following this series because I'm a huge fan of crime series where more common and regular professions are combined with the down to earth professional approach of law enforcement. And I especially appreciate the English series as such. But every now and then, an American attempt seems to hit the right spot as well. A good example is Castle where a succesfull mystery novelist combined with the homecide police department in a consultancy capacity. Now this series seems to be a half baken attempt to sail on that succes. True, al the story ingredients are in place, good looking detective and fictional mystery associate/consultant. Plenty of crimes to be solved, containing a more complex origin. Beautiful weather. Etc, etc, etc. What's setting me off in this case is also what's tipping the scale in comparison with Castle. The constant switch between the approach towards there endeavors from the main characters. The detective seems to be switching between working by the book and let her take the lead in the whole investigation. This includes her involvement in suspect interrogation, alowing her to trespass on crime scenes whenever she feels like it, doing inquiries on behalf of the police by her self which is rediculous and unnecessary by the way.

And she supposed to bring in a more open mind and urge to find a deeper explanation instead of dangerous shortsided and pressed for time approach. Al based, offcourse, on the evidence. And then she goes persuing suspects on her high heels with no jurisdiction what so ever. Thinking everybody has to answer to you as they supposed to towards the detective. And in this episode I had to react because her father is implicated as a suspect in the murder of his publicist. Now she expects the detective to ignore his job and starting to investigate solely based on her believe her father didn't do it. Al the following awkward moments became to much, due to the flagrant disregard of legal procedures. The other episodes didn't seem to have that, probably because her distance with the perpetrators and victims. Or there better setup. I don't know, but this one has no believability left. Stil gonna see the remaining season, hoping there catching up to the level of the first episode.