The latest Aurora Teagarden movie features the real-life daughters of Candace Cameron Bure and Lexa Doig

In February, Hallmark Movies and Mysteries will release the 18th movie in its Aurora Teagarden Mysteries franchise. In Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted by Murder, the main character and her best friend — played by Candace Cameron Bure and actress Lexa Doig — have flashbacks to a night when they were teenagers and found a dead body in an abandoned house.

The teenage versions of each character were played by the actresses’ real daughters. Natasha Bure stands in as a young Aurora Teagarden, while Lexa Doig’s daughter Mia Shanks stands in for a young Sally Allison.

Doig announced the news in an Instagram post.

“Okay — this is a special one for me: My bunny @miatshanks is playing Teen Sally and she was amazing!” she wrote. “Never acted before and slayed it like a pro. Check it out if you can.”

In a preview released by the network, teen Aurora and teen Sally go for a late-night visit to a local mansion that is allegedly haunted.

“This is Crenshaw House,” teen Sally says in the clip. “It’s totally haunted.”

“It’s not haunted,” teen Aurora replies. “There’s no such thing as — ”

Before she can finish her sentence, Sally sees something and screams.

Behind the scenes

In Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted by Murder, Aurora’s mother buys Crenshaw House, an allegedly haunted mansion Aurora and Sally visited on a dare as teenagers. When Aurora says she is looking forward to going back to the place, Sally balks.

“You want to go back there? There’s no way I’d ever go in that house again,” she says.

Doig has played Teagarden’s bestie since the first movie was made in 2015. Her husband is actor Michael Shanks. They have three children: Tatiana, Mia, and Samuel David.

According to the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries website, Mia is a senior in high school. She enjoys singing, playing guitar, songwriting, visual arts, and playing soccer.

“Having never acted before, she thoroughly enjoyed following in her parents’ footsteps and is grateful to longtime family friend Martin Wood and producer Jim Head for the opportunity to do so,” the page says.

Aurora Teagarden series

The Aurora Teagarden movies are based on a series of books by Charlaine Harris, who also wrote the books that were the basis of the HBO program True Blood.

In the movies, small-town librarian Aurora Teagarden, played by Full House star Candace Cameron Bure, solves crimes based on the knowledge she has gained from reading books on true crime. The last installment in the franchise, Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Honeymoon, Honeymurder, premiered on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries in August 2021.

Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted by Murder will premiere on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries on Sunday, February 20, at 9/8c.