Brendan Penny's Charm Is Off The Charts In Family Practice Mysteries: Coming Home

What do you do when you're a doctor and one of your perfectly healthy patients turns up dead? Why, you investigate, of course — and you don't stop until you solve the mystery. That's the premise of Hallmark's new film, "Family Practice Mysteries: Coming Home," starring Amanda Schull as Dr. Rachel Hunt and Hallmark hunk Brendan Penny as Detective Jack Quinn. The two meet innocuously enough as she's looking for a dog and bumps into Jack, who's buying two kittens. They get into a cute conversation about cat people versus dog people and go their separate ways.

That is until Rachel finds patient Ross Alexander (Greg Kean) dead in his house despite recently declaring him very healthy. Her father, Rick Davis (Gerard Plunkett), offers to introduce her to Detective Jack, who surprises her by being the cat guy. Considering there was no obvious cause of death, Rachel is met with one stumbling block after another. Still, she is determined to find out why Ross died, and if it was murder.

Penny delivers a solid performance as the likable, amiable, and reasonable detective. He underplays his performance with a Luke Wilson kind of charm that is never forced or phony. Penny and Schull also have subtle chemistry together, which, if allowed to develop further, might transform into full-blown sparks. Hopefully, this is the first in a series, as it would be nice to see their relationship develop into a real romance in subsequent films.

Despite tossing out the odd cheesy joke here and there, Brendan Penny is completely believable as Detective Jack Quinn in "Family Practice Mysteries: Coming Home." While Amanda Schull draws you into the mystery as her character Rachel, a former army surgeon who now works as a family physician trying to solve the murder, you can't wait for Jack to grace the screen with his calm, laid-back demeanor. He has trouble finding a reason to order an autopsy on the victim, which forces Rachel to work harder at finding solid evidence, allowing the characters to play off of each other.

Some of the goofy jokes recur, such as Jack and Rachel applying dog lover/cat lover logic to the investigation and Jack often answering Rachel's compliment to a pet with a "thank you," knowing full well she wasn't referring to him. Penny's performance is truly endearing, and as the heroic police detective, some viewers might hope that he would be the one to rescue them in a dire situation.

The film is full of character actors we've seen in dozens of Hallmark films, including Christopher Shyer as Leonard Alexander, who we saw in "Friends & Family Christmas," as well as Gerard Plunkett, who starred in "A Fabled Holiday," the film that taught us to follow our hearts. Teens Isla Crerar and Jett Klyne, as Rachel's kids Chloe and Matt, also do well despite the CW-ish nature of their subplot about getting along in a new school.

Hallmark doesn't fail to deliver an intriguing mystery with "Family Practice Mysteries: Coming Home." The pacing is great and keeps you going. The further Rachel Hunt and Jack Quinn get into the mystery of who killed Ross Alexander, the more things become dangerous for the good doctor. Watching Brendan Penny and Amanda Schull figure out how to work together to solve the mystery is extremely entertaining, and they have a good connection on which to build.

The film is solidly directed by Michael Robison, who is no stranger to action and thrills, having worked on shows like "Nikita," "Blade: The Series," and "Poltergeist: The Legacy," as well as a few holiday films. He definitely seemed like he was holding back here, likely due to budget constraints, but his skill with scene composition and pacing is evident onscreen. Written by Barry M. Schkolnick, whose work includes the classic "Matlock," as well as "The Dresden Files," and "Law & Order," adds complete believability to the proceedings, creating a compelling mystery.

We get a little bit of Jack's backstory, as well as Rachel's, whose soldier husband died in Afghanistan two years prior. The film is not too scary, but its thrills will still have you on the edge of your seat by the end – and you'll walk away wanting to play more in this sandbox. Overall, "Family Practice Mysteries: Coming Home" is a must-see. We highly recommend it and hope for sequels in the future!