Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author, Abby L. Vandiver loves a good mystery. Born and raised in Cleveland, it’s even a mystery to her why she has yet to move to a warmer place. Abby loves to travel, and curl up with a good book or movie. A former lawyer and college professor, she has a bachelor's degree in Economics, a master's in Public Administration, and a Juris Doctor. Writer-in-Residence at her local library, Abby spends all of her time writing and enjoying her grandchildren.

abby l.

VANDIVER

SECRETS, LIES, & CRAWFISH PIES (#1)

amateur sleuths, cozy, humorous, Southern fiction

Romaine Wilder Mysteries

Romaine Wilder, big-city medical examiner with a small-town past, has been downsized and evicted. With few other options, she returns to her hometown of Robel in East Texas. Suzanne Babet Derbinay, Romaine’s Auntie Zanne, proprietor of the Ball Funeral Home, has long since traded her French Creole upbringing for Big Texas attitude. Hanging on to the magic of her Louisiana roots, she’s cooked up a love potion or two—if she could only get Romaine to drink it. But when Ball gets a squatter stiff, she can’t abide by a murderer using her funeral home as a dumping grounds. And Romaine doesn’t want her newly elected cousin, Sheriff Pogue Folsom, to fail on his first murder case. Together, Romaine and Auntie Zanne set off to solve it.  

“The amusing narrative zips along, providing a multilayered plot with loads of plausible suspects and possible motives. Cozy fans will look forward to Romaine’s future exploits.” – Publishers Weekly

LOVE, HOPES, & MARRIAGE TROPES (#2)

A wedding and a murder...Romaine knew it was a bad idea to have a wedding at the funeral home, but newly elected justice of the peace and sole proprietor of the Ball Funeral Home & Crematorium, her Auntie Zanne, thought it was a perfect way to advertise her business. Instead, it’s another murder that’s been dropped on her doorstep. That can’t be good for business. Add to that, Romaine’s beau from up north shows up out of the blue and has her hoping for her chance at happily ever after and escaping her tiny hometown of Roble. First, though, a murder has to be solved and Romaine pairs up with her Auntie Zanne (against the direct order of Romaine’s first cousin, Sheriff Pogue Folsom), and aims to catch the killer before the Friday Night Lights go on.

POTIONS, TELLS, & DEADLY SPELLS (#3)

It’s the 100th Boule of the Distinguished Ladies’ Society of Voodoo Herbalists. They’ve gotten together to eat, drink, be merry and vote for the next Lesser Mambo, a lifetime appointment second only to the Most High (bet you’ll never guess who holds that position). But the second in command spot keeps becoming vacant—because the women who fill it keep dying off. This time though, it looks like murder. During an alcohol-infused dinner and a tall glass full of absinth, a seemingly innocent spilled drink in the lap of Mrs. Eugenia Elder, the Lesser Mambo Elect, ends up killing her. And while the server seems remorseful for her “accident,” it’s soon discovered that the whole thing was planned. Vivienne “Miss Vivee” Pennywell, Logan and Mac from Yasamee, Georgia (and the Logan Dickerson cozy mystery series) make an appearance and help get the murder investigation underway, one that Romaine and Auntie Zanne have decided to figure out together.