If you’re a Nosy Nelly (like me), you’ve probably had a passing thought that you’d make a good private detective. It’s important to remember, though, that the real experience of investigation is highly unlikely to resemble the classics like The Maltese Falcon or The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes. In fact, I’d imagine the reality is far closer to something like A Routine Infidelity.
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Set in Melbourne, A Routine Infidelity follows Ted, a prickly private detective with “intimacy issues”. She mostly tails cheating spouses and serves court documents, but she’s eager to grow her business into something more. Things heat up when one of her subjects turns out to be embezzling millions from his business partner – only his flinty wife seems to be more concerned about the girlfriend he has on the side. Ted just wants to make sure that her detective work gets due credit when the police finally nab him, but that might mean putting herself in danger to get the job done.
Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem – except that her neighbour, a “psychic” who (in Ted’s opinion) exploits the grief-stricken for cash, keeps saying that Ted’s dead mum is trying to send her a warning from beyond the grave. Ted tries to shrug it off, but it gets harder and harder as more of this “psychic”‘s predictions are coming true.
There are quite a few moving parts in A Routine Infidelity – as well as the fake psychic medium and the philandering embezzler, there’s also Ted’s sister being catfished on a dating app, Ted’s frosty relationship with her father, and a friends-with-benefits relationship ruined by feelings – but it’s all still easy enough to follow. And, I don’t mind telling you, it’s surprisingly gripping to boot.
If you’re really determined, you can derive some deeper meaning from A Routine Infidelity. It can be read as a story about grief, or women’s agency in their domestic lives, but this might be one of the rare cases where reading between the lines ruins the fun. Taken at face value, it’s a campy suburban mystery with snappy dialogue and a wonderfully diverse cast of colourful characters – and that’s where it excels.
My favourite character, naturally, is the miniature schnauzer named Miss Marple. I must warn fellow dog-lovers that there is one very scary moment of mortal peril for Miss Marple, but other than that she comes through A Routine Infidelity unscathed (and is, indeed, the hero of the story on more than one occasion).
The final chapter throws the door wide open for a sequel, and I’d certainly be keen to read it. A Routine Infidelity is great fun, the kind of mystery that doesn’t make you work too hard, but doesn’t insult your intelligence either. I’d certainly recommend it to read on the couch at the end of a long week with your beverage of choice (and a trusty canine companion snuggled up with you, if one is available).
Read A Routine Infidelity on audiobook via Libro.fm here. (affiliate link)
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