Hailey Dean Mystery: A Marriage Made for Murder

The film opens with the sudden death of art dealer Victor Bridgestone in his gallery, seemingly from a heart rush. Hailey Dean, a therapist and former prosecutor, becomes involved when her friend Clyde, a client of the gallery, asks her to accompany him to pay respects. Hailey's boyfriend Jonas, a medical examiner, discovers that Victor's hospital records were mysteriously deleted, and the attending physician's request for an autopsy was ignored. This leads Hailey and Detective Danny to exhume the body, revealing that Victor was actually murdered with arsenic. The investigation initially focuses on Victor's widow, Christy, who recently took out a large life insurance policy and is revealed to be 'Tina Hauser,' a woman whose first husband in Portland also died of a 'natural' heart attack with missing medical files. A subplot involves an artist named Simon Westfeld, who is caught breaking into the gallery; it is revealed he was part of a forgery ring, forced by Victor to create 'old master' paintings using toxic arsenic-based pigments. Meanwhile, Hailey treats a patient named Nicole, who is struggling with the loss of her brother, Curtis. The mystery deepens when a brick is thrown through the gallery window and Christy is non-lethally poisoned. Hailey eventually realizes that Nicole is Curtis's sister—Curtis was Christy's first love who died of a heart condition after Christy left him. Nicole, blaming Christy for her brother's 'broken heart,' has been stalking Christy for years and murdering every man she marries as revenge. In the climax, Hailey uses her therapeutic relationship to draw Nicole to the gallery, where Nicole confesses to the murders of Finn Hauser and Victor Bridgestone, believing her words are protected by therapist-patient privilege. However, Hailey has arranged for Christy to wear a wire and for the police to be stationed nearby. Nicole is arrested, and the film concludes with Hailey finally feeling emotionally ready to investigate the cold case of her own fiancé's murder.