Mystery Weekend launches a new series of prefab detectives in made- for-cable movies in the mode of Murder, She Wrote. First up is Kellie Martin as the owner of a small-town bookstore at which, on a promotional weekend, several illustrious mystery novelists show up to autograph their new books—and one of them is murdered. Many names are dropped, of writers and their characters. Next Friday night in McBride: The Chameleon Murder, John Larroquette stars as a cop turned attorney with a client accused of having killed at least one of a multiple of personalities. And two weeks from now, on January 21 in Jane Doe, Lea Thompson plays a soccer mom with a double life as a secret decoder for the National Security Agency. Wooden but watchable, with okay twists. Still, more than ever, Angela Lansbury’s nosy hauteur is missed.

Mystery Woman
Friday, January 7. 9 P.M.
Hallmark

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