Past Malice: An Emma Fielding Mystery (2018) Online

An eccentric millionaire dies and two years later his estate is still being appraised. One of the appraisers is Courtney Thorne-Smith archeologist who is doing her second Emma Fielding story Past Malice.

The deceased has also amassed a lot of collectible antiques and he wasn't too discriminating about seeing what they might be worth. For example Professor Fielding has to tell his nephew that he does not have an original Mayflower Compact copy. None purportedly exists though if one were ever found I daresay it would be worth more than the rest of the estate combined.

There's also a legendary curse on the family and the death of the family butler and keeper of all the secrets and an eccentric and iconoclastic archaeological colleague of Fielding's seems to lend credence.

I can safely say that these people met their demises at the hands of a real criminal with a most earthly motive. Which Courtney Thorne-Smith and her companion FBI agent James Tupper do uncover.

Emma Fielding is a nice entry in that collection of feminine detectives for the millenial generation that Hallmark has produced.

The film starts off with a man running for his life from a mansion. You would think he is being chased by a hound from hell.

We then go forward two years. Archaeologist Professor Emma Fielding (Courtney Thorne-Smith) is helping out looking for missing artefacts beneath Chandler Castle which is rumoured to be cursed.

Then a body is found in the crypts below. Emma investigates with FBI Agent Jim Conner. Emma is concerned that the police have charged the wrong person.

There is not much tension here and it looks cheap. At times I thought the set looked like something from The Garage Sale Mystery. The acting is bland and I could not fathom why when confronting the killer, Emma Fielding is smiling like a buffoon.

The numerous plot problems and technical errors alone were so distracting I couldn't follow much of the story. emma fielding is a not very likeable know-it-all and her two grad students are just plot devices to make her character seem more important. the plot was formulaic and cliched. I will not watch nay other movies in this series, and can only hope the books are better.

Sadly this is Courtney Thorne-Smith at her worst. Both in acting and appearance. First, she has had so much face work done, she hardly looks like herself anymore and has taken on a bizarre Klingon appearance. Then the acting and level of writing of this series is awful. Extremely SLOW MOVING plot, poorly delivered lines that seem to have been written by a sixth-grader, and little to no action. Watched the first fifteen minutes and couldn't take it anymore.

I love these Agatha Christie "Who done it" movies!

Courtney Thorne Smith is not a very good actress. She is too stiff and unbelievable in her acting. Don't make anymore of her movies. I want to see more of murder she baked with Allison Sweeney and Cameron matheson they are so good together and have electricity.

Celebrated archaeologist Emma Fielding (Courtney Thorne-Smith) is recruited by her former roommate to investigate missing artifacts from a mansion with a supposed cursed history. The mystery deepens when she spots a dead body in a hidden chamber with no obvious entrance. FBI Special Agent Jim Connor (James Tupper) leads the murder case.

It's been a little while since I've seen Courtney Thorne-Smith. The mystery at the mansion reminds me of Scooby Doo. Early on, I was half expecting the ripping-off-the-mask reveal. This may be fine for Hallmark but it's a little too light for a big boy movie. There is next to no tension. There is enough likeability but not much else. This needs to be saved by the romantic chemistry but there is limited heat. It's like a lower level pilot for a second tier TV show. They really need a good hot coupling at the top.