Marcia Rideout (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries)

The evil Marcia Rideout

Marcia Rideout (Sonya Salomaa) is the hidden main villainess from the 2015 Hallmark film, A Bone to Pick:  An Aurora Teagarden Mystery, the first film of the Aurora Teagarden series (airdate April 4, 2015).

Introduction

Marcia Rideout and her husband, Torrance, were the neighbors of the titular Aurora Teagarden on Honor Street. Throughout the film, Marcia is shown to be sweet natured to Aurora and the other neighbors, as she invited them to a neighborhood barbecue in their honor. As revealed later on, Marcia's sweet demeanor masked her true villainous personality, which came to light in the film's climax.

Two years prior to the film's events, Marcia flirted with married neighbor Brad Reilly, but to her surprise, Brad took her flirtation seriously and pursued her relentlessly. While Torrance was away, Marcia was again pursued by Brad at her home, and it was there that Marcia killed Brad by bashing his head with an aluminum bat. After Torrance found Brad's body, he buried the body in the front yard belonging to Jane Engles, whose house was left to Aurora after Jane passed on. Both Marcia and Torrance kept close watch of the area, and the latter of the couple broke in to the home looking for Brad's skull after it was found by Aurora.

Reveal

Marcia's villainous reveal

Marcia's reveal came in the aforementioned cllmax when Torrance subdued Aurora just as she was calling Sally Allison regarding her realization that Marcia had killed Brad. Shortly afterwards, Marcia turned heel and appeared to Aurora with her aluminum bat in hand, while preventing her from escaping. The villainess later confessed to killing Brad, and also stated that she didn't call police because she figured he would stagger his way back up; adding that by the time she realized he was dead, it was too late.

After her confession, the evil Marcia handed the bat to Torrance, and instructed her husband to kill Aurora in the same fashion that Marcia killed Brad. At that moment, Detective Lynn Smith appeared and held the couple at gunpoint, before handing the gun to Aurora due to going through labor. Marcia and Torrance held their hands up and surrendered, and the couple was later arrested.

Trivia

• Marcia Rideout is mostly similar to Melanie Clark, the second Aurora Teagarden villainess. Both are part of villainous couples and act as friends of Aurora, but Marcia served as the first film's main villain, while Melanie was a supporting villain in the second film.