Hi Jon and welcome to a meeting place of kindred souls.
You are in the right place or said another way to quote a line from Indian Jones and the Last Crusade, "You have chosen well."
As you likely already know, all Comanches have their attractions - 250s, most made, 260B one of the sweetest, 180 (can be made to be quite fast), 400 mega machine and my personal favorite, sleek, efficient Twins.
Since you do your own maintenance and Twins are relatively cheap now and you consider safety paramount, you might consider a twin. The upfront cost is learning to fly them safely and practicing single engine work, however, there is nothing quite like that second engine when one fails for whatever reason.
...but then I might be biased. If you do consider a Twin, the stock PA30B was the fastest out of the factory, the stock 39 with no critical engine, easier to fly.
Best of luck and look forward to your future posts.