"The dead were seldom pretty, because death was never pretty, although sometimes kind." "The corpse passed gas loudly. Quickly, David grabbed a piece of embalming fluid-soaked cotton with the packing forceps and twisted it up her anus. He followed this with a dry piece, pushing it in firmly, then lowered the legs. He next lifted the woman's knees and spread them, keeping her feet together. The last piece of wet cotton was thrust into the gaping vagina, followed again by a dry piece. The fluid would kill germs and shrink the tissue around the cotton, preventing leaks of gas, liquid, or solid. It was an ugly thing to do, but the law required it. No exceptions." Love and romance, sex, heroism, suspense, death, murder, hatred, violence, seduction, incest, creepiness, gothic horror, terror, blood, embalming, cremation, premature burial--welcome to Morton's Mortuary. David Weiss is stuck in Nebraska for a year as an apprentice mortician. His secret past explains why he's so good with a scalpel. Morris Morton, his boss, is trying to find his missing son, Michael. Morton's wife, Marta, is a cougar who devours young men. His lovely daughter, Catherine, is a grad student when she isn't putting makeup on corpses. David Weiss is intrigued, but Catherine has her own dark secrets and keeps her distance. And where are those bums who keep disappearing from the homeless shelters? "Mortuary" will shock you, thrill you, repulse you, delight you, and make you want to live forever.