If you love watching murder mystery movies with lots of twists and turns, then you definitely need to check out the Hallmark mystery thriller Family Practice Mysteries: Coming Home! Although there were some mindless plot points to purposefully make the viewers more confused, I felt. So, the story centers around Rachel (Amanda Schull), a doctor who moves back to her hometown with her twin teenage children, Chloe and Matthew, after her husband dies in the military. Being a doctor, Rachel used to treat many patients in her hometown, including one named Ross Alexander (Greg Kean). But then, Ross suddenly dies! And here’s the weird part—he was perfectly healthy! It definitely can’t be a natural death, and Rachel knows it. So, she teams up with local detective Jack Quinn (Brendan Penny) to investigate. Can they solve the mystery of what really happened to poor Ross? Find out from this explainer about Coming Home, directed by Michael Robison!
Spoilers Ahead
How did Rachel and Jack meet?Â
After her husband Steve’s death, Rachel was very sad and lonely. So, she came back to her hometown with her two kids, Matthew and Chloe, to live with her father. Even though it had been two years since his death, Rachel still found it difficult to cope, and the kids struggled too. But with a new school and making new friends, they stayed pretty busy. They even developed a new obsession with dogs and wanted to adopt one. Rachel wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to get a dog. She worried that the kids might not properly deal with their grief over their father and might just use the dog to fill the void. But she was willing to take the chance. So, she went to a local pet adoption center to find a dog. There, she met Jack, who was more of a cat person. Their conversation about dogs versus cats was so sweet! You could tell there was some kind of spark between them. Little did Rachel know, Jack was the local detective in town and would be helping her in a future case!
Why did Rachel think Ross was murdered?Â
Rachel was not only a mother of two but had also served in the army, just like her husband. She was in the medical service and later joined the forensic team, so she had experience being around sick people and dead bodies. But after coming back to her hometown, she was far removed from any of those things. She started taking care of local patients, including Ross Alexander. He was in excellent health, and during his regular check-ups, Rachel, being a doctor, was quite impressed with how fit and defined Ross was. One day, Ross came in for an MRI check-up but never returned to get the results. Rachel had been calling him all day at his office and home, but no one answered. Concerned, she decided to go to his house to check on him. When she got there, she was shocked and hurt to find his dead body lying face down on the study table. He was one of her favorite patients, so his death felt very personal to her. She called the police and spoke to the coroner herself to find out what happened. The coroner said it was a heart attack, but Rachel couldn’t believe it. His heart had been perfectly fine! Also, his pupils were dilated, suggesting it wasn’t a natural death. Even though the coroner dismissed her concerns, saying that sometimes people die from panic with dilated pupils like this, Rachel wasn’t okay with this explanation. She had to find the truth!
Who was Danny Murphy?Â
Ross’s death shocked everyone, including his family members. Rachel was determined to do an autopsy to find out what happened to him, but neither Ross’s brother Leonard nor Leonard’s wife Meredith wanted that. They were already grieving and couldn’t bear the thought of Ross’s body being cut open. The shocking part was that Meredith’s brother, Phil, literally threatened Rachel to stay out of their family business. This made Rachel angry and confused. Why wouldn’t they want to know what happened to their loved one? Rachel went to the local police station and met Jack, the detective. At first, Jack was skeptical about opening an investigative case since there was no solid ground on which to proceed. However, he thought they should give it a shot. Rachel learned from a patient named Lynn that Ross had been receiving death threats on his phone. Phone records showed these threats came from a man named Dave Stringer, who owned a local pharmaceutical warehouse. Dave had even threatened Ross earlier because Ross was an investigative journalist and was about to expose Dave. So maybe they had some sort of feud that led to the murder. But questioning Dave didn’t provide any leads, leaving them more confused about who killed Ross. Meanwhile, Ross’s accountant, Rachel, discovered that Ross didn’t have a will, so all his assets would go to his family members. From Ross’s laptop, Rachel found out about a man named Danny Murphy, an ex-con involved in robbery and drug addiction. And guess who he was? Ross’s son, who neither Meredith nor Leonard knew about. Maybe Danny wanted to kill Ross to get his assets. But that wasn’t what happened because, on that very night, they got the news that Danny Murphy was also murdered. Rachel and Jack were left with more questions than answers.
Who murdered Ross?Â
The death threats didn’t stop with Danny. Rachel also started receiving threats, and at one point, a masked man even chased her with a gun! It was clear that someone wanted to stop the investigation. She was determined to uncover the truth, and she went to Ross’s accountant to find out more about Ross’s assets. The accountant revealed that Ross was filthy rich but very careful with his money. However, Meredith, his sister-in-law, was different. She invested heavily in cryptocurrency, and many times she lost a lot of money. She often asked Ross for money, but he refused to give her any. Ross was the kind of man who wouldn’t give away money easily and didn’t believe in taking loans. Rachel started to piece things together. She went to Leonard’s house to confront them, but she was attacked by Phil, Meredith’s brother. Leonard was confused, as he had nothing to do with all this, and none of it made sense to him until Meredith appeared with a gun, ready to shoot Rachel for investigating the case. Meredith then confessed to her husband that they were broke. All her money in cryptocurrency was gone. When she’d asked Ross for help and he refused, she and Phil killed him out of rage to take away his assets. When they discovered Ross had a son, they killed him too. Leonard was shocked by the revelation. As Phil was about to shoot Rachel, Jack and the police arrived just in time. Phil dropped the gun, and both he and Meredith were arrested.
Finally, the truth was out, and justice was served! Rachel and Jack were both relieved when the case was finally solved. Over the course of the investigation, they’d started developing feelings for each other. After two years since her husband’s death, Rachel felt ready to give their relationship a shot. And what about the kids? Rachel, being the good mother that she is, got them a cute dog to make them happy. Finally, they were all ready to live a happy, normal life once again!
