Lifetime asks “whodunnit?!” with the greenlight of The Fallen Angels Book Club (working title) movie series event, starring seven-time Grammy(R) Award winner Toni Braxton as Hollis Morgan, an ex-con turned amateur sleuth who sets out to investigate a series of murders at her book club. Braxton is also set to executive produce both films. Debuting in 2022, Rhonda Baraka (Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta) also executive produces and wrote the scripts for the movies based on the Hollis Morgan mystery book series by author R. Franklin James. Baraka will also direct the first movie.
“Toni has a magic touch for making movies that resonate with our audience,” said Tanya Lopez, EVP Scripted Content, Lifetime & LMN. “We’ve seen Toni’s acting range through the years and I can’t imagine anyone else as Hollis. This role was made for Toni.”
The Fallen Angels Book Club marks Braxton’s return to Lifetime after she executive produced and starred in the 2016 ratings hit Toni Braxton: Unbreak My Heart and 2018’s Faith Under Fire: The Antoinette Tuff Story and Every Day is Christmas. Braxton also made her movie debut with Lifetime with the 2013 movie, Twist of Faith.
In the first installment, the members of The Fallen Angels Book Club must have two things in common – a love for books and have a criminal record. Hollis Morgan (Braxton) meets both requirements. Left holding the bag in an insurance fraud scheme concocted by her ex-husband, Hollis served her time and now hopes the court will pardon her conviction so she can return to law school and fulfill her dream of becoming a lawyer. But when a member of her book club is murdered in a scene straight out of the previous night’s novel, Hollis once again becomes the subject of police scrutiny. Refusing to get stuck with another bad rap, Hollis sets out to investigate her fellow club members and after a second book-inspired murder, she races to identify the killer before she becomes the next victim.
The Fallen Angels Book Club films fall in line with Lifetime’s Broader Focus initiative which supports the hiring of women in key production roles. The movies are produced for Lifetime by Brain Power Studio and executive produced by Beth Stevenson, Nancy Yeaman, Toni Braxton, and Rhonda Baraka. The films are written by Baraka who will also direct the first installment of the movies.
