Villainess Review: Pamela Shankle (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries)

One of the cornerstones of Hallmark Movies & Mysteries is the Aurora Teagarden film series, which I absolutely adore! For one, the films are based on the series of novels written by Charlaine Harris, who also gave us the Sookie Stackhouse novels that led to HBO's True Blood TV series. Secondly, the film series features Candace Cameron Bure as the titular Aurora Teagarden, and boasts a regular cast that consists of Niall Matter, Lexa Doig, and Marilu Henner. And a third reason why I love the series: it's an outright villainess magnet--with 13 villainesses appearing in the number of films that have aired since 2015.

The 16th and latest installment, titled, Til Death Do Us Part, centered on two things: one, the upcoming wedding between Aurora and Nick Miller, and two, a decades-old murder. Human remains were found at a construction site in the film's opening, and it was later revealed that the body was that of Sam Woods, whose inner circle actually included (among a few others), Charles Teagarden--Aurora's father (who finally appears in the series). Because Sam's friends were the last to see him alive, the aforementioned inner circle ended up suspected, including Charles and even Dennis Shankle, who was the owner of a construction company.

Aurora and Nick's investigation reached a dangerous height when they were suddenly close to being run off the road by a mysterious driver in a truck. It was after this point that we see Arthur Smith visit Dennis and his wife, Pamela Shankle, as the truck involved in the incident was revealed to have belonged to Dennis. It was after Sam's watch was found in the Shankles' bedroom that Dennis ended up arrested, though Pamela appeared at the station and spoke to Sally Allison, making a claim that the watch was planted to set up Dennis.

The film mentioned that Sam was suspected of having an affair, as--at the time--he was engaged to be married. Aurora and Sally's encounter with Sam's ex-fiancee, Lydia McGraw, included a revelation of a letter written to Sam, where the composer mentioned having a husband. Aurora and Nick (in a funny scene where Sally kept them from looking at each other due to the whole "bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other right before the wedding" deal) went to Arthur and revealed who Sam's killer was: Pamela.

Why Pamela? For one, the watch was inside Pamela's nightstand, not Dennis', and everything else was uncovered once the Shankles were interrogated. As it turned out, 24 years prior, Pamela and Sam engaged in an affair, but one night, Sam got into a fight with his friends during a poker game, leading to Dennis driving him home. Sam planned to get back at all of them, with his plan including telling Dennis that he was seeing Pamela, who Sam contacted regarding his plan for payback. Pamela met Sam at the site, which was once a business building that Sam was bent on burning down. It was at that moment that Pamela grabbed a mallet and bludgeoned Sam to death, doing so to cover up her affair, and she took Sam's watch and kept it all this time.

Pamela got away with her murderous actions entering the film's events, but the discovery of Sam's remains would lead to an investigation that would reveal everything. As Pamela admitted, she was the one who took her husband's truck and attempted to run Aurora and Nick off the road to cover up her villainous secret, and during her confession, she claimed that she went crazy with her actions in the events, while adding that she was trying to protect her marriage. Dennis didn't buy his wife's words, and neither did Arthur, who reminded Pamela that she killed one person and nearly killed two others.

Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Til Death Do Us Part aired on June 13, 2021, and the film featured Deb Podowski as the film's hidden main villainess, Pamela Shankle. I do love cold-case villainesses with a passion, and it's because they are immensely ruthless in not only their crimes, but their quests to cover up their evil pasts. Pamela Shankle definitely fit that bill, she was opportunistic when she murdered Sam, though keeping the watch, that's fascinating. As cold-case killers often do, Pamela avoided suspicion for decades, but when the truth was about to come out, she reverted to her evil side and made her attempt towards Aurora and Nick. Pamela's heel turn in the film's events was a further example of her ruthless nature, which Podowski played brilliantly.

In addition, we also see Podowski portray Pamela's devotion to Dennis very well, and her character's reveal gives us an even mix of Pamela's villainy and emotions, even as she attempts to excuse her many crimes. Overall, this was an amazing performance by Deb Podowski, and her villainous appearance in this film aired just over one month after she was seen on The Flash, appearing in "The People vs Killer Frost" as DA Strong, the prosecutor against Frost. Podowski also appeared in episodes of Dead Like Me, Supernatural, and The Haunting Hour (among other shows).

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