Caught up in a moment of boyhood competition, William Bellman recklessly aims his slingshot at a rook resting on a branch, killing the bird instantly. It is a small but cruel act, and is soon forgotten. By the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, William seems to have put the whole incident behind him. It was as if he never killed the thing at all. But rooks don’t forget. Years later, when a stranger mysteriously enters William’s...

Fascinated by our pervasive fear of dead bodies, mortician Caitlin Doughty set out to discover how other cultures care for the dead. In rural Indonesia, she watches a man clean and dress his grandfather's mummified body, which has resided in the family home for two years. In La Paz, she meets Bolivian natitas (cigarette-smoking, wish-granting human skulls), and in Tokyo she encounters the Japanese kotsuage ceremony, in which relatives use chopsticks...

If being stuffed into last year's dress pants at his cousin Patrick's wake weren't uncomfortable enough, Jimmy is told by his mother that he has to give the eulogy at the funeral the next day. What could he possibly say? Patrick ruined everything they did, and Jimmy can't recall one birthday party, family gathering, or school event with him that didn't result in injury or destruction. Then he realizes that sometimes it's not the words spoken but what...

Seventeen-year-old Matt wears a black suit every day. No, not because his mom died--although she did, but he wears the suit for his gig at the local funeral home, which pays way better than the Cluck Bucket, and he needs the income since his dad can’t handle the bills. So while Dad’s snagging bottles of whiskey, Matt’s snagging fifteen bucks an hour. Then Matt meets Lovey. Crazy name, and she’s been through more crazy stuff than he can imagine....

Four women share their secrets after the funeral of their ex-husband. It happens when they decide to ride back together and the car becomes stuck in a snow storm. They all agree he was a good-for-nothing, so why did they marry him? The setting is North Dakota.

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18C. Hadley's in 18A. Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel...

Serial-killer biographer and mystery novelist Schechter{u2019}s compendium on the perpetually fascinating subject that is his stock-in-trade is enhanced by such browser-friendly features as recommended reading lists and sidebars recurring (e.g., ?Death Fun Fact????????plenty of those) and singular (?Going Out Viking Style?), not to mention waggish, Gorey-esque illustrations. Useful facts and distinctions abound; for instance, the necrophilia section...

This story of a young woman's confrontation with death and her past is a poetic study of human relations. "The Optimist's Daughter" is the story of Laurel McKelva Hand, a young woman who has left the South and returns, years later, to New Orleans, where her father is dying. After his death, she and her silly young stepmother go back still farther, to the small Mississippi town where she grew up. Alone in the old house, Laurel finally comes to an understanding...

In the winter of 1926, when everybody everywhere sees nothing but good things ahead, Joe Trace, middle-aged door-to-door salesman of Cleopatra beauty products, shoots his teenage lover to death. At the funeral, Joe's wife, Violet, attacks the girl's corpse. This passionate, profound story of love and obsession brings us back and forth in time, as a narrative is assembled from the emotions, hopes, fears, and deep realities of Black urban life.

Is the Cemetary Dead? gets to the heart of the tragedy of death, chronicling how Americans are adapting or reinventing old traditions, burial places, and memorials. David Charles Sloane reveals how people are seizing control of their grief by bringing their relatives home to die, interring them in natural burial grounds, mourning them online, or memorializing them with shrines, murials, and ghost bikes. Today's mourners are incresingly breaking free...