The most recent within the Hannah Swenson Mysteries collection installment airs tonight on Hallmark Motion pictures & Mysteries.
Hannah (Alison Sweeney) is once more drawn right into a homicide investigation, and her fiancé and police detective Mike (Cameron Mathison) is true there by her aspect, serving to the budding detective sift by means of proof.
The collection has been a shiny spot on the Hallmark Motion pictures & Mysteries schedule, first as Homicide She Baked, as Hannah runs a thriving bakery, tickling the candy tooth of Eden Lake’s residents.
The Carrot Cake Homicide brings the entire city along with a chilly case in a sweeping thriller that spans a number of many years. It is lots of enjoyable from begin to end.
We had the chance to speak with Mathison in assist of the Carrot Cake Homicide, and he is as happy as we’re that the collection lives on (one other film was simply introduced).
“We’re a extremely enjoyable forged. We get alongside actually, very well. And honestly, it was by means of Ali’s persistence and her artistic concepts of find out how to get this again up and going that it’s.”
Mathison and Sweeney make wonderful companions on and off display screen as a result of, professionally, they’re movers and shakers. Personally, they’ve comparable values, placing household and health, for instance, entrance and heart of their lives.
“We’re actually fortunate that we’ve got branched out and achieved lots of totally different mediums and issues on this loopy career. And on the similar time, on set, we work very equally,”
Mathison mentioned, “We’re fast memorizers, we fast work, we bounce issues off one another. We like to improvise, we love spontaneity, and we actually really feel secure. We need not sugarcoat something.”
“We need not tiptoe round expressing one thing. We’re simply bing, bang, growth, let’s get in there. Let’s care for it. Let’s do our greatest.”
They share concepts and transfer on them rapidly, which is a testomony to their lengthy working relationship in addition to their comparable working types.
Mathison admits that whereas he loves homicide mysteries and performs a reliable detective within the Hannah Swensen Mysteries, he isn’t an excellent detective in his personal proper.
Nonetheless, he actually enjoys the medium, which retains him engaged in tales with forward-thinking curveballs and misdirects.
“I like the curveballs. Typically the curveballs aren’t curveballs; they simply seem like curveballs. It is actually skillful. And I like the writers as a result of it isn’t a expertise of mine writing, and I actually admire writers that may put this collectively,” he mentioned of the collection.
As for his personal detective heroes, it began for Mathison by studying the Hardy Boys as a boy and leaning into Sherlock Holmes, the daddy of all detectives, later.
“I’ve actually loved and all of the totally different incarnations of [Sherlock Holmes] with Robert Downey Jr, and many others. It has been actually enjoyable watching and studying totally different variations of that and totally different artistic views on it.
“After which Colombo is anyone that I actually appreciated, too. It wasn’t like I used to be an enormous fan of watching Colombo, however possibly I used to be extra of a fan of Peter Falk as an actor. I simply cherished the way in which that he labored, and he had this humility but in addition battle.
“It was very weird how he was in a position to be so humble and seemingly unknowing however on the similar time have this underlying confidence and one-up-ness on all people. I actually respect him as an actor, but in addition the Columbo collection.”
Columbo has qualities that attraction to Mathison, very similar to what he appreciates about being part of the Hallmark household. Whether or not it is the Hannah Swenson Mysteries, Christmas films, or internet hosting Hallmark Residence & Household, he really appears like half of a bigger household, and so they stand for one thing.
“Spreading positivity, goodness, lovely, optimistic messaging out there’s something which means quite a bit to me and has meant quite a bit to me, definitely an increasing number of in order I become old.
“And being a part of this specific collection, I do know it is essentially not like the identical virtues that you simply get out of the Christmas film in a way, however it’s in a means as a result of we have developed this household, this connection, this group of individuals which are making these enjoyable mysteries and staying collectively.
“It connects me extra with being an absolute a part of this nice larger household at Hallmark. And that is in all probability what I like most about it. I like the forged, I like working with Ali. I believe the mysteries, to your level, have all the time been nice and interesting and hard to determine.
“However what I like most is that it simply locks me and secures me as being a part of this nice group of individuals which are attempting to unfold optimistic messages on this planet. And I do not know, you possibly can’t beat that. You simply cannot beat it.”
On social media, Mathison comes throughout as a caring household man wanting to share what he is aware of about well being and health with those that are on the social media journey with him. It is sensible he’d discover what Hallmark provides to expertise and its viewers so interesting.
“I actually really feel like a lot of it is extremely genuine to me,” he shared. “And I’ve all the time mentioned this. After I was co-hosting Residence and Household, it was essentially the most genuine job I ever had. It was simply an extension of the person who I am attempting to be.
“And that’s, we’re not doing celeb gossip, we’re simply spreading yummy recipes and optimistic messages with authors approaching the present and doing issues, DIYs and craft and make folks really feel good.
“And I had meditation segments on there; I had exercise segments, and I believe you do not want that present to be on the air, to nonetheless have features of that coming by means of and what Hallmark’s all about. It is very genuine to me in what I love to do in my life.”
Yummy recipes go hand-in-hand with the Hannah Swenson Mysteries, as she baked delectable, mouthwatering treats. However the reality behind filming the collection with baked items on the forefront of the manufacturing is way totally different than what we see on display screen.
Mathison defined, “Effectively, this is the deal. I am an actor. Mike is in love and engaged to a baker. And in actual life, I discovered whereas we had been taking pictures the final film that I am really technically celiac. I’ve bought celiac illness; I’ve bought an actual severe gluten sensitivity, and it is such a ache and so ironic. Nevertheless, Mike is not.
“When you watch a few of the films, I am inhaling the brownies or the chocolate and cookies. And I actually really feel like it will be bizarre for the viewers to observe Hannah’s fiancé take just a little nibble of her yummy baked items when it is such a giant a part of this collection of films.
“Method again, I began making that call, and in a means, I’ve paid for it.”
Fortunately, now that he is on file with Celiac illness, Mathison mentioned the staff labored actually onerous to get him gluten-free baked items. “However actually, I do not even wish to be that man,” he mentioned.
“However they’re actually, actually accommodating once they can, and so they simply do their greatest, and I do my greatest. However one film, a couple of films in the past, I am unable to keep in mind which one it was, I used to be doing lots of well being stuff. I used to be popping out of my most cancers journey, and I used to be taking features of my measurements in well being actually critically on the time.
“I nonetheless do, however not like that. And I used to be measuring my blood glucose ranges each morning and monitoring them as a result of we had been actually attempting to get them down.
“They had been elevated, although I eat actually clear and blah, blah, blah. Anyway, the morning after I had achieved certainly one of these items the place I used to be gorging on these cookies, and also you do about 15 to 25 takes of these items.
“And as soon as you identify the way you eat one thing in a scene, you have to match it for essentially the most half. And I ate about, I do not know, seemingly 750,000 of those cookies.
“And the following morning, I measured my glucose degree, and it was means past hyper-diabetic. If something about glucose ranges, it was 175 or one thing that subsequent morning. I bought a kick out of that.”
That is true dedication to the craft on a set that finds him for a median of three out of the 15 days of filming, the place Mike digs deep into the goodies Hannah delivers. That ought to offer you a brand new perspective when watching the Hannah Swenson Mysteries.
When requested to tease just a little one thing concerning the Carrot Cake Homicide, Mathison did not maintain again. Initially, he is actually having fun with the brand new course of Hannah and Mike’s relationship.
“There is a actually new trajectory of their relationship with twists and turns that I actually do not assume folks will see coming. I learn the script, and my jaw dropped just a little bit, and I used to be very excited with the potential.”
He was additionally excited, understanding that the story would proceed, as the most recent story would not finish all wrapped up with a reasonably bow.
“There are many nice twists and turns on this one with Hannah and Mike, after which we’ll decide it proper up within the subsequent one, which I like, so we do not have to attend tons of time. However then additionally the homicide thriller,” he mentioned.
As famous beforehand, the thriller considerations a chilly case, which is one thing Mathison mentioned Sweeney loves. “She’s a giant true crime fanatic and, specifically, chilly instances, so it is a crime that was a number of many years outdated.”
He mentioned placing the items collectively and the way it ties to the city’s previous and what’s taking place in Eden Lake within the current is especially fascinating.
He laughed. “I believe it is a actually attention-grabbing solution to incorporate yet one more homicide on this small city with out having the homicide per capita fee of this small city in Minnesota be astronomical as a result of it looks like there’s lots of murders!”
He additionally loves that Hannah’s mother, Dolores (Barbara Niven), will get concerned within the thriller. “All people loves when Dolores is concerned,” he mentioned.
Mathison additionally shared that Gabriel Hogan and Norman and Tess Atkins as Hannah’s sister Michelle are additionally featured extra prominently.
“I actually love the way it’s an actual ensemble, and like I discussed, a chilly case, and that Hannah and Mike go to a extremely new degree with twists and turns. Tons to sit up for,” Mathison mentioned.
You may see all of it for your self tonight at 7/6c solely on Hallmark Motion pictures & Mysteries!
*** This interview has been edited for size and readability***
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a workers author and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Alternative Affiliation, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of tv and movie with anybody who will pay attention. Comply with her on Twitter and e-mail her right here at TV Fanatic.
