At the start of Cannell's droll if draggy 13th Ellie Haskell mystery (after 2008's Goodbye, Ms. Chips
), Ellie; her chef husband, Ben; and their housekeeper, Mrs. Roxie Malloy, take a wrong turn one foggy night on the Yorkshire moors. They wind up at Muckelsfeld Manor, where Georges LeBois, a French director, is producing Here Comes the Bride
, a reality TV program aimed at finding a wife for Lord Aubrey Belfrey, whose estate could benefit from the publicity. When one of the contestants dies in a car accident in the fog, single Roxie takes her place, and Ben becomes chef for the shoot. Besides becoming enamored of a homeless black Lab, Ellie gets drawn into the mystery surrounding Aubrey's older brother's wife, who's rumored to have absconded with some family jewels before her husband died. While the eccentric supporting cast, notably Muckelsfeld's scary housekeeper, lends interest, Cannell doesn't fully exploit the juicy reality show premise. (Apr.)
