Love, Hopes, & Marriage Tropes * Abby L. Vandiver * Romaine Wilder #2

When an NFL hopeful collapses and dies moments before his controversial wedding, a big-city medical examiner stuck in her tiny East Texas hometown must team up with her eccentric funeral director aunt to expose a calculated killer.

The Story: Written by Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling cozy mystery master Abby L. Vandiver, this fast-paced second installment in the acclaimed Romaine Wilder universe turns a shotgun wedding into a volatile investigative workspace. Dr. Romaine Wilder, a downsized Chicago medical examiner, is trying to figure out her next steps while stuck in her small hometown of Roble, Texas. Her low-friction routine permanently shatters when her Auntie Zanne - the bold proprietor of the Ball Funeral Home & Crematorium who was recently elected Justice of the Peace - decides to host a local wedding right inside the mortuary to advertise her business.

The festive parameters turn catastrophic before the ceremony even begins. The groom, star football player and NFL prospect Michael "Bumper" Hackett, collapses from what looks like a sudden asthma attack—but Romaine’s advanced medical diagnostic toolkit quickly identifies the unvarnished signature of cold-blooded homicide. To complicate her tracking lines, Romaine’s boyfriend from up north shows up out of the blue, sparking hopes of a personal sanctuary and a quick escape from Roble.Defying the strict administrative boundaries and protective shields of her cousin, Sheriff Pogue Folsom, Romaine and Auntie Zanne launch a synchronized counter-campaign to audit the town's secrets. Moving step-by-step through a dark ledger of sports rivalries, pregnancy scandals, and hidden family motives, they face a ticking-clock deadline to trap the predator before the local Friday night football lights turn on.

Perfect For: Fans of quirky, small-town amateur sleuth pairings, readers who love medical examiner and funeral home backgrounds, and dedicated collectors of Southern cozy mysteries by authors like Laura Childs, Donna Andrews, or Abby L. Vandiver's alternative pen name books.