"As a Gracekeeper, Callanish administers shoreside burials, laying the dead to their final resting place deep in the depths of the ocean. Alone on her island, she has exiled herself to a life of tending watery graves as penance for a long-ago mistake that still haunts her. Meanwhile, North works as a circus performer with the Excalibur, a floating troupe of acrobats, clowns, dancers, and trainers who sail from one archipelago to the next, entertaining...

"When an unnatural cause of death finds one of her clients, Desiree must get to the bottom of the murder before she's fitted for a coffin, herself. Funeral director Desiree Turner deals with death by natural causes all the time. Death by unnatural causes? Not so much. Yet, she and her boyfriend Nate have heard some not-so-dear things about the recently departed. A suspicious remark by the late Frank Fiore's daughters sparks some concern. And when...

"What's the one secret no one knows about you? Archie Mint has a secret. He's led a charmed life--he's got a beautiful wife, two impressive kids, and a successful military career. But when he's killed while trying to stop a robbery in his own home, his family is shattered--and then shocked when the other shoe drops. Mint's been hiding criminal secrets none of them could have imagined. While working on Mint's body before his funeral, mortician 'Zig'...

Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty -- a twenty-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre -- took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life's work. Thrown into a profession of gallows humor and vivid characters (both living and very dead), Caitlin learned to navigate the secretive culture of those who care for the deceased. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes tells an unusual coming-of-age...

"Jonathan Collins is a relatively young man when he loses a leg in the Civil War, but he quickly learns to cope. He carves his own wooden leg, then he turns his skills to making coffins and, finally, undertaking. Since both trades are best plied where there's a constant need, he sets up shop in violent towns, and in one of those towns he meets Wild Bill Hickock. These towns are no place for a lonely man, so Jon, now nicknamed "Pinebox," relocates...

Abby Knight discovers that sometimes death can be a little fun in the sixth Flower Shop Mystery...
Abby is amused by the black humor of the usually somber “death professionals” who are attending the Midwestern Funeral Directors Association’s regional convention. Even organizer Sybil Blount—known for her cutthroat business practices and the signature rose she wears in her wig—comes as a surprise…especially...

"Set during Reconstruction-era New Orleans, this new work from the acclaimed author of Between Earth and Sky is a powerful story of human resilience--and of the unlikely bonds that hold fast even in our darkest moments. Effie Jones, a former slave who escaped to the Union side as a child, knows the truth of her words. Taken in by an army surgeon and his wife during the War, she learned to read and write, to tolerate the sight of blood and broken bodies--and...

Daigo Kobayashi is a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and finds himself without a job. He decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled 'Departures' thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency. He discovers that the job is actually for a 'Nokanshi' or 'encoffineer,' a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry...

"Every day, funeral director Caitlin Doughty receives dozens of questions about death. The best questions come from kids. What would happen to an astronaut's body if it were pushed out of a space shuttle? Do people poop when they die? Can Grandma have a Viking funeral?In Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?, Doughty blends her mortician's knowledge of the body and the intriguing history behind common misconceptions about corpses to offer factual, hilarious,...

"In the tiny, rural town of Carthage, Texas, assistant funeral director Bernie Tiede was one of the town's most beloved residents. He taught Sunday school, sang in the church choir and was always willing to lend a helping hand. Everyone loved and appreciated Bermie, so it came as no surprise when he befriended Marjorie Nugent, an affluent widow who was as well known for her sour attitude as her fortune ... The people of Carthage were shocked when...