Obama/Biden mystery author visits Browseabout

Author Andrew Shaffer stopped by Browseabout Books July 29 to sign copies of his new mystery, “Hope Never Dies: An Obama Biden Mystery.”

The book features protagonist Joe Biden, bored with retirement and missing his former BFF, Barack Obama, busy jet-setting with actor Bradley Cooper and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The suspicious death of Biden’s favorite railroad conductor re-unites Biden and Obama in a search for the truth about the conductor’s death and his connection with Biden. A little part bromance, a little part action, the novel captures the public persona of both leaders in a humorous page-turner.

Shaffer said as he wrote the mystery, he drew heavily from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective fiction featuring Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.

“Sherlock and President Obama are both impenetrable,” he said. “Watson and Joe Biden are both down-to-earth. The common man.”

While Biden mentions his Rehoboth Beach home in the novel, the pair’s quest does not take them to Sussex County - not yet, anyway. Shaffer is already at work at the sequel, set to be released before the 2020 presidential election.

“I don’t have every twist and turn mapped out, but I can guarantee there will be plenty of malarkey,” Shaffer said.

In a nod to Biden’s favorite dessert, Brosweabout treated customers to free ice cream during the book-signing.