Nikki DeLoach and Andrew Walker Star in a Brand-New Hallmark Mystery, Curious Caterer: Dying for Chocolate
Credit: ©2022 Crown Media United States LLC/ Craig Minielly
Two of our favorite Hallmark stars are pairing up for a fourth time, but after three romantic comedies, the two long-time friends were ready for something different. The dynamic duo of Georgia native Nikki DeLoach and Andrew Walker will head over to Hallmark Movies & Mysteries to give us a brand-new whodunnit. Curious Caterer: Dying for Chocolate is based on the books Catering for Nobody and Dying for Chocolate, by Diane Mott Davidson, part of the Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery series.
Walker recently spoke with Southern Living about stepping into this #sleuther universe. "I feel like it was such a gift to be able to do it with Nikki," Walker said of his costar. He said they discussed and decided together to say yes to this script. "We said…because we'd already done three movies together, we have the trust of the audience so let's try to do something and bring something to people that's much different than anything they'd ever seen us in."
DeLoach plays Goldy, a single mom and caterer who is takes on the role of amateur sleuth after her friend's mysterious death. She teams up with Elk Park's new arrival, Detective Tom Schultz to solve the murder. Tom came to Elk Park from San Francisco after a divorce.
As we previously reported, Walker does a lot of prep work on every role he takes on and creates a full backstory for his character. Detective Schultz was no different. "I really tried to get into the nooks and crannies of who this guy was," he said.
"I really wanted to go deep in on who this guy is. If you really think about all the experiences a detective goes through or a police officer goes through in a city like San Francisco for example, there's some dark stuff that they see, that they have to work through."
He continued, "I really want to bring in the fact that Tom is processing a divorce, his wife at the time in San Francisco, he decided to move back to Elk Park because she wanted to. And then when he committed to moving, she decided not to go with him."
Walker admitted that he also studied some present-day fictional detectives as he prepared. "I watched shows like True Detective and I watched shows like Mare of Easttown which is a lot of fun to get into that world and the psyche of law enforcement, detectives in particular."
As Goldy and Tom follow the clues to find a murderer, the audience will watch a connection begin to develop, but unlike the previous films these two veteran actors have done together, the spark isn't immediate. And that's on purpose.
"For me and for Nikki in this movie, I really wanted to hold back a lot of the potential of a closer relationship there and not give away too much of who my character is while carrying this weight of this detective that's seen a lot," Walker told us.
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Tune in and find out what's in store for Goldy and Tom. Curious Caterer: Dying for Chocolate premieres on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries on April 10 at 9PM EST.
