Villainess Review: Rachel Turner (Matchmaker Mysteries)

I am a huge fan of Hallmark Movies & Mysteries' many film series, and I love how these new series just keep popping up one by one. One of the recent film series is Matchmaker Mysteries, which stars Danica McKellar as famed matchmaker Angie Dove, and the first installment, A Killer Engagement, debuted on October 6, 2019.

The film's murder victim was Emma Patterson, who was set to marry Aaron Scheller, the owner of Scheller Development. We see Emma rushing upstairs, only to suddenly fall down that same flight, as she had been stabbed to death. Angie ended up assisting lead detective Kyle Cooper on the case, due to the fact that Angie helped bring Aaron and Emma together; however, Aaron ended up suspected in the murder, as did Emma's cousin Piper, who co-owned a salon with Emma.

Aaron's romantic history was uncovered, and among his past lovers was his attorney, Rose Grace, and the COO of his company, Rachel Turner. Rachel was later interviewed, which saw Rachel reveal that she was in a relationship with her co-worker, Phillip Price, and later on, the investigation revealed that Emma's ex-boyfriend, Beau, was paid to sabotage Emma and Aaron's relationship with claims that Emma was cheating on Aaron with Beau, though Aaron disbelieved any claims of infidelity on Emma's part. In addition, Aaron's estranged son, Declan, was revealed to have stolen $17,000 from his father's company to pay his gambling debts; but in addition, an extra $100K was taken as well.

Phillip was taken in due to the revelation that he had done this before, though Angie had suspected that he was being set up. Angie phoned Aaron's ex-wife, Maureen, regarding Aaron's affairs, with the evidence including a handkerchief smeared with lipstick--the same shade that was at the scene of Emma's murder. Angie's visit to Aaron's home saw Aaron state that everything was fine and order Angie to leave, but Angie--sensing something was off--returned and informed Aaron that she knew who Emma's killer was, only for Emma's killer--Rachel--to appear with a gun in hand.

Rachel's appearance came after she knocked out Declan with a bat, and it was also revealed that Rachel and Aaron's relationship began after the former sent Maureen the aforementioned handkerchief as part of a claim that they were already having an affair. However, Rachel became enraged when Aaron met Emma on Angie's program, and she decided to enlist Beau to break them up with accusations of infidelity on Emma's part, but that failed. Despite this, Emma actually did end her engagement with Aaron on that day in question, so if Rachel got what she wanted, why kill Emma anyway?

As Rachel herself stated, she witnessed the breakup and saw how Aaron looked at Emma--with love. Knowing that she would never get Aaron's love, Rachel went into a fuming rage and stabbed Emma to death with a letter opener, but as the villainess admitted, she wanted to kill Aaron instead. Just as she was about to fulfill her murderous revenge, Rachel was disarmed by Angie, and later arrested by Kyle.

For fans of villainesses such as myself, A Killer Engagement was a good start to the series with Rachel Turner, played wonderfully by Tanya Clarke. Rachel was an immensely scorned and psychotic madwoman, and Clarke portrayed Rachel's vengeful demeanor to perfection during her character's reveal. Since this movie aired, I've been wanting to see Clarke play more villainesses, because she looks like she'd be very stellar at playing baddies. She did play murderous con artist Karen Whitfield in an episode of Hawaii Five-0, and in 2020, she portrayed a Lifetime film villainess for the first time, playing Casey Doss in Young, Stalked, and Pregnant. Clarke has actually done several Lifetime films, most recently Beware of the Midwife earlier this year, and she has another one upcoming: Deadly Mom Retreat. From the looks of it, Clarke's upcoming film could see her in another villainous role, but regarding Rachel Turner, this was definitely among Clarke's best performances, and she stands as one of my favorite HM&M villainesses.

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Click here for Rachel Turner's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!