Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer

From the publisher: Vice President Joe Biden is fresh out of the Obama White House and feeling adrift when his favorite railroad conductor dies in a suspicious accident, leaving behind an ailing wife and a trail of clues. To unravel the mystery, “Amtrak Joe” re-teams with the only man he’s ever fully trusted—the 44th president of the United States. Together they’ll plumb the darkest corners of Delaware, traveling from cheap motels to biker bars and beyond, as they uncover the sinister forces advancing America’s opioid epidemic.

A run of the mill mystery elevated by the fact that it's narrated by a (fictional) Joe Biden, kicking around with nothing to do and missing his BFF Barack Obama. When a friend from his days riding Amtrak is killed, Obama shows up at his house, secret service agent in tow (poor Biden no longer qualifies for secret service protection).

Biden and Obama (and the dour secret service agent) get pulled into solving the mystery and busting a drug running ring. Obama is cool but heroic; Biden is self reflective and self deprecating. Everything we loved about those Obama/Biden memes is captured in this book. Biden jokes with the clerk at a convenience store about the weather; when she responds with "global warming," Obama counters with a lecture on climate change. 

Hope Never Dies got a big draggy, but it's worth continuing for those golden Obama/Biden moments. Recommended for those who miss their presidential bromance.

I read an advance reader copy of Hope Never Dies; it will be available at the Galesburg Public Library as an ebook and in print in July,