Fiction_L Archives Books about funeral direction Dates: 1/5/04,3:07 PM  through  1/12/04,3:43 PM  (30 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2011-current     2009-2010     2004-2008    1995-2003    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to January 2004 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: "Shad Turner" <[removed]@city.yellowknife.nt.ca>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:07 PM

Hi,
�
I had a patron today who is a funeral director and just finished Embalming is Not a Sport and loved it. Apparently it's a memoir-type story about a funeral director. Can anybody think of anything else which features funeral homes / funeral directors / undertakers / morticians?
�
Many thanks,
Shad
�

FROM: "Franz, Patty" <[removed]@pamunkeylibrary.org>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:19 PM

Your patron should read anything by Thomas Lynch who is an undertaker and the mysteries by Tim Cockey.

Patty Franz
Supervising Librarian
Pamunkey Regional Library
P. O. Box 119
Hanover, VA 23069

[removed]@pamunkeylibrary.org
www.pamunkeylibrary.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Shad Turner [[removed]@city.yellowknife.nt.ca]
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 2:59 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: Books about funeral direction

Hi,
�
I had a patron today who is a funeral director and just finished Embalming is Not a Sport and loved it. Apparently it's a memoir-type story about a funeral director. Can anybody think of anything else which features funeral homes / funeral directors / undertakers / morticians?
�
Many thanks,
Shad
�

FROM: "Jeanne Etling" <[removed]@nsls.info>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:19 PM

Shad,

One of Grandma Mazur's favorite things to do is go to viewings. So if your
patron is ready for a funeral director's nightmare, try some of the Janet
Evanovich mysteries featuring Stephanie Plum. There's at least one that has
a funeral home as part of the plot.

Jeanne Etling
Dundee (IL) Township Public Library District

----- Original Message -----
From: "Shad Turner" <[removed]@city.yellowknife.nt.ca>
> Hi,
>
> Can anybody think of anything else which features funeral homes / funeral
directors / undertakers / morticians?

FROM: Kate Kehoe <[removed]@umich.edu>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:19 PM

Thomas Lynch is an undertaker as well as a poet. He has 2 books of
essays, Undertaking and Bodies in Rest and Motion both make mention of
his trade. They are excellent books which I would recommend to anyone.

Kate

FROM: [removed]@wepl.lib.oh.us
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:25 PM

There's a mystery series by Tim Cockey that is about a Baltimore undertaker who rescues women and solves crimes. Reminds me of John D. MacDonalds' Travis Mcgee.
Hearse you came in on
Murder in the Hearse degree
Hearse case scenario
Hearse of a different color

Kathy Dugan
Technology/Public Services Manager
Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library
263 E. 305 Street
Willowick, OH 44095
(440) 944-6900 ext 113

----- Original Message -----
From: Shad Turner <[removed]@city.yellowknife.nt.ca>
Date: Monday, January 5, 2004 2:58 pm
Subject: Books about funeral direction

> Hi,
> �
> I had a patron today who is a funeral director and just finished
> Embalming is Not a Sport and loved it. Apparently it's a memoir-
> type story about a funeral director. Can anybody think of anything
> else which features funeral homes / funeral directors /
> undertakers / morticians?
> �
> Many thanks,
> Shad
> �
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org
>

FROM: "Laura McCaffery" <[removed]@acpl.lib.in.us>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:25 PM

If you want fiction, there are the mysteries by Tim Cockey. Hearse
case scenario, Hearse of a different color, and Murder in the Hearse
degree. Enjoyable.

Laura Hibbets McCaffery
Nonprofit Resource Center
Readers' Services
Allen County Public Library
200 E. Berry
Fort Wayne IN 46802
260-421-1238
This is my opinion and mine alone. The
views, opinions, and judgements
expressed in this message are solely
those of the author. The message
contents have not been reviewed or
approved by the Allen County Public
Library.

>>> [removed]@city.yellowknife.nt.ca 01/05/04 02:58PM >>>
Hi,

I had a patron today who is a funeral director and just finished
Embalming is Not a Sport and loved it. Apparently it's a memoir-type
story about a funeral director. Can anybody think of anything else which
features funeral homes / funeral directors / undertakers / morticians?

Many thanks,
Shad

FROM: [removed]@carmel.lib.in.us (Maureen Socha)
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:31 PM

I know a memoir was previously mentioned so maybe "Stiff: The Curious Lives
of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach may appeal to him.

At 03:05 PM 1/5/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>Thomas Lynch is an undertaker as well as a poet. He has 2 books of
>essays, Undertaking and Bodies in Rest and Motion both make mention of
>his trade. They are excellent books which I would recommend to anyone.
>
>Kate
>
>
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org
>
***********************************
Maureen A. Socha
Readers' Advisory Librarian
Carmel Clay Public Library
55 4th Ave SE
Carmel, IN 46032
(317) 814-3948
[removed]@carmel.lib.in.us

"I cannot live without books."
-Thomas Jefferson

"Whatever the cost of libraries, the
price is cheap compared to that of an
ignorant nation." -Walter Cronkite
***********************************

FROM: "Marx, Charleen, JCL" <[removed]@jocolibrary.org>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:37 PM

There is a mystery series by Tim Cockey that features a Baltimore undertaker. There are several titles in this series and a new one that just came out. The titles are:

The hearse you came in on
Hearse of a different color
Hearse case scenario
Murder in the hearse degree

Hope this helps! ~Charleen

Charleen Marx
Johnson County Library
Lackman Branch
Lenexa, KS 66215
[removed]@jocolibrary.org

-----Original Message-----
From: [removed]@maillist.webrary.org on behalf of Shad Turner
Sent: Mon 1/5/2004 1:58 PM
To: Fiction_L
Cc:
Subject: Books about funeral direction



Hi,

I had a patron today who is a funeral director and just finished Embalming is Not a Sport and loved it. Apparently it's a memoir-type story about a funeral director. Can anybody think of anything else which features funeral homes / funeral directors / undertakers / morticians?

Many thanks,
Shad


......................................................................
Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org


5睶�.n�+����˛���m�j�!����b�������X��*'.m��߉�b�ypy�گ*+

FROM: "Teresa Pennington" <[removed]@sanantonio.gov>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:37 PM

There is also Final Arrangements by Miles Andrew. This irreverent & funny fiction title is about a young man who has always wanted to be a mortician and has just become an apprentice at a funeral home in Florida.
-Teresa
Landa Branch
San Antonio Public Library

-----Original Message-----
From: Maureen Socha [[removed]@carmel.lib.in.us]
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 9:17 AM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: Re: Books about funeral direction

I know a memoir was previously mentioned so maybe "Stiff: The Curious Lives
of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach may appeal to him.

At 03:05 PM 1/5/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>Thomas Lynch is an undertaker as well as a poet. He has 2 books of
>essays, Undertaking and Bodies in Rest and Motion both make mention of
>his trade. They are excellent books which I would recommend to anyone.
>
>Kate
>
>
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org
>
***********************************
Maureen A. Socha
Readers' Advisory Librarian
Carmel Clay Public Library
55 4th Ave SE
Carmel, IN 46032
(317) 814-3948
[removed]@carmel.lib.in.us

"I cannot live without books."
-Thomas Jefferson

"Whatever the cost of libraries, the
price is cheap compared to that of an
ignorant nation." -Walter Cronkite
***********************************

FROM: "Carolyn O'Donnell" <[removed]@ahml.info>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:43 PM

Though the funeral director/industry is not the main focus of these books, funerals and funeral customs do play a part:

The Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich - Grandma is fascinated by funerals and in one of the books they even manage to blow up/burn down a funeral home.

Moonlight Becomes You by Mary Higgins Clark - In the Nineteenth Century, Victorians feared being buried alive. Some of them had a bell hung over their grave with a string threaded through an air vent in the coffin, so they could ring it if necessary, and they had their graves watched for a week after burial in case the bell rang. New York photographer Maggie Holloway becomes the target of a serial killer when she discovers a link between the murder of her elderly stepmother and the deaths of several wealthy older women at the Latham Manor retirement center. While visiting the women's graves, Maggie notices each has a bell buried near the headstone, a macabre gesture by the killer who has an elaborate financial scam underway. As she gets closer to the truth, she unwittingly puts herself in danger of being buried alive. (reader review from ebay)

Carolyn O'Donnell
Advisory Services Department
Arlington Heights Memorial Library
500 N. Dunton
Arlington Heights, IL 60004
847.870.4117

FROM: "Megan Flynn" <[removed]@minlib.net>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:43 PM

Final Arrangements by Miles Keaton Andrews and At Dead of Night by Linda
Amey are two.

Megan Flynn
Reference Librarian
Wellesley Free Library
530 Washington Street
Wellesley, MA �02482
781-235-1610 x274
www.wellesleyfreelibrary.org

-----Original Message-----
From: "Shad Turner" <[removed]@city.yellowknife.nt.ca>
To: Fiction_L <[removed]@maillist.webrary.org>
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 12:58:47 -0700
Subject: Books about funeral direction

> Hi,
> �
> I had a patron today who is a funeral director and just finished
> Embalming is Not a Sport and loved it. Apparently it's a memoir-type
> story about a funeral director. Can anybody think of anything else
> which features funeral homes / funeral directors / undertakers /
> morticians?
> �
> Many thanks,
> Shad
> �
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org

FROM: Theresa <[removed]@pelican.state.lib.la.us>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:43 PM

Someone else will probably have the same response and if so I apologize in
advance for the duplication, but the light mysteries by Tim Cockey (The
Hearse You Came In On is the first one) came to mind immediately. I don't
know if these are books which your patron would like, but the main
character is a wisecracking mortician.

Theresa Thevenote 318-253-7559
Avoyelles Parish Library http://www.avoyelles.lib.la.us
104 N Washington
Marksville LA 71351

>
>Subject: Books about funeral direction
>From: "Shad Turner" <[removed]@city.yellowknife.nt.ca>
>Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 12:58:47 -0700
>
>Hi,
>�
>I had a patron today who is a funeral director and just finished Embalming
is Not a Sport and loved it. Apparently it's a memoir-type story about a
funeral director. Can anybody think of anything else which features funeral
homes / funeral directors / undertakers / morticians?
>�
>Many thanks,
>Shad

FROM: "BrentTMiller" <[removed]@comcast.net>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:49 PM

Final Arrangements, by Miles Andrews.

Fiction -- very funny and irreverent.

Brent Miller

FROM: "Kristina Parlee" <[removed]@halifaxpubliclibraries.ca>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:49 PM

Hi,

The website overbooked recently posted a Six Feet Under inspired
booklist which may include some titles that would be of interest to your
patron.

http://www.overbooked.org/booklists/sixfeetunder.html

Kristina
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: Books about funeral direction
> From: "Shad Turner" <[removed]@city.yellowknife.nt.ca>
> Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 12:58:47 -0700
>
> Hi,
> �
> I had a patron today who is a funeral director and just finished
Embalming is Not a Sport and loved it. Apparently it's a memoir-type
story about a funeral director. Can anybody think of anything else which
features funeral homes / funeral directors / undertakers / morticians?
> �
> Many thanks,
> Shad
> �
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> End of Fiction_L Digest
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org
>

************************************************************************
******************
Kristina Parlee
Adult Services Librarian
Spring Garden Road Memorial Public Library
5381 Spring Garden Road
Halifax, N.S.
B3J 1E9
Phone: (902) 490-5799 Fax: (902) 490-5747

www.halifaxpubliclibraries.ca

FROM: "Carolyn O'Donnell" <[removed]@ahml.info>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:49 PM

Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier largely takes place in a cemetary.

Carolyn O'Donnell
Advisory Services Department
Arlington Heights Memorial Library
500 N. Dunton
Arlington Heights, IL 60004
847.870.4117

FROM: "Ina L. Bootle" <[removed]@ccl.charleston.lib.sc.us>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:55 PM

Try this classic - Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One.

Ina L. Bootle
Collection Development
Charleston County Public Library Phone: 843-805-6858
68 Calhoun Street Fax: 843-727-3749
Charleston, South Carolina 29401 E-mail: [removed]@ccpl.org

FROM: "Victoria Kemp" <[removed]@fortworthlibrary.org>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:55 PM

OOO! ME! ME! ME! <Hand waving madly in the back of the room>:
Tim Cockey's hilarious mysteries:
1.The hearse you came in on
2. Hearse case scenario
3. Hearse of a different color
4. Murder in the hearse degree.

All I know about funeral directors I learned from "Six Feet Under" which
also has an accompanying book entitled "Six Feet Under : better living
through death."
HTH
Viccy Kemp
The opinions are my own; the library wouldn't want 'em!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Shad Turner" <[removed]@city.yellowknife.nt.ca>
To: "Fiction_L" <[removed]@maillist.webrary.org>
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 1:58 PM
Subject: Books about funeral direction

> Hi,
>
> I had a patron today who is a funeral director and just finished Embalming
is Not a Sport and loved it. Apparently it's a memoir-type story about a
funeral director. Can anybody think of anything else which features funeral
homes / funeral directors / undertakers / morticians?
>
> Many thanks,
> Shad
>
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org

FROM: Cynthia Orr <[removed]@cpl.org>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 3:55 PM

Not so well known, as they were all in paperback, but Leo Axler has a series of mysteries starring a funeral director. They're all set in Cleveland:
1. Axler, Leo.
Double plot : a Bill Hawley undertaking / Leo Axler.
New York : Berkley Prime Crime, c1994.

2. Axler, Leo.
Final viewing : a Bill Hawley undertaking / Leo Axler.
New York : Berkley Prime Crime, 1994.

3. Axler, Leo.
Grave matters : a Bill Hawley undertaking / Leo Axler.
New York : Berkley Prime Crime, c1995.

4. Axler, Leo.
Separated at death / Leo Axler.
New York : Berkley Prime Crime, c1996.

Cindy

Cynthia Orr
Collection Manager
Cleveland Public Library
17133 Lake Shore Boulevard
Cleveland, OH 44110
Phone: 216-623-2906
Fax: 216-623-2977
http://www.cpl.org

----- Original Message -----
From: Carolyn O'Donnell <[removed]@ahml.info>
Date: Monday, January 5, 2004 4:45 pm
Subject: Re: Books about funeral direction
> Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier largely takes place in a cemetary.
>
> Carolyn O'Donnell
> Advisory Services Department
> Arlington Heights Memorial Library
> 500 N. Dunton
> Arlington Heights, IL 60004
> 847.870.4117
>
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org
>

FROM: "Karen Traynor, Chittenango" <[removed]@midyork.org>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 4:01 PM

Windchill Summer by Norris Church Mailer has a husband-wife team who work for an undertaker. They feature in some of the funnier parts of the book, although overall, I wouldn't consider it a comedy.

Karen Traynor
Sullivan Free Library
519 McDonnell Street
Chittenango, NY 13037

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "Shad Turner" <[removed]@city.yellowknife.nt.ca>
>I had a patron today who is a funeral director and just finished Embalming is Not a Sport and loved it. Apparently it's a memoir-type story about a funeral director. Can anybody think of anything else which features funeral homes / funeral directors / undertakers / morticians?
>�
>Many thanks,
>Shad
>�
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org
>

FROM: "C. L. Quillen" <[removed]@mtlaurel.lib.nj.us>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 4:01 PM

Grave Concerns and Dark Undertakings by Rebecca Tope.
The Unnatural by David Prill
Dangerous Undertaking by Mark De Castrique

-----Original Message-----
From: [removed]@maillist.webrary.org
[[removed]@maillist.webrary.org]On Behalf Of Shad Turner
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 2:59 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: Books about funeral direction

Hi,
�
I had a patron today who is a funeral director and just finished Embalming
is Not a Sport and loved it. Apparently it's a memoir-type story about a
funeral director. Can anybody think of anything else which features funeral
homes / funeral directors / undertakers / morticians?
�
Many thanks,
Shad
�

FROM: "Marnie Oakes" <[removed]@mailserv.mvlc.lib.ma.us>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 4:12 PM

Hi Shad, et al.

My Daddy WAS an undertaker and the whole family enjoyed:

Title: Daddy was an undertaker.
Author: Gassman, McDill McCown.
Published: New York : Vantage Press 1952
Subject: McCown, Joseph Albert, 1865-1934.

I believe it is out of print, but it appears that the Hagerstown
MD adult department owns a copy.
http://washco.wash.lib.md.us/MARION/%2BDADDY/36d50000b000/0

and books about which I know nothing:
Title: Don't drop the coffin! :
lifting the lid on Britain's most remarkable undertaker /
Author: Albin-Dyer, Barry.
Publication: London : Hodder & Stoughton, 2002

I married a funeral director /
Author: Westmoreland, Myrtle Hopkins.
Publication: Amelia Island, Fla. : Graphic Dimensions, 1997

These seem to be non-fiction. I found them on FirstSearch.
If you want the owning libraries, let me know.

Would love the list of the books Fiction_L suggests, if you
compile it. I'll share it with the owner of the funeral home
across the street from the library and the cemetery commissioner
who lives in a apartment above the funeral home.

Marnie Oakes

Marnie Oakes, Director
Reuben Hoar Library
41 Shattuck Street
Littleton, MA 01460
Phone: 978-486-4046
Fax: 978-952-2323

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.558 / Virus Database: 350 - Release Date: 1/2/2004

FROM: "Jonelis, Bonnie" <[removed]@crystallakelibrary.org>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 4:28 PM

Camille Minichino has a series of five mysteries (#6 coming in March) that feature a character named Gloria Lamerino who is a retired physicist living in an apartment above the funeral parlor owned and operated by her best friends--fellow Italian Americans. The setting plays a part in some of the stories as I remember. The first in the series is the Hydrogen Murder. (The author is working her way through the periodic table.)

Bonnie Jonelis
Crystal Lake Public Library

y�m�˛���m맲��r��zǚ��m��r�z�/z���)�'-��ˆ�i���rب�\n��ʊ�

FROM: "Cynthia Baskin" <[removed]@verizon.net>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 6:38 PM

Flamingo Rising by Larry Baker, fiction about a family who owns a funeral
home in FL and the conflicts that arise when a drive-in movie opens up next
door. One of my favorite books of all time!!!

Cynthia

FROM: "Cynthia Baskin" <[removed]@verizon.net>
REC'D: 1/5/04, 6:44 PM

Flamingo Rising by Larry Baker, fiction about a family who owns a funeral
home in FL and the conflicts that arise when a drive-in movie opens up next
door. One of my favorite books of all time!!!

Cynthia

FROM: "Johnson, Micaela" <[removed]@arls.org>
REC'D: 1/6/04, 6:42 AM

I simply loved Final Arrangments by Andrew Miles.
It's about a man joined the ranks of Morton-Albright, a family owned and operated mortuary,
in the small Florida town of Angel Shoals.
It was hilarious.

Micaela G Johnson
Appomattox Regional Library System
www.arls.org

FROM: Carolyn Scheer <[removed]@mail.connect.more.net>
REC'D: 1/6/04, 8:07 AM

Didn't see these mentioned:

A recent non-fiction book titled GRAVE UNDERTAKINGS: MORTICIAN BY DAY, MODEL
BY NIGHT: ONE WOMAN'S TRUE-LIFE ADVENTURES by Alexandra Kathryn Mosca (New
Horizon Press, 2003) has been getting a lot of circulation at our
library--the author apparently did some limited, but memorable, publicity.

An oldie by Aldous Huxley--AFTER MANY A SUMMER--was a personal favorite many
years ago, probably more about death than funeral direction, but strange and
wonderful.
Carolyn Scheer
Reference Librarian
Scenic Regional Library
308 Hawthorne Drive
Union, MO 63084

FROM: Spencer Ms Martha <[removed]@usmc-mccs.org>
REC'D: 1/6/04, 8:23 AM

The Undertaking by Thomas Lynch. He is an undertaker by trade as well a
gifted poet and essayist.

Martha

-----Original Message-----
From: Shad Turner [[removed]@city.yellowknife.nt.ca]
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 2:59 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: Books about funeral direction

Hi,
�
I had a patron today who is a funeral director and just finished Embalming
is Not a Sport and loved it. Apparently it's a memoir-type story about a
funeral director. Can anybody think of anything else which features funeral
homes / funeral directors / undertakers / morticians?
�
Many thanks,
Shad
�

FROM: misha stone <[removed]@yahoo.com>
REC'D: 1/6/04, 3:32 PM

One of the first authors that comes to mind for me in
terms of funeral direction is Thomas Lynch, undertaker
and poet. (When I saw a reading of his a few years
ago it was one of the few times when at a literary
event, audience members asked the author about
embalming.) He has written two books of essays about
his work as an undertaker (his father was one too):

The Undertaking: Life Studies from a Dismal Trade

Bodies in Motion and at Rest: On Metaphor and
Mortality

There is also a new book called "Stiff" which is
supposed to be good. And of course, Jessica Mitford's
"The American Way of Death" is still a mainstay in its
expose of the funeral industry (her name, according to
Lynch, is much bemoaned at funeral home conferences).
And not to forget the excellent HBO series, "Six Feet
Under."

Hope this helps!

Misha Stone
Fiction Librarian
The Seattle Public Library
[removed]@spl.org

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes
http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus

FROM: "Kathleen Marszycki" <[removed]@rathbunpl.libraryofconnecticut.org>
REC'D: 1/6/04, 4:26 PM

Another suggestion to add to the "funeral" readings: Cathie Pelletier's
"The Funeral Makers" (1991) -- humourous cast of characters and a
funeral that will send you to the floor in tears of laughter!
Amazon.com has a good collection of the reviews (including Library
Journal) -- I enjoyed Pelletier's works so much, I ordered myself some
used copies of several titles, which I plan to re-read in the coming
winter weeks!

Kelly Marszycki, Director
Rathbun Memorial Library
East Haddam, CT 06423

FROM: Dennis Lien <[removed]@tc.umn.edu>
REC'D: 1/12/04, 3:43 PM

At 12:58 PM 1/5/04 -0700, you wrote:
>Hi,
>�
>I had a patron today who is a funeral director and just finished Embalming
is Not a Sport and loved it. Apparently it's a memoir-type story about a
funeral director. Can anybody think of anything else which features funeral
homes / funeral directors / undertakers / morticians?
>�
>Many thanks,
>Shad

One person did already mention this, but I'm noting it again as it's
got to be the most undertakerish fiction I've ever heard of: THE
UNNATURAL by (Minnesota author) David Prill, a straight-faced
extrapolation of a society in which embalming etc. is a massively
popular spectator sport.

Two minor additions not yet noted: Peter Beagle's A FINE AND PRIVATE
PLACE takes place in a graveyard; I don't recall if funeral
directors are among the (rather small) cast. And I recently read
a crime/mystery novel in which a young woman, on the run and hiding
out from skiptracers etc., talks her way into a job as a beautician
for a small-town mortuary and continues with same for several
chapters before she's found and runs on. I'm about 80% sure it's
Joe Gores' CONS, SCAMS AND GRIFTS.

Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu

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