Biggie Weatherford is a small town Texas sleuth. In this outing Biggie investigates the death of the new town undertaker who apparently drowned in the bathtub. Or did he?

Ex-cop Barry Clayton has returned to his hometown, a small North Carolina mountain village, to help his mother and uncle run the family business-a funeral home. Barry’s friend, the local police chief, finds ways to involve Barry in some of his investigations. In this first in the series Barry searches for a fugitive who shot and wounded him at a funeral.

This first in the series features ex-nurse and undertaker trainee Drew Slocombe. Healthy lifestyle-living Jim Lapsford succumbs to a heart attack, but his doctor thinks there may have been foul play. Drew thinks that there is quite a bit of conflicting evidence to warrant a coroner’s inquest. This first in this wonderful British series is excellent, and will entice the reader to want to read the rest of this interesting series.

Quince Bishop, a trust fund slacker, is attending a funeral, which a group of protestors interrupts. Quince chases the protestors, and ends up getting involved with a woman, Maria Casteneda, who runs a legitimate cadaver’s rights group. With the help of Maria and Quince’s ex-girlfriend, Quince uncovers the dastardly doings at the Palm Grove Cemetery.

Handsome Hitchcock Sewell is an undertaker who also happens to be a darn fine sleuth. A beautiful woman shows up at the funeral home wanting to talk about her own funeral arrangements. This unusual circumstance starts the reader on a fast-paced romp that takes place in Baltimore, Maryland. Throw in some dirty videos and police and political corruption, plus the Baltimore Orioles, crabs and the sexiest woman on the Eastern seaboard, Hitchcock’s ex-wife and you have a very clever, funny mystery.