Love, Lies & Murder

Stars: Sheryl Lee (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me), Moira Kelly (The Cutting Edge, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me), Clancy Brown (Pet Sematary 2). Originally a two-part TV movie, Love, Lies & Murder reels the viewer in with a shocking tabloid-like true story that gets weirder as it goes along. Moira Kelly is excellent as Cinnamon Brown, a 14-year-old daughter who confesses to the murder of her young stepmother, after being found drugged up huddled in the doghouse. When authorities suspect that something is strange in Cinnamon's story, they investigate Cinnamon's father David Brown (Clancy Brown), and discover that he and his deceased wife's sister, 17-year-old Patti (Sheryl Lee) are living in style off the million dollar-plus insurance benefits Brown collected from the wife's death. As the police begin to close in on Brown, the cold-blooded manipulator tries to shift the blame from Cinnamon to Patti--anything to keep himself clear of charges. In the second half, a powerful courtroom finale reveals even stranger goings-on in this incredibly twisted tale. What seemed like a routine homicide at the beginning turns out to be one of the most bizarre domestic conspiracies ever conceived, and a chilling portrait of a family that will do anything to stick together. A bit long, the shocking story and credible performances from Kelly, Lee, and Brown, nevertheless keep viewers hanging on all the way. Audience: Fans of Joseph Wambaugh, Ann Rule, and Jack Olsen, and true-crime buffs in general will want to see this. Once it cranks up, Love, Lies & Murder is very hard to turn off.