Hallmark Mystery Movie Franchises by the Numbers: ‘Aurora Teagarden,’ More

Danger at every turn! The Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel has won over fans with its variety of thrilling franchises over the years — and the list just keeps getting longer.

Candace Cameron Bure, Lacey Chabert, Alison Sweeney and Holly Robinson Peete are just some of the names that have earned their own movie series on the network.

While the characters and locations are different in each franchise, every mystery film series is packed with adventure, a witty and curious lead and lots of twists and turns.

In fact, Sweeney, who first played baker Hannah Swensen in the Murder, She Baked movies, revamped her character for a spinoff franchise that started in August 2021 called the Hannah Swensen Mysteries. The premise is still based on Joanne Flukes’ books, but the mysteries are even more intense.

“I’m so excited to revisit Hannah Swensen and to again work with Cameron [Mathison] and Barbara [Niven] on these fun stories that combine romance with intrigue,” the Days of Our Lives star said in a statement to Entertainment Tonight in May 2021. “The fans have been so vocal in their love of these characters and it’s exciting to be bringing them back to life and to return to Hannah’s bakery where it all began.”

Fans met Sweeney’s Hannah in 2015’s Murder, She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery. The amateur sleuth managed to help solve a murder, spark a romance with the town’s new detective, Mike Kingston (Mathison), get caught in a love triangle with dentist Norman Rhodes (Gabriel Hogan) and run her bakery all in one movie.

While the series concluded in 2017, the characters all returned in 2021 for the revamped — and continued story line — of the baker who can’t stay out of trouble no matter how hard she tries.

Sweeney, who is also the star of The Chronicles Mysteries, isn’t the only Hallmark Movies & Mysteries actor who is busy with a successful franchise. Cameron Bure, who is the reigning queen of Christmas for the main Hallmark Channel network, is also a staple on the mysteries front.

She starred in 17 Aurora Teagarden Mysteries movies from 2015 to 2021. In February 2022, her 18th film in the series debuted with the Full House alum bringing a familiar face along for the ride: her daughter Natasha Bure.

“I loved it. I loved every minute of it,” Cameron Bure exclusively told Us in February 2022 of working with her daughter, who plays the younger version of her character, Aurora, in the mystery.

The Christmas Contest star explained that she had talked about bringing both Natasha and Lexa Doig’s daughter, Mia Shanks, into the franchise for a while before it actually happened. (Doig plays Aurora or Ro’s BFF Sally Allison in the series.)

“We were like, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we did an Aurora Teagarden [and] we did flashbacks and we had our own daughters playing us as teenagers?’” the California native recalled. “So to have that come true and we were able to do that [as actors] was so much fun.”

Cameron Bure, who also shares sons Lev and Maksim with husband Valeri Bure, joked: “I felt like the biggest stage mom. I was so proud. I was giving her all kinds of notes and how to act like Aurora and Lexa was doing the same with her daughter. And we were taking pictures and then video recording the screen as they were doing their scenes. Like it was, it was so much fun.”

Scroll down to see which Hallmark Movies & Mysteries franchise you’ve already seen — and which ones you need to mark off your list: