Three AM in a hotel room in Dallas, waiting for a client meeting that wasn't happening until 0800. Couldn't sleep - jet lag from the London trip still messing with my internal clock. Ranger wasn't there to keep me company, so I figured I'd knock out something from my queue. Picked this one because nine hours seemed manageable and honestly? I needed something that wasn't going to require me to take notes.
Let me cut to the chase: Fatal Obsession is comfort food for mystery fans. Not the kind of book that's going to keep you up with its intensity - more like the kind that'll help you finally drift off while still keeping half your brain engaged. And I mean that as a compliment.
1960 Oxford Through a Woman's Eyes
Here's what hooked me: Trudy Loveday is a probationary WPC in 1960, which means she's fighting two wars at once. There's the murder investigation, sure, but there's also every senior officer trying to shove her into a corner where she can't do any real police work. Her commanding officer literally assigns her to the coroner hoping she'll fail or get bored. That kind of institutional resistance? I've seen it. Different context, different era, but the mechanics are the same - young talent getting sidelined because the old guard can't handle change.
The pairing with Clement Ryder, an aging coroner dealing with his own demons (Parkinson's, though he's keeping it quiet), creates this unlikely partnership that actually works. He's got the experience and authority she lacks. She's got the energy and fresh perspective he needs. It's not groundbreaking character work, but Faith Martin clearly did her homework on the period. The details about what female officers could and couldn't do in 1960 ring true.
Stephanie Racine Earns Her Keep
The narrator makes a real difference here. Racine handles the head-hopping between Trudy and Clement without losing you - which matters because Martin bounces between perspectives pretty freely. Some listeners apparently found Trudy's internal thoughts too "perky" with all the exclamation points, but Racine smooths that out. Her voice work gives Trudy determination rather than naivety.
Character differentiation is solid. Not spectacular - we're not talking about distinct accents for every witness - but clear enough that you're never confused about who's speaking. For a nine-hour listen at 1.25x, that's what you need. I wasn't rewinding to figure out who said what.
The Plot - Slow Burn, Not Slow Drag
Here's where some folks might bail: the first couple hours move at a deliberate pace. Martin's setting up the chess board - the reopened case of a young woman's death, the separate string of threats and murders the main police force is chasing, the tension between Trudy's ambition and her limited authority. If you need action in the first thirty minutes, this isn't your book.
But stick with it. The threads start connecting in ways I didn't see coming. I thought I had the killer figured by hour five. I was wrong. Not spectacularly wrong - this isn't a twist that makes you question everything - but wrong enough that I felt satisfied when the pieces finally clicked.
The mystery itself isn't overly complicated. Some listeners wanted more complexity, and I get that. But there's something to be said for a puzzle that plays fair. Martin plants her clues, and if you're paying attention, you can almost get there yourself. Almost.
Who Should Queue This Up (And Who Should Pass)
If you're looking for a cozy mystery that actually has some teeth - period-accurate sexism, real stakes, a protagonist who has to fight for every inch of respect - this delivers. Fans of Agatha Christie will recognize the DNA, but Martin's not trying to replicate that formula exactly. The 1960 setting gives it a different flavor.
Skip it if you need your mysteries dark and gritty, or if slow setups make you reach for the skip button. This is the audiobook equivalent of a good single malt - meant to be sipped, not slammed. Blue Cross gave me that same measured satisfaction - a mystery that respects your intelligence without beating you over the head with complexity.
I'll probably grab the next one in the series. Eight books total, which means Martin found an audience for this pairing. After nine hours with Trudy and Clement, I understand why.
Debrief
Worth your time? Solid mystery, competent narration, period setting that adds rather than distracts. It's not going to change your life, but it'll make a long drive or a sleepless hotel night considerably more bearable. Ranger would've slept through most of it, but he'd have perked up for the finale.
The fact that I'm already thinking about when to queue up book two tells you what you need to know.
