Andrew Shaffer’s Hope Never Dies features a memorable pair of interracial investigators, Barack Hussein Obama and Joseph R. Biden. Yes, it’s who you think it is, as the estranged ex-president and his vice reteam two years after leaving office, to investigate the death of Biden family friend and Amtrak conductor Finn Donnelly. Although the Wilmington, Delaware, police suspect suicide, “Uncle Joe” Biden thinks otherwise, and sets out to uncover the truth, no matter the personal cost. The investigation is both a chance for him to clear his friend’s name and to repair his strained relationship with his former boss. Shaffer writes with great wit and verve, delivering a credible, well-wrought mystery, perfectly told in the stalwart vice president’s amusing voice.