Top 3 Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Villainesses of 2021

I truly love Hallmark's mystery films with a passion. A new year is upon us, and the month of January often means the beginning of a new year's worth of Hallmark mystery films. There are so many different film series, though the current gold standard out of all of them is the Aurora Teagarden series that stars Candace Cameron Bure as the titular character. The year has seen several other series continue, with examples including the Alison Sweeney--led Chronicle Mysteries series, and Mystery 101, which co-stars Jill Wagner and Kristoffer Polaha. However, Sweeney's other series, Murder, She Baked, did make a return this year under the new banner title, A Hannah Swensen Mystery, and 2021 also saw the possible beginning of another series with the film, Redemption in Cherry Springs, with Rochelle Aytes as the lead.

The film's usually air on Sundays, but not literally every Sunday. In a calendar year, the first films usually air in the latter half of January and stretch out until late October, prior to Hallmark's batch of holiday films. These are true whodunits, and I always enjoy figuring out who the culprit is. Of course, it's extra fun for me if the evildoer is female, and we have seen a good crop of villainesses in 2021's batch of films. But there are three who truly stood out the most in 2021, and they are as follows:

3. Janey Sullivan (Mystery 101): The Mystery 101 series started in January of 2019, and it has delivered very well. Not only are the films just flat out amazing, but regarding female baddies, there have been six in the seven films that were released. The seventh film, "Deadly History," aired on August 1 of this year, and gave us a surprise villainess in the form of Janey Sullivan, played by Emma Grabinsky.

The film centered on the sudden disappearance of Amy Winslow's paternal uncle, Al Winslow, and regarding the investigation, it led them to the Sullivan family: budding politician/construction company owner Frank, wife Sinead, and daughter Janey. This was due to the fact that Al had been tutoring Janey, who idolized Al's brother (Amy's father), famed author Graham Winslow, and wanted to be a writer like him. Afterwards, Amy, Graham, and Travis Burke received a call from someone claiming to have Al held captive, and demanded money in exchange for his release. The drop took place, with Amy delivering the ransom before being attacked by the culprit, who--after Travis shot at the culprit's motorcycle--was revealed as Janey.

Janey didn't reveal much after her arrest, only that she used a voicemail to appear that she had Al in her capture. Sinead ended up revealing her daughter's motive: she wanted Sinead away from Frank and his controlling nature, so Janey devised the extortion plot to fund her potential divorce. Janey was quite a surprise villainess; cunning, ruthless, and sinister. Emma Grabinsky played Janey very well, and it was nice to see her as a criminal villainess after seeing her in a pair of family-friendly villainous roles on The Haunting Hour.

For Janey Sullivan's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here.

2. Jacqueline Grant (Hannah Swensen): As I mentioned before, 2021 saw the return of the Murder, She Baked series, but under a new banner: A Hannah Swensen Mystery. The first film in four years was, Sweet Revenge: A Hannah Swensen Mystery, which aired on August 8 of this year, and it centered on the sudden murder of fitness instructor Ronni Ward. Ronni's on-screen appearance prior to her demise was at Hannah's shop, where she was being confronted by an angry Jacqueline Grant, who tossed a drink towards Ronni.

That alone would make Jacqueline a suspect in Ronni's eventual murder, but while the film actually revealed that she wasn't a murderess, Jacqueline was uncovered as a scorned villainess. After her confrontation with Ronni, Jacqueline donned a hooded disguise and spray painted the word, "Homewrecker," on Ronni's car, and it was the paint's color (a deep aubergine) that ended up revealing Jacqueline as the villainous vandal, as that same color was used to fix her earrings. Jacqueline confessed and accused Ronni of being "too close" to her husband, Steven (in her mind), and even went as far as saying that she would do it again if she had the chance.

Jacqueline Grant was played by Kendall Cross in the film, and it's because of that fact that I was hoping Jacqueline would be the actual killer. I've seen enough of Kendall Cross' work to know how talented she is, and I think she'd shine as a scorned murderess if given the chance, but seeing her as a scorned vandal was definitely good enough for me. This was another good role and performance from Cross, who has appeared in a few Hallmark mystery films before. This also includes an earlier villainous role; Cross played villainess Peyton Bartel in the first Martha's Vineyard Mystery film, "A Beautiful Place to Die." Fingers crossed that 2022 gives us Kendall Cross as a Lifetime film villainess; she would definitely show out in that role.

For Jacqueline Grant's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here.

1. Pamela Shankle (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries): Without question, Pamela Shankle is Hallmark Movies and Mysteries' best villainess of 2021, and it's no surprise due to the fact that she's part of Aurora Teagarden's vast collection of female baddies. 17 films have come out since the series began in 2015, and the series has featured a grand total of fourteen villainesses, with Deb Podowski's Pamela Shankle as the lucky 13th in the film series.

Pamela Shankle was part of the 16th Aurora film, "Til Death Do Us Part," which centered on Aurora's upcoming wedding to Nick Miller, as well as the murder of Sam Woods, which was committed 24 years prior. The film had its suspects, including Aurora's father, Charles Teagarden, and it saw Dennis Shankle arrested after Sam's watch was found in his and Pamela's bedroom. As it turned out, however, they had the wrong Shankle, as Sam's actual killer was Pamela.

Pamela and Sam were illicit lovers back then, but after Sam got into a fight at a poker game between him and his friends (including Dennis and Charles), Sam--out of anger--vowed to reveal his affair with Pamela to Dennis. The couple met at a building owned by Bernard Poole, and it was at the building that Pamela bludgeoned Sam to death to cover up her affair, but later took the watch and kept it. Sam's disappearance remained a mystery until his remains were uncovered, and after learning about the investigation, Pamela turned heel again and actually attempted to kill Aurora and Nick by driving them off the road.

There are many reasons why Pamela Shankle is #1 on the list, and among them is the fact that she is a cold case villainess. The amount of ruthlessness in those type of baddies is immense; not only do they commit a crime years ago, but they resort to even more evil methods to continue covering it up. Pamela was immensely ruthless and hellbent on masking her murderous past, and Deb Podowski portrayed Pamela's emotions and her evil demeanor very brilliantly.

For Pamela Shankle's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here, and here for my review on Pamela Shankle as well!

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