Kindle British Mystery Book Club discussion
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A Fatal Obsession
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January 2021 Group Read - A Fatal Obsession, by Faith Martin
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Mod
So...finished it and wondering what others thought. I had looked forward to this as I had been powering through the Elizabeth George/Inspector Lynley series (about halfway through the series and those books are LONG) and thought a short easy read would be a nice "break between courses." Well, it was a break from the George series, certainly, so there is that.
Finished reading A Fatal Obsession by Faith Martin and enjoyed it. Characters are involving and I like both the main characters. The attitude toward women is right for the 60s, as is Ryder's defining himself by his work. I give it a 4 rating on a 1 to 5 basis.
So far, so good. Slight sniff when it was suggested that women bus drivers were never a thing - try WW2 dearie. Women did almost everything men had been doing - including flying Spitfires et al... (from the factories to the airfields.)
All done. Liked it. Will probably read more in the series.
True Christina, but after the wars things went back to the way they were. In the late 50s/early 60s there would have been no female bus drivers. Trudy was very young so thoughts of women bus drivers in WWll probably never occurred to her. During her childhood/early adulthood, she wouldn’t have seen any.The first woman to earn a full time job driving a bus here in our city didn’t happen until 1973. And there was a lot of resistance to hiring more females. In 2017 they finally began a hiring blitz to address the gender gap, and still to this day only 14% of drivers are female.
Mod
I had one of these, a Rover 100, in 1962, drove it in England and touring in Europe, and shipped it home to Texas. Finally sent it to Ethiopia when my brother was stationed there. Staid but solid and comfortable.
This was an OK read. I found it slow and in some places, downright tedious to read. The characters were interesting but not so much that i would want to read another book involving this team. Reminded me of something written along the lines of a "cozy" mystery. Would be a good read for train or plane travel where you didn't need to think too much to solve the mystery.,
Mod
Artistically the book is a disappointment, though. The author’s narrative technique shifts awkwardly between limited viewpoints and reading the characters’ minds to tell us what they think. The plot turns out to be so unlikely as never to succeed in real life (especially the stolen prescription) and the ultimate villain neither believable nor sufficiently motivated. Which is a shame, as this is the first volume of a series featuring the Loveday-Ryder partnership. But life is too short especially for someone my age to waste time reading disposable mystery stories. Despite the charming full title A Fatal Obsession: A Gripping Mystery Perfect for All Crime Fiction Readers, we are reminded of the days before such authors as P. D. James and Ruth Rendell taught us that crime fiction could be as artistic as ‘serious’ fiction. This story felt as if it should have had a green and white paper cover and been on sale at the railway station.
I enjoyed reading Bill’s review more than I liked reading the book!
Beth wrote: "I enjoyed reading Bill’s review more than I liked reading the book!"Well said, Beth!
And well reviewed, Bill!
I also enjoyed your humor.
What a terrific way to kick off the new year, reading A Fatal Obsession, the 1st book in Faith Martin’s latest Ryder & Loveday series.
Readers might be familiar with her excellent, long running DI Hillary Greene series. Hoping that these mysteries are just as entertaining. I’ll be interested to read your thoughts!
Happy Reading 📚