For the first time ever, Hallmark is wading into the waters of period piece mysteries. On February 2, the Hallmark Movies & Mystery channel will present Murder at the Breakers, a film adaptation of the first installment from the Gilded Newport Mysteries series of novels by Alyssa Maxwell. Set in late 19th century and early 20th century Newport, Rhode Island, the books follow journalist Emma Cross as she solves mysteries within the dark underbelly of the Gilded Age elite and discovers how blood-curdling high society can truly be.
Murder at the Breakers kicks off the saga in 1895 with a murder at the estate of U.S. railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt. While attending a ball at the mansion as a young society page writer for the Newport Observer, Emma is pulled into a murder investigation upon seeing the crime firsthand. Worst of all, her brother Brady is arrested as the chief suspect in the case after being found in Vanderbilt’s bedroom passed out with stolen plans for a new railway line. Convinced he was framed, Emma takes on the role of a super sleuth and attempts to find the real killer before it’s too late to save Brady. It’s a mystery that promises the glitz, glamor, and greed of The Gilded Age with an equal measure of intrigue.
Leading the adaptation is Ali Skovbye who most recently played the younger version of Katherine Heigl‘s Tully in Netflix‘s emotional novel adaptation Firefly Lane. Before that, Skovbye also enjoyed roles in the 2019 film Breakthrough and the popular ABC series Once Upon a Time. She’ll play Emma Cross opposite Fate: The Winx Saga and Get Even star Danny Griffin as her love interest and police detective Jesse Whyte who also gets involved in the case. Also among the cast is Nathan Witte who will appear as a mysterious stranger keeping an eye on Emma as she gets closer to the truth.
Hallmark Could Have a New Film Series With ‘Gilded Newport Mysteries’
Behind the camera for Murder at the Breakers is Terry Ingram, a regular Hallmark collaborator with credits on Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and three episodes of R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour. The script, meanwhile, was adapted by Frankie Drake Mysteries writer Keri Ferencz. If this first film is successful, Hallmark could get the team back together for a whole saga of Gilded Newport Mysteries films considering Maxwell has 11 books to pull from. A 12th installment, Murder at Vinland, is also due out in August.
Murder at the Breakers: A Gilded Newport Mystery airs on the Hallmark Movies & Mystery channel on February 2 at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT. Check out the full selection of Gilded Newport Mysteries books on Amazon.
via Collider