Fatal Charm

The Shocking True Story of Serial Wife Killer Randy Roth

By: Carlton Smith

Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright

Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

From the best-selling author of The Search for the Green River Killer: a chilling true account of the dream husband who was every woman's nightmare.

Randy Roth was handsome, hardworking, kind, and in top physical shape. But for all his charm and good looks, he was seemingly cursed with the ladies. His first marriage ended in divorce before the couple's fifth anniversary; his second wife plunged to her death during a hike; and his third wife left him after less than five months.

But when Roth's fourth wife, Cynthia, drowned in an apparent speedboating accident in Washington State's Lake Sammamish just weeks after their first anniversary, a pattern of suspicious behavior finally caught up to him. As Roth set about collecting on a hefty insurance payout, the authorities were on to his game.

Roth had been careful - and so close to getting away with it. But, as chronicled by Seattle Times reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist Carlton Smith, his lies were about to come crashing down around him.

©1993 Carlton Smith (P)2019 Tantor

Meh, good noise

Good for just being a noisy-distraction; otherwise I never felt drawn in or cared about the players or the outcome

A little to long

Story good but after a while I just wanted it to speed up and get to the conclusion

SOOOO close to 5 stars

The story is terrific - this man is a creep. Working in insurance, I'm sorry to say that we have dealt with humans similar to him. it's frustrating, but sure if fun to uncover the lies they weave!! The narration was good. Kevin Pierce is my favorite narrator for true crime, but Sellon-Wright did a fantastic job. My review would have been 5 stars across the board if I had found out his fate a bit better & would have found out how his sons were doing today. Other than that, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys true crime reading.

Total POS for a male!

This book describes why some Mothers eat their young but alas, the Mother of this male did not and then he was let loose on the females of the world! Extremely sorry excuse for a male!! Just as bad were the females that didn't go with their intuition and probably would have lived through it.

Absolutely terrible Narrator - sounded like he was sick and raspy the whole way through the book and after every single name of a person, he would 'synonym'?!?! Why, who knows but it was maddening and totally not needed!!

I felt informed, not involved

When you read details of a crime then you ate informed. When an author pulls you into the story so much that you can *feel* what at least some of the people feel, then you are involved.
I just didn’t feel like the author made me care about anyone. Intellectually I knew what had happened was devastating to some, and that Randy Roth is at minimum a selfish horrible man. But I didn’t feel that naturally, emotionally.

Still, worth a read. Worth maybe 3/4 of a credit.

The narration was a little bit droning—just a little—but not enough to turn me off to another book with him as narrator. The male and female voices seemed to be equal (that is, he didn’t voice woman as whiny or males apologetic, or practically John Wayne).

Well written and Read

Good solid true crime writer.
“Just the Facts Mam” is what I got.
No long drama stories.
Enjoyed the book and recommend it.

Worth the reading!

Very thought-provoking and well-written...sometimes i had trouble remembering some of the names involved. Very good narration.

Heartbreaking

Randy Roth has no emotion, no conscience. How very sad what he did to these women and their families. He is the best example of the quote “the love of money is the root of all evil”. Everything he did boiled down to money.

Good book!

this is a very good book about terrible events that are hard to prove. I really enjoyed the way this author detailed all of the massive info. Loved the narrator as well!

A horrible story we’ll told

A predator paid the price, and this story did a good job of representing all the nuances.