Garage Sale Mysteries: Murder Takes the Stage Cast and Character Guide

Garage Sale Mysteries: Murder Takes the Stage is as much a reunion as it is a new murder mystery. Lori Loughlin is back as antiques dealer Jennifer Shannon, surrounded by the family, friends and police contacts who accompanied her through the franchise’s earlier cases. Hallmark’s new installment finds Jennifer participating in a true-crime book club whose Lizzie Borden reenactment turns deadly when one of its members is murdered for real. That premise introduces several new faces, but Hallmark has also brought back the six performers most closely associated with Jennifer’s later Garage Sale Mysteries years.

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Lori Loughlin as Jennifer Shannon

Lori Loughlin returns as Jennifer Shannon, the antiques dealer whose ability to notice overlooked details repeatedly leads her from garage sales into murder investigations. Jennifer runs Rags to Riches with Dani, but collecting and evaluating old objects has always doubled as training for her second unofficial profession. In Murder Takes the Stage, the mystery becomes unusually personal because the victim comes from Jennifer’s own true-crime book club rather than entering her life through an antique purchase.

Loughlin originated Jennifer in the first Garage Sale Mystery and became the constant at the center of the long-running series. Outside the franchise, she remains best known as Rebecca Donaldson Katsopolis, or Aunt Becky, from Full House and Fuller House, while Hallmark audiences also know her as Abigail Stanton from When Calls the Heart. Hallmark confirmed her return to both of those familiar corners of its programming in 2026, with Murder Takes the Stage marking Jennifer Shannon’s return to the channel.

Sarah Strange as Dani

Sarah Strange reprises Dani, Jennifer’s business partner at Rags to Riches and one of the franchise’s most dependable sources of humor and practical support. Dani does not share Jennifer’s compulsive need to turn every suspicious detail into an investigation, which is precisely why their partnership has worked across so many films. She provides a more grounded counterweight while still becoming involved whenever Jennifer’s latest case reaches their antiques store.

Strange is a veteran Canadian performer whose television career includes ReGenesis, Men in Trees, Da Vinci’s Inquest and Life as We Know It. She has also appeared in projects including Snowpiercer, Wild Cards and Curious Caterer: Forbidden Fruit, making her particularly familiar to viewers of Canadian-produced television. Her return is important because Jennifer and Dani’s relationship is one of the pieces that makes the new movie feel like a continuation rather than a completely rebuilt franchise.

Steve Bacic as Jason Shannon

Steve Bacic is back as Jason Shannon, Jennifer’s husband. Jason has long understood that asking Jennifer not to investigate a suspicious death is unlikely to work, leaving him to balance concern for her safety with support for the instincts that usually prove correct. His family scenes also give the movies a life outside the case, preventing Jennifer from existing solely as a detective who happens to own an antiques store.

Bacic joined the franchise after Rick Ravanello played Jason in the original 2013 film and subsequently became the actor most viewers associate with the character. His extensive television credits include Andromeda, The Guard, Big Love, Virgin River, Arrow and The Order, while Hallmark viewers have also seen him in the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries. Hallmark specifically lists Loughlin, Strange and Bacic as the principal stars of Murder Takes the Stage.

Kevin O’Grady as Detective Frank Lynwood

Kevin O’Grady returns as Detective Frank Lynwood, the police investigator who has spent enough time around Jennifer to know that dismissing her theories can be a mistake. Their relationship is one of the franchise’s recurring pleasures because Jennifer operates outside official law enforcement while Frank has to work within evidence and procedure. Murder Takes the Stage once again puts the two on intersecting paths when Jennifer’s personal connection to the victim gives her reasons to start asking questions.

O’Grady has played Lynwood through a large portion of the Garage Sale Mysteries run. Away from Hallmark, viewers may recognize him as Sam Hess from the first season of Fargo, while his other credits include Peacemaker, The Killing, Supernatural, Fringe, Godzilla and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. That background makes him another member of the returning ensemble whose presence immediately connects the 2026 film to Jennifer’s earlier investigations.

Eva Bourne as Hannah Shannon

Eva Bourne returns as Hannah Shannon, Jennifer and Jason’s daughter. Hannah has grown up across the Garage Sale Mysteries films, making her return particularly useful for showing how much time has passed in Jennifer’s family even though the central mystery formula remains familiar. Hallmark and Apple TV both include Bourne among the confirmed returning cast for Murder Takes the Stage.

Bourne is also strongly associated with another Hallmark favorite, When Calls the Heart, where she played Clara Stanton Flynn across dozens of episodes. Her other television work includes Once Upon a Time, Falling Skies, Motive and Devil in Ohio. Garage Sale Mysteries remains one of the longest-running parts of her Hallmark career, with Hannah appearing throughout most of the franchise’s previous installments.

Connor Stanhope as Logan Shannon

Connor Stanhope reprises Logan Shannon, Jennifer and Jason’s son. Like Hannah, Logan gives the new movie continuity with the Shannon family viewers followed through the earlier mysteries, rather than allowing the revival to focus exclusively on Jennifer’s case. Hallmark’s official cast information confirms Stanhope among the returning stars of Murder Takes the Stage.

Stanhope previously played young Lex Luthor on Smallville and appeared in When Calls the Heart, Fringe and R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour. More recently, viewers may recognize him as Danny Walter from My Life with the Walter Boys. He took over the role of Logan during the Garage Sale Mysteries run after Brendan Meyer played the character in the earlier films.

Lauren Akemi Bradley, Liza Huget and John Murphy Join the Mystery

Murder Takes the Stage also introduces several characters specifically connected to the new case. Current credits list Lauren Akemi Bradley as Helen, Liza Huget as Carol and John Murphy as Milton, although Hallmark has not yet provided detailed biographies explaining exactly how each one fits into the book-club murder. With the film built around a group reenacting the Lizzie Borden case, these newcomers naturally become part of the wider suspect pool, but identifying any of them as the victim or killer before the movie airs would go beyond the official information currently available.

Bradley has appeared in Watson, Wild Cards, The Irrational, Snowpiercer and The Wedding Cottage, while Huget’s long television resume includes The Chicken Sisters, Tracker, Fire Country, Virgin River and Stargate SG-1. Murphy has also accumulated an extensive list of television appearances and recently appeared in The Thundermans: Undercover and Pie to Die For: A Hannah Swensen Mystery. The three performers give Jennifer’s latest investigation new personalities to examine without replacing the established family and investigative circle that defines the franchise.

Murder Takes the Stage Brings the Original Ensemble Back Together

The appeal of this installment is not simply that Jennifer has another murder to solve. Hallmark is deliberately restoring the combination of Jennifer, Dani, Jason, Frank, Hannah and Logan that viewers associate with the later Garage Sale Mysteries films, then placing that familiar group around a new set of suspects. The movie premieres September 19 on Hallmark Channel and becomes available on Hallmark+ the following day.

That reunion gives Murder Takes the Stage an advantage over a complete franchise reset. Jennifer’s relationships are already established, so the movie can spend less time rebuilding her world and more time on the Lizzie Borden-inspired mystery at its center. For viewers returning after the long gap between installments, the cast itself may be as recognizable as Rags to Riches.