Hannah Kelso (Teryl Rothery) is the main villainess from the 2019 Hallmark film, Morning Show Mystery: A Murder in Mind, the third film in the Morning Show Mystery series (airdate April 14, 2019).
Introduction[]
Hannah Kelso is a prominent lawyer who was the subject of a television series, with Katie Sanders--an actress and a friend of Billie Blessings--playing Hannah. It was established early in the film that Hannah despised Katie, with one reason being that Katie was dating Hannah's son, Derek Kelso. Hannah was shown giving the order to Jerry Patton, a former cop known for corruption, to intimidate Katie off the show, and after Katie spoke to Billie about Hannah's hatred of her, Billie coerced Katie to stand up to Hannah, which didn't fare well after their TV interview.
After Patton was found dead near the water, suspicion turned to Katie's father, Donald Sanders, as he confronted the pair after threatening notes were sent to Katie. Katie herself became a suspect after she was revealed to be at the scene, and regarding that, she later revealed that she was being blackmailed by Patton regarding her past in college, where she was arrested during her participation in a peaceful protest--details that Katie kept hidden and could have resulted in her being fired from the show. She remained a suspect even after Derek confessed and claimed that he killed Patton, as it was believed that he was covering for Katie. As for Hannah, her home was entered by detectives Ian Jackson and Vinnie Hawkins after a shooting took place, with Hannah stating that Brian Johnston, who was the dog trainer for Rex (the famed "Millionaire Dog"), broke into to her home and attacked her, leading to Hannah shooting and killing him in self defense.
Reveal[]
As it turned out, the first episode of the show was about the case involving Rex, and it was revealed that his owner was a wealthy woman who willed her fortune to Rex. There was also a battle between Hannah and Rex's original trainer, Charlie Johnston, over the rights to the fortune, and it was suspected that Charlie killed the owner to gain the inheritance. The suspicions towards him increased when Charlie (who had been appearing frequently at Billie's restaurant) pointed a gun at Billie's aunt Cassandra, all the while, Katie received a text from Derek asking her to meet him at Hannah's house, only for Katie to encounter Hannah when she arrived. Ian and Hawk appeared and stopped Charlie, only for Cassandra to reveal that she and Charlie were heading to the station so the Charlie could tell his side of the story.
All the while, Hannah turned heel and held Katie at gunpoint while forcing her to write a suicide note, officially revealing herself as the true villainess behind everything that had occurred, As her backstory revealed, Hannah was set to inherit the aforementioned fortune, only for the woman to change her will and name Charlie as the benefactor. The greedy villainess enlisted Patton to smother the owner to death and frame Charlie, and regarding Katie, she had Patton send the notes to her and intimidate her into quitting the show because of her relationship with Derek. It was revealed that Derek engaged in a scuffle with Patton after finding out about his blackmail to Katie, but Derek's attack did not kill Patton. Hannah witnessed the fight and knowing that Patton had dirt on her, she suffocated her former ally to death. Regarding Brian, the villainess killed him in cold blood after he revealed a second will that left everything to Charlie.
After Derek's confession, the evil Hannah planned to kill Katie and set it up as a suicide committed by a guilty murderess. Billie appeared at the beach, where Hannah was forcing Katie to get on a boat so she could drown her, and it was at this point that Hannah confessed to everything while smugly commenting on Billie's intelligence. In addition to Katie's relationship with Derek, Hannah also stated that Katie found out about Hannah's past villainy, which she claimed to be doing for Derek, as Katie's death and "confession" would exonerate her son. The villainous madwoman had designs on killing both Katie and Billie, with the former knocking the gun from her possession. Katie and Hannah fought each other for the weapon, and after Hannah retrieved the gun, Billie struck the villainess with one of the boat's oars. Afterwards, Ian and Hawk appeared and arrested Hannah for her murderous actions.
Victims[]
- Rex's unnamed owner (suffocated by Jerry Patton under Hannah's orders)
- Jerry Patton (suffocated)
- Brian Johnston (shot)
Trivia[]
- Teryl Rothery also appeared as the evil Carolyn Harrison in 2018's Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: The Disappearing Game.