Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Channel’s Mystery Island returns with the fourth film in the series, Mystery Island: Play for Keeps, Which seems to follow the same theme of a group of people gathering at the title island for a murder mystery weekend that ends up involving a real murder of someone in the party.
This time around, game writers Dr. Emilia Priestly (Elizabeth Henstridge) and Detective Jason Trent (Charlie Weber), along with Mystery Island COO Baroness Jane Alcott (Kezia Burrows), are welcoming a new group of players to the island. But there is a major twist — and not one that’s part of the game — the weekend was arranged by Ainsley Trask (Emily Eaton-Plowright), wife of tech billionaire Franklin Trask (Kris Mochrie) … who just happens to be Emilia’s ex. Among the attendees are Franklin’s brother Spencer (John Macdonald), his girlfriend Patricia Collacello (Nisha Aaliya), CFO Viveca Bentley (Victoria Bolt), whom Ainsley refers to as ‘Money’, and friend Mickey Carlyle (Barney White), who carries a torch for Ainsley. For the guests comfort, the resort has a large staff headed by Morgan Bennett (Suanne Braun), the major domo, and Simmons (Ben McKeown), a sort of butler who attends to everyone’s needs. Now Emilia and Jason don’t normally stick around for the game play but for this party to be booked, Ainsley had one condition — Emilia must be there. Jane begs her to stay so they don’t lose the booking, she reluctantly agrees, and Jane and Jason actually take on roles themselves, embedded with the group as tourists also there to play.
The guests arrive and Ainsley clearly has a point to prove — that her husband is still in love with his ex, but Ainsley is smarter than Emilia will ever be. And she seems to show that she indeed very smart, solving the murder mystery in record time, the first time anyone has done it on Day One. Jane and Jason also reveal their true identities, but it seems some in the party had already guessed they were actors. But something keeps nagging at Emilia and Jason: how did she solve it so quickly? Since they’ve booked the weekend, they might as well stay and enjoy what the island has to offer. Upon arrival, Franklin passed a note to Emilia asking to meet with him in private, and at dinner Emilia slipped a note into his napkin telling him to meet her outside after dinner. When they do meet and chat, Franklin admits that he still loves Emilia … and who should be right there to overhear him but Ainsley. Furious, she demands her own room for the night and storms off. Awkward. Later as everyone is retiring for the night, they are given an apéritif (which is a before dinner drink so technically it should have been called a digestif as that is what is served after a meal, or as it was a small drink before bed a nightcap would have been an even more accurate term) and Emilia and Jason are both shown to fall asleep almost immediately after drinking theirs.
The next morning, Ainsley has gone missing and it is believed she may have left the island but her luggage, minus one piece, is still in her room. Everyone begins to search for her and it isn’t long before her body is found in the basement of the Hidden Hut, her throat slashed (the carotid artery, to be exact). Now with a real murder to solve, the guests are forced to stay on the island. Jason goes into detective mode and begins questioning the guests and staff, starting with Emilia (not that he really believes she had anything to do with the murder), then Franklin, but Jason doesn’t believe he would have killed his wife either. So whodunit? There’s also still the nagging question as to how Ainsley solved the mystery so quickly, and Jane and Emilia deduce, after finding a stack of cash in Ainsley suitcase, that she paid someone on the staff to sell her the solution, and with Morgan’s help they quickly learn it was Simmons. But why would he do something to break the trust of his employers? Jason and Emilia also begin to learn that everyone in the party had a reason for wanting Ainsley dead. Perhaps it was Franklin’s brother Spencer, who was apparently forced out of the family business by Ainsley (which also makes Patricia a suspect as she was angry that Ainsley did that to him). Was it Mickey, killing Ainsley in a crime of passion because she wouldn’t leave Franklin (and why does he have a book in his possession, with handwritten notes and annotations, about how to commit the perfect murder?)? Or was it ‘Money’, whom Emilia and Jane saw arguing with Mickey as he yelled at her that he is owed. What exactly does that mean? With the help of the local police detective Ray Romero (Randy Dominguez), Jason, Emilia and Jane begin to put the pieces together to solve the mystery of the game and Simmons’ treachery, and in traditional Agatha Christie fashion gather the players together to expose the killer before they depart the island.
Hallmark Channel
As a newbie to the Mystery Island series, it’s very easy to jump into the story. It’s clear that Jane is the money behind the venture, and there is some obvious flirting between Emilia and Jason (especially from Jason) but they keep things professional (think Moonlighting — and if the two ever do get together that will be the end of the series). It seems, reading about the previous three films, that the game the pair write never gets fully played as there is always a real murder to interrupt things (which is not a good selling point for your resort) — although in the first movie Emilia was a guest at the island, and the real murder that occurred was investigated by Jason, so they paired up after that to write the games. But not having the information is not a detriment to enjoying the movie, although it makes one curious to see one of the games fully played out. The murder in Play for Keeps offers plenty of suspects and twists to keep amateur sleuths guessing (although I guessed who the killer was midway through, but not the exact reason for the murder which was a bit of a surprise). The writing is clever with enough humor sprinkled throughout to keep things light, and the locations in, I believe, Panama are truly stunning.
The cast also makes this a joy to watch. Henstridge and Weber have good chemistry, handle the witty banter with ease, and make for a good team of detectives. They are comfortably into their roles by this point as the first movie premiered in 2023, so they truly inhabit their characters. Kezia Burrows also fits nicely into Jane’s shoes, looking like she’s having a ball donning a wig and pretending to be someone else as the game begins. She ably assists Emilia as the investigation begins, and she works well with her regular co-stars. Suanne Braun is introduced as Morgan, a new addition to the resort, but it seems she also appeared in Mystery Island: House Rules, which has already been broadcast and is streaming on Hallmark+ (the timeline is confusing as Play for Keeps was originally scheduled to air on Hallmark Mystery in June but was pulled from the schedule for unknown reasons). Ben McKeown is also a new addition as Simmons, although he may not be back for another film considering he’s open to selling the game secrets. The main regular cast are clearly enjoying themselves and that makes it just as enjoyable for the audience to watch.
The guest cast are all excellent, never over-playing their roles too much as to be either an obvious red herring or the true culprit. Emily Eaton-Plowright does a terrific job of making Ainsley the villain, at the same time insecure about her marriage while determined to do everything she can to upstage Emilia and her work with the game. She’s overly smug when she ‘solves’ the murder, and it’s hard to feel sorry for her when she overhears Franklin profess his love for Emilia. She makes sure that there is little sympathy for Ainsley when she’s bumped off. Kris Mochrie does a nice job of keeping us wondering how he truly feels about both Ainsley and Emilia or if there is something or someone else he loves more, but is that enough to make him a killer? He does take a turn before the reveal as he insists on leaving the island immediately that seems to be a red flag and it feels a bit contrived and out of character — not the fault of Mochrie, though, that’s just how the character is written. John Macdonald, Nisha Aaliya, Victoria Bolt and Barney White all do great work at giving their characters a lot of personality, but we’ll refrain from giving too much away as we don’t want to spoil any of the surprises leading up to the big reveal.
Mystery Island: Play for Keeps is a real delight for murder mystery fans, particularly of the Agatha Christie variety, with a main cast that fits comfortably into their roles, a guest cast full of personality, a well-written mystery to solve, and some gorgeous scenery and a stunning resort to draw you in to the story. It all works really well and is interesting enough to make any newbie to the series want to go back and watch the previous movies.
Mystery Island: Play for Keeps has a run time of 1 hour 23 minutes, and is rated TV-PG. The film is streaming on Hallmark+.
Preview – Mystery Island: Play for Keeps
Hallmark Channel