Down Among the Dead Men: A Year in the Life of a Mortuary Technician

To Williams, life in the mortuary is neither grim nor frightening. She introduces readers to a host of unique characters: pathologists (many eccentric, some utterly crazy), undertakers, and the man from the coroner’s office who sings to her every morning. No two days are the same, and while Williams’s sensitivity to the dead never wavers, her tales from the crypt range from mischievous to downright shocking. Readers won’t forget the fitness fanatic run over while doing nighttime push-ups on the road, the man so large he was carted in via refrigerated truck, or the guide dog who led his owner onto railway tracks—and left him there.

The indomitable Williams never bats an eye, even as she is confronted—daily—with situations that would leave the rest of us speechless.