This "who killed Kelly's mom?" story is not working for me. Melinda was rarely seen/mentioned and Kelly herself had been out of the picture for years. Why should we care? Also, it seems odd that Dorian is not involed in finding Melinda's (her sister) murderer. That really doesn't make sense, especially since Dorian was initially as convinced of foul play as Kelly is. Now Dorian just gets casual updates from Kelly about her quest to uncover the truth.
Since Kelly's return, she mostly interacts with John...in between petty squabbles with Todd and Blair. She's totally disconnected from the Cramer family, and in the meantime there's no Kevin or even Joey there for her to mix it up with like before.
Funny, I used to enjoy Kelly and looked forward to the character's return. But so far, she's very boring. I guess we just out-grow characters. lol!