True Justice: Family Ties (2024)

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It seems that Hallmark Movies & Mysteries is in their experimentation era. They aired several new mysteries last year that lend themselves to being series, and yet, here we are at the beginning of 2024  talking about yet another new one.

In True Justice: Family Ties, Casey's brother is accused of murder. Casey (Katherine McNamara) believes he is innocent and the only way to clear his name is to find the real killer. Casey and some of her fellow law students team up to do just that. One of the law students was dating the person who was killed. This makes for some interesting dynamics on the sleuthing team. I liked the way his character was written and Markian Tarasiuk did a great job playing this character of Eli.

This mystery is quite different than others that Hallmark Movies & Mysteries has aired in that it involves an ensemble cast of five sleuths. They all have something different to offer the sleuthing team and they have great chemistry. They bring fresh, young energy to the mysteries that I really enjoyed. Their banter is fun and the way they go about finding clues, although questionable in the real world, was entertaining. The character of Liam (Alexander Nunez) in particular made me smile, although they were all a joy to watch.

With a new ensemble cast, we had several people we needed to get to know. I thought the movie was well-paced. We got to know the characters, but didn't sacrifice time away from the mystery. It was all woven in seamlessly.

While it wasn't heavy on the romance, there are two potential relationships among them. I didn't necessarily need the romance to enjoy the movie, but I understand this is Hallmark and they specialize in romance. So I was okay with it.

The mystery was filled with twists and turns that I did not see coming. There was so much going on that I was confused at times, but it came together in the end. I had some suspicions about one character, which turned out to be partially true, but there was so much more to the mystery that I couldn't figure out until all was revealed. 

There is one thing that I felt portrayed the authorities as being incompetent. This never sits well with me and I think they could have taken it in a different direction. However, it didn't interfere with my overall enjoyment of the movie.

Nikki DeLoach and Benjamin Ayres made appearances in this movie that were quite entertaining. They are no strangers to Hallmark fans, but they were not main characters. I appreciated their roles, but was glad the movie focused mostly on the five law students.

I am very interested in seeing how the relationships, friendship and otherwise, progress. Most of all, though, I just really enjoyed the sleuthing team overall. I can only hope Hallmark will make this a series. I think it has something unique and entertaining to offer.