It's mystery time again! Alonso joins us to review Mistletoe Murders: Peril of the Belles, which we originally covered back in January after its debut on Hallmark+. Now that it’s finally aired on the Hallmark Channel, we’re re-releasing our full review for everyone to enjoy! Season 2 kicks off soon!
ABOUT MISTLETOE MURDERS: PERIL OF THE BELLESAfter a string of suspicious accidents, Emily goes undercover in the local choir to investigate; Sam, however, remains skeptical; Violet takes on more responsibility at the shop.
AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR MISTLETOE MURDERS: PERIL OF THE BELLESNovember 14 & 21 2024 on Hallmark+, October 24 2025 on Hallmark Channel
CAST & CREW OF MISTLETOE MURDERS: PERIL OF THE BELLES- Sarah Drew as Emily Lane
- Peter Mooney as Sam Wilner
BRAN’S MISTLETOE MURDERS: PERIL OF THE BELLES SYNOPSISThe episode kicks off back in the shop, and Christmas is in full swing. Emily hears some Christmas carolers. She goes out and is kind of enjoying herself... kind of. The lead singer, Debby, is making some choices. Then, suddenly, a giant sleigh falls on her! She's not dead, and apparently, she's not even injured.
Cut to Emily waking up once again from a crazy dream of her past life. She grabs some coffee and opens a briefcase. She looks at a picture of what we assume is her family from a past life. She grabs a USB drive that will shield her identity while she does some searching. She's trying to track down someone known as "Ky-Mer-a."
Back at the store, Emily is greeted by Brooke Carmichael, who is part of the choir—the Belles. She wants to put up a flyer for their concert and tells Emily that some of the Belles think something is afoot because this isn’t the first "accident" that has happened to them, including the death of a member, Clara, who was killed in a hit-and-run.
So, Emily goes to check out the sleigh, which Sam is also looking at. He suspects something nefarious happened with the sleigh because of the way it's built.
She decides the best course of action is to audition to join the Belles so she can keep an eye on them. She'll rely on Violet, Sam’s daughter, to lock up the store at night. I'm sure nothing will go wrong. After practice, she talks to a guy named Lance, who is bummed about Clara because she was the key to their success. He insists that other members were jealous of her.
She sees Clara's husband leaving the diner, so she goes to talk to him. He says he knows for a fact that Clara was murdered by the Belles.
At the next practice, Debby begins gasping for air, and her epipen isn’t in her purse, which she just complained had been moved. She ends up surviving AGAIN!
Sam pulls Emily aside and asks for her help. He wants her to keep an eye on Debby. Emily says, "But Debby has almost died twice." Sam replies, "Well... she was also a suspect in the hit-and-run. It's possible she’s faking these murder attempts to try to prove it wasn’t her who killed Clara."
The next day, Debby comes to the shop to thank Emily for saving her life. Emily gets right to work, asking questions. Debby claims she doesn't even have a car anymore; she had it hauled away months ago. Emily suggests, "You should've called Adam to do it." She says, "Adam doesn’t like me very much—he showed up at my house late one night demanding I tell him who in the Belles Clara was having an affair with." She adds, "If Clara was having an affair with a Belle, I would've known about it."
So Emily calls Sam. Adam thinking Clara was having an affair is a motive for murder. They go to his house, but he’s not there. On the way back into town, they find his truck has gone off the road. Adam is nowhere to be found.
They call in a search and rescue team. If he's in the woods, he won’t survive the night in this cold.
Emily heads back to her shop when she sees a masked man leaving the store. She tries to chase him, but he loses her. She has to call the police. Sam comes to check on her and asks, "Was it locked?" She says, "Oh, yeah, for sure."
At the next Belles rehearsal, the leader, Vera, says Debby won't be making it to the Christmas tree lighting, so she’ll be taking her place. It's clear Brooke is upset about that.
Debby eventually shows up at practice and tries to sing the solo but can’t. Vera and she get into a fight about Debby pulling back funding. Vera tells her that her money can’t buy her the solo, and Debby leaves.
Emily figures out that the key was stolen by a punk kid, so she goes and scares him into admitting it. It’s great.
Later, she goes to poke around at Adam’s place. She sees a covered car. She smells bleach and ends up opening the trunk, cutting her hand in the process. It’s Adam. He’s dead.
Later, while she’s talking to Sam, she remembers something that happened earlier—Vera had a band-aid and said it was just a paper cut. But the cut is exactly the same as Emily's.
Sam goes and picks Vera up. They test the blood on the trunk door, and it’s a match.
He begins to question her, and it comes out that Clara was going to leave the Belles for another group. Vera hit her with Debby’s car. Adam told Vera that he knew Debby killed Clara and that he found the car. So, she freaked out and drugged him to buy time to wipe down the car. She didn’t mean to kill him, so she panicked and threw him in the trunk. Crime solved.
She remembers, however, that Adam was in charge of the electricity at the Christmas tree lighting and thinks he was planning on killing Debby. But Debby isn’t singing... Brooke is. Emily arrives just in time to push Brooke away from the mic as it catches on fire. She saves the day!
Sam is impressed, and they have a heart-to-heart. She begins to open up about her past... or at least what she’s able to share.
She gets back to her place, and suddenly, her computer screen shows a message: "I know you are there. I'm going to find you."
