It’s time for a festive mystery twist! Alonso joins us to review the first installment of Mistletoe Murders: Poison in a Pear Tree, 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: POISON IN A PEAR TREE

Christmas shop owner Emily Lane investigates a murder at a tree farm.

AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR MISTLETOE MURDERS: POISON IN A PEAR TREE

October 31 2024 on Hallmark+, October 17 2025 on Hallmark Channel

CAST & CREW OF MISTLETOE MURDERS: POISON IN A PEAR TREE

Sarah Drew as Emily Lane
Peter Mooney as Sam Wilner

BRAN’S MISTLETOE MURDERS: POISON IN A PEAR TREE SYNOPSIS

The episode kicks off with Emily Lane waking up from a nightmare. She runs a Christmas shop, Under the Mistletoe, in the small town of Fletcher’s Grove. She brings her cat to see her friend, local vet June, and learns that her ex-husband, Marcus, proposed to June again. Part deux, if you will. June and Marcus go on a romantic carriage ride, but Marcus is acting strange and says he’s just working on a surprise. Later, we see him meeting a man named Gordon and telling him he’s done what he can for him and to just be patient. Gordon does not seem pleased.

The next day, the police show up at Under the Mistletoe. A detective informs Emily that a man named Marcus is dead and that a cookie wrapper from her store was found at the crime scene. He insists on taking all the cookies from the shop. June shows up and fills Emily in—Marcus was found dead. She suspects his ex-girlfriend, Lizzie Cline, who he was seeing until shortly before getting back together with June, might have been on the wagon ride that night.

Emily immediately gets to work, tracking down Lizzie at her job and asking hard-hitting questions—like, “Wagons?!” Speaking of wagons, Emily visits the owner of the wagon rides, Gordon. Something seems to be bothering him, and Emily suspects it’s a hangover.

Later, Emily heads into the woods and finds scuff marks on a tree, almost as if someone recently climbed it. Sneaky as ever, Emily snaps a picture of the list of everyone who was on the wagon that night. There’s one person she can’t track down—a man named Joey.

While Emily and June are at the diner, June gets arrested. Emily confronts Detective Sam, who refuses to confirm or deny whether they found the poison that killed Marcus in June’s house, but his terrible poker face says it all.

Emily discovers that Marcus denied Gordon a bank loan, leaving Gordon’s business in serious trouble. When Emily breaks into Marcus’s home, she finds a USB drive and a bookmark tucked into a pregnancy photo album. The USB contains a document for the sale of Gordon’s farm—but it’s unsigned. When she confronts Gordon, she spots some suspicious men leaving his house. Gordon reveals that Marcus asked for more time.

Before Emily can leave, Gordon collapses. While waiting for the police, Emily has a flashback to a high-stakes moment from her past, where a building explodes behind her. It’s clear she moved to Fletcher’s Grove to lay low.

Detective Sam arrives, suspicious when he finds out Emily called in Gordon’s collapse. She insists she’s just trying to help her friend. Sam reluctantly asks her to keep him in the loop because, well, it’s Hallmark—amateur sleuths and cops have to work together. It’s practically a law.

Emily teams up with a local informant named Ray, who knows all the town gossip. He reveals that Gordon recently had his gambling debt paid off, though it’s unclear by whom. Emily also grows suspicious of Marcus’s co-worker, Rowan. When she confronts him, he has an explanation for everything. Under pressure, she convinces him to share Marcus’s bank statements, which reveal a $40,000 withdrawal just before his death.

Emily forms a theory: Marcus paid off Gordon’s debt as a down payment for the farm, but Gordon had second thoughts because his daughter believed the farm was hers. Emily pitches her theory to Gordon’s daughter, Anna, but it doesn’t go over well.

One night, Emily confronts Lizzie, who admits she didn’t mean for Marcus to get hurt. Lizzie reveals that she’s pregnant with Marcus’s baby. She wanted to tell her boyfriend, Trent, but couldn’t. When she told Marcus, someone must have overheard. Lizzie then received a text demanding $40,000. Marcus got the money and met her in the woods, where they shared a cookie. Emily realizes the cookie couldn’t have been poisoned and goes to the police to secure June’s release.

Emily deduces that Gordon wasn’t the blackmailer—he doesn’t even know how to text—but Anna does. Anna confesses to the blackmail but denies being involved in the murder.

Emily discovers that Rowan was secretly sleeping in Gordon’s barn. In his bag, she finds the poison that killed Marcus. Rowan knocks Emily out, and when she wakes up, both she and Anna are tied up. Rowan admits he wanted to kill Gordon to stop the sale of the farm. He poisoned Marcus’s flask, which Marcus drank from before confronting the blackmailer. Rowan plans to poison Emily and Anna and frame Anna for everything.

Emily reveals that she hid her phone and has been recording Rowan’s confession. While he searches for the phone, Emily and Anna spook a horse to knock him out. They escape, call the police, and Rowan is arrested.

Detective Sam tells Emily they’ll discuss everything soon but is relieved she’s safe.

In the end, Gordon survives, Lizzie tells Trent about the baby, and Sam and his daughter sing Christmas karaoke. Everything seems fine—until the final scene, where Emily opens a black box from her old life and smirks, hinting at secrets yet to come.

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