There are always puzzly events to look forward to, big and small.

Maybe yours is solving the Sunday Times puzzle with a cup of coffee in hand, or starting a new jigsaw puzzle with coworkers over lunch. Maybe yours is reuniting with fellow puzzlers at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, or Lollapuzzoola, or a yearly puzzle hunt.

Hallmark Mysteries and Movies has added to the list of eagerly anticipated puzzly events with their Crossword Mysteries films over the last year or so.

Featuring the unlikely duo of detective Logan O’Connor and crossword editor Tess Harper, these films have struck a chord with puzzle- and mystery-loving fans of Hallmark Channel.

So far, there have been three Crossword Mysteries films:

• A Puzzle to Die For (debuted: March 10, 2019)
• Proposing Murder (debuted: October 13, 2019)
• Abracadaver (debuted: January 5, 2020)

That last one stung a bit for enthusiastic fans, of course, after the film was pushed back from its original debut date of October 20, so Hallmark could start showing Christmas movies.

But there’s still a question floating around regarding these films… what happened to the fourth one?

After the success of A Puzzle to Die For, three additional films were announced for the series, but at some point, the order was cut down to two.

IMDB still lists a fourth film in the series, but with scant details.

Naturally, that hasn’t stopped me from pondering what the plot could be.

And so, today, I give you three pitches for the fourth Crossword Mysteries film.

Enjoy!

#1: The Jigsaw Is Up!

Tess’s beloved aunt Candace is framed for murder — puzzly murder, of course, as jigsaw puzzle pieces are found in the victim’s mouth — and Tess has to try to exonerate her socialite aunt.

And it’ll be tough. There are dozens of witnesses placing her at the scene of the crime — a party — and many of them observed an altercation between her and the victim mere moments before the body is found.

Tess realizes the jigsaw puzzle pieces in the victim’s mouth don’t match the puzzle he was working on, and it turns out the puzzle was swapped? Why?

It was a favorite of the murderer, who used to solve jigsaws with the victim before he took a shine to Aunt Candace. Once the original puzzle is found, it turns out to a picture of the victim and the murderer in happier times.

#2: A Boy Named Sudoku

Tess is completely baffled when Sudoku puzzles are left behind at a series of break-ins, each with seemingly random numbers filled in.

Frustrated, Tess is forced to turn to her hated puzzly rival — the Sudoku editor at a competing newspaper — to help her solve the puzzles.

It turns out the numbers aren’t random after all, and the break-ins are all tied to bank account numbers for the same individual: a ruthless millionaire. The break-ins are all to businesses owned by him.

In the end, a promising puzzle whiz turns out to be behind it all, taking revenge on the man who ruined his father’s business. When Tess offers him an internship at her paper, she’s appalled when he says he prefers Sudoku, and ends up working for her rival.

#3: Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way

Okay, this one centers around Will Shortz’s cameos in each of the previous films. In the first, we encounter him playing table tennis. In the second, he’s a cop at Logan’s station. In the third, he’s one of the folks at the dance studio.

Each time, the protagonists interact with him but don’t recognize him, meaning each of these three characters are different people. And yet, the fact that they’ve encountered mustachioed triplets doesn’t register with Logan and Tess.

Apparently New York City is loaded with Will Shortz lookalikes. My pitch is for the fourth movie to involve two dozen or more Will Shortz characters as suspects. Maybe one is also the victim. I don’t know. But I want there to be a boatload of Will Shortzes and a serious case of “Man, all these suspects look similar.”

Did you enjoy the potential pitches for a fourth Crossword Mysteries movie, fellow puzzlers? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.

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