Mistletoe Murders: The Ides of December (Presented by "A Tyler Shaw Christmas")

This week of Deck the Hallmark is presented by "A Tyler Shaw Christmas". Listen to this amazing Christmas album HERE. 

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Alonso joins us this week to continue our journey through Season 2 of Mistletoe Murders with a double-episode breakdown of The Ides of December (Part 1 & Part 2). It's time to get artsy! 

ABOUT: MISTLETOE MURDERS – THE IDES OF DECEMBER

Part 1: A murder at Fletcher's Grove art show leads Sam and Emily to investigate off-grid. Sam's ex-partner was killed guarding a valuable painting, while Emily's past emerges. 

Part 2: Emily and Sam investigate deception surrounding a mysterious painting, revealing hidden motives and Emily's own secrets, while Violet makes a special gift.

AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR: MISTLETOE MURDERS – THE IDES OF DECEMBER

November 14, 2025 | Hallmark Mystery Channel

CAST & CREW OF: MISTLETOE MURDERS – THE IDES OF DECEMBER

• Sarah Drew as Emily
• Peter Mooney as Sam

BRAN’S MISTLETOE MURDERS – THE IDES OF DECEMBER SYNOPSIS

The movie kicks off with an art influencer live-streaming. We're at an art gallery for missing artist, Angela Wells. It's got a bunch of never-before-seen stuff that has been found by her granddaughter, Moira Wells. Famous Ray has funded this gallery. Classic Famous Ray.

Emily walks into the diner and sees Sam. Violet is back at the Mistletoe and Emily is pumped. We see Sam's mentor and old partner, Reed, come in and give Sam a big ol hug. He's in town doing security for the art gallery.

Reed gets there to accept some shipping for the gallery. The dude is running late and when he finally arrives, Reed looks terrified. Obviously, Sam discovers him dead the next day.

Emily goes to the bookstore for Moira's book reading when a police officer comes and pulls her aside. They need her to identify if one of the paintings left behind is an authentic Angela Wells. She says it is.

It doesn't take long for Emily to find out about Reed. She goes to check on Sam and obviously tries to find out if there are any suspects. He's looking at the security footage and he notices that the live streamer poking around the art house late at night.

Sam brings him in for questioning. He says he came across someone with a gun and got out of there quick.

The "Bad News Guy," Kyle, is heading out of town for the holidays but while he's still in town, has a flirty fun time with Violet and they talk about the Christmas presents they bought for each other, despite Violet most definitely not having a Christmas gift for him.

Sam finds out that Reed was struggling with a painkiller addiction before his death. Sam continues to feel guilty because Reed took a bullet for him early in his career. And Reed asked Sam to help him at the gallery but he said no. He should've been there.

We see a flashback of Emily as a kid using her "wiz powers" for bad and changing the grades of a bully to make his grades worse. The boy she's hanging out with is a fan, and they kiss.

Back to present day, Emily and Sam sneak around the art gallery to listen in on the investigation since Sam is too close to the case to actively investigate.

They catch wind of a guy named Benny who may have a grudge against Reed. They go to do a stakeout and find Benny talking to the art influencer and Moira Wells. How are they all connected?

The next day at a book signing for Moira, Emily watches as Moira gets really weird around a girl who said she's adopted too. After that, the bookstore owner, Noah, confronts her. He thinks she's lying about who she is because of inconsistencies in the book. She quickly leaves.

Emily goes to talk to Famous Ray about getting them on the guest list for the big art exhibit. On her way out, she asks if he knows anything about underground hackers. She rattles off a few including Chimera and Ray is like, "Oh, are you and Sam working on the same project?" It's at this point that she realizes Sam is still investigating her.

Emily is poking around some more and sees the art influencer clean his glasses with the same glasses cleaner found at the crime scene. He said he was there because he paid the security guard to let him see the painting first.

Which is why when the painting is finally displayed at a party, he looks confused. Obviously, Emily notices and asks him what's wrong. He says, "That's not the painting I saw."

Sam takes this information to his boss and he tells him to stay out of this; he's not on this case.

We get another flashback and we see the principal of the school come to talk to her hacking club about someone who stole money from the school's bank account. They think some student hacked into the system and she shuts down the hacking club.

Back to present day, Emily meets with Noah. He's continuing to dig into his suspicion about Moira. He thinks she's definitely a fraud, so he decides to apologize to her and ask her for drinks to bury the hatchet.

The "Bad News Guy" art influencer is found dead. That's unfortunate. And Piper, the girl who Moira got mad at at the book signing, had her art piece destroyed.

Noah tells Emily that he has a glass she drank out of and wants to do a DNA test. But compare it to what? Well, Emily remembers that Angela Wells' paint brushes were made out of her hair. So with the help of Famous Ray, Sam, and Noah, Emily breaks in to steal a strand of it.

Sometimes you gotta do a little bad to do a little good. Cut to a flashback showing the principal getting arrested for stealing the money. Young Emily looks concerned. Her boyfriend not so much.

Oh hey good news - the art influencer is not dead and he wants to help with the case - he's mad at Moira for not giving him the exclusive. He has a blurry picture of the real painting - it's clearly different, and actually looks a whole lot like Piper.

Sam and Emily finally talk about Sam still looking into her further. Emily says she's nervous that if he keeps looking into her, he's not going to like what he finds.

Sam brings Moira into questioning, and brings the DNA test to prove that she's not related to her. Moira comes clean - she convinced a very old daughter of Angela that she was her daughter. They believe that Moira came to Fletcher's Grove to scare Piper off. She basically confirms all of that but says she didn't kill Reed and asks for her lawyer. When the cop that was working the case finds out about this, he's pissed. Sam was supposed to be on leave!

But that's not the only reason he's mad. He's mad because HE DID IT! Once Sam questions him, he admits to everything. He just wanted to send his kid through medical school and things got away from him.

Piper ends up still winning the painting competition and everyone now knows that she's the real heir of Angela Wells.

The movie ends with Sam and Emily going for a walk. Sam apologizes for continuing to investigate her. He's more interested in who she is now. They promise not to keep any new secrets from each other. Emily is happy until she thinks she sees her ex-boyfriend from school, Aaron.

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