Nearly one year after longtime Hallmark stars Pascale Hutton and Kavan Smith filmed a sequel to their 2024 mystery movie, “Nelly Knows Mysteries: A Fatal Engagement,” the network revealed on January 23, 2026, that the popular duo’s second mystery will finally premiere on March 14.
As EntertainmentNow previously reported, Hutton and Smith — best known as Rosemary and Lee Coulter on Hallmark’s long-running series “When Calls The Heart” — filmed “Nelly Knows Mysteries: All Manners of Murder” in late March and early April 2025. That the film now has a premiere date will surely lead Sleuthers — the nickname for Hallmark’s die-hard mystery movie fans — to search for clues that other beloved crime-fighting duos are returning soon, too.
Hallmark Mystery Launched in 2024, But Few New Mysteries Aired in 2025
The news about “All Manners of Murder” was first announced via the WCTH Instagram feed and shared by Hutton. Hallmark Channel has provided a bit of information about the movie on its website, noting that Hutton and Smith are back as Nelly and Detective Michael, who “set out to solve the murder of a guest while at a lavish dinner.” The movie is scheduled to premiere on March 14 at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
In addition to being the go-to destination for rom-coms, Hallmark has a history of producing cozy mystery franchises, even rebranding its Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel as Hallmark Mystery in 2024 and promoting an influx of new original movies and duos.
But something shifted in 2025, as only a handful of new mysteries premiered, mostly on Hallmark Channel versus Hallmark Mystery, which now airs a steady stream of past mysteries and classic crime-solving shows like “Murder She Wrote” and “Matlock.”
Multiple Hallmark Mystery Franchises Are Expected to Return in 2026
Hutton and Smith were not the only mystery duo put on hold in 2025. Andrew Walker and Nikki DeLoach’s popular “Curious Caterer” franchise, which debuted in 2022, aired its fifth movie, “Curious Caterer: Forbidden Fruit,” in October 2024. Walker and DeLoach were supposed to film more movies in 2025, but those plans got pushed back.
In July, Walker gave fans hope the franchise would return in 2026, telling EntertainmentNow, “We will be doing more ‘Curious Caterers.’ I can definitively say we will be doing more. I’ve been told by trusted sources. It’ll be next year, though.”
Meanwhile, the “True Justice” mystery franchise that DeLoach wrote with her screenwriting partner Megan McNulty, was also put on hold after DeLoach and Benjamin Ayres filmed two new movies in early 2025 alongside the primary cast, led by Katherine McNamara and Markian Tarasiuk. According to IMDb, “True Justice 2: Eye for an Eye” and “True Justice 3: Lost Love” are expected to air in 2026.
Interestingly, Tarasiuk is in photos for the new “Nelly Knows Best” movie, as is “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” star Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe.
Meanwhile, the long-running “Hannah Swensen Mysteries” franchise starring Alison Sweeney, Victor Webster, and Barbara Niven, is also expected to have at least one new movie this year. In December, Niven revealed at the Hallmark Christmas Experience that the team “just shot another ‘Hannah Swensen’ and I think it’s the most fun one we’ve done yet.”
“It’s a murder mystery, of course, but it takes place at a masquerade ball” she continued, looking at Webster. “You’re not gonna believe what he looks like as a handsome prince, my god!”
While fans are eager to find out when those mysteries will return, one that won’t be back is Paul Campbell and Aimee Garcia’s “Cases on Mystery Lane” franchise, which Campbell confirmed in November has been canceled after two movies.
Comments
Hallmark Mystery Duo Finally Returning: Are Others Close Behind?