My name is Romaine Gabriela Sadie Heloise Wilder, I’m fortyish, of mixed race French Creole, and death is my legacy.

Let me explain that . . .

When I was twelve my parents died and I moved to Roble in East Texas with my Auntie Zanne whose home was also a funeral parlor. The Ball Funeral Home and Crematorium, a renovated antebellum plantation, wasn’t a bad place to grow up, in fact, I’m sure it helped in my eventual career path–I’m a medical examiner, but it sure wasn’t typical. My auntie is not only a mortician, but she’s a Voodoo herbalist. Yep, you heard me right. She mixes up a mean brew in her kitchen and has got a potion for anything that ails you, including a lonely heart or a cheating spouse. I steer clear of any cup of steamy, murky concoction she tries to push down my throat (mostly because I know she’s got a “marrying” brew with my name on it).

Oh yeah, she’s a handful to deal with. Born in Louisiana, she was christened Suzanne Arelia Sophie Babet St. Romain, Auntie Zanne to me, she’s Babet to everyone else. When she married she became a Derbinay, a name she still wears proudly nearly fifty years after becoming a widow, and after moving to the Lone Star State, Auntie Zanne traded her Creole heritage for big Texas attitude and small town intrusiveness. A member in dozens of clubs and ladies’ auxiliaries, she’s a Roble darling. But my heart wasn’t in any of her new traditions. I still liked to speak French Creole, and listen to the blues my father played on his Gibson Les Paul guitar. So, as soon as I graduated from medical school I moved away. Far away. All the way to Chicago.

Inhaling the antiseptic smell of my hospital’s morgue, drinking high priced latte in the mornings, walks along the Lakeshore Trail to unwind after a hectic day, and sharing a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon with the doctor I’m seeing in the evenings was my idea of a good life. And it’s what I had. For a little while.

But now I was back home. I had been downsized at my job, and evicted from Sheridan Park apartment all within a month. And my only recourse—to move back in with my zany Auntie Zanne. I do hope my stay will be short, and I’m still counting on my doctor love to come and rescue me, but meanwhile small town Roble has become a big time murder den and I feel myself pulling pulled in. I know it may be bad to say, but all the goings on has made Roble . . . well, a kind of exciting place to be even if that includes having to rein in my auntie sometimes. I mean, the first day back, a murdered body was found in the crematorium! Wouldn’t that pique your interest?

Add to that, my first cousin, Pogue Folsom, is the newly elected sheriff, but he is quite green when it came to solving murder. He needed help. Auntie Zanne was on the murderer’s trail from the word “go” and it didn’t take long for me to follow suit. And I found I’m actually good at finding out whodunit. My Auntie Zanne? Well, that’s another story all together . . .

You can read more about Romaine in Secrets, Lies, Crawfish Pies, the first book in the NEW “Romaine Wilder” mystery series.

Romaine Wilder, big-city medical examiner with a small-town past, has been downsized and evicted. With few other options, she’s forced to return to her hometown of Roble in East Texas, leaving behind the man she’s dating and the life she’s worked hard to build.

Suzanne Babet Derbinay, Romaine’s Auntie Zanne and proprietor of the Ball Funeral Home, has long since traded her French Creole upbringing for Big Texas attitude. She’s a member in a number of ladies’ auxiliaries and clubs, including being in charge of the Tri-County Annual Crawfish Boil and Music Festival.

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 her plans are derailed when the Ball Funeral Home, bursting at the seams with dead bodies, has a squatter stiff.

Dead Guy is a problem.

Auntie Zanne can’t abide by a murderer using her funeral home as the dumping grounds for their crimes, 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.

With a dash of humor, a dollop of Southern charm, and a peek at current social issues in the mix, it’s a fun romp around East Texas to solve a murder mystery of the cozy kind.

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Meet the author
Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author, Abby L. Vandiver has always loved to write, combining that with her gift for telling stories, and mystery she became an author. Writing cozy mysteries, she has written as an indie author and traditionally published. All of her books have been Amazon #1 bestsellers.

Abby has a bachelors in Economics, a master’s in Public Administration and a Juris Doctor. She resides in Cleveland, Ohio and enjoys spending time with her grandchildren. Visit Abby at abbyvandiver.com.

All comments are welcomed.