A grouchy goth mortician with a heart of gold gets embroiled in the murder investigation of the man she embalmed with the infuriating help of the handsome son of her town’s rival funeral home. The Maid meets « Six Feet Under » with a dash of Dial A For Aunties in this funny, clever debut mystery.
THE MOODY MORTICIAN
by Samantha Jay
Dutton, Spring 2027
(via The Gernert Company)
« I’m telling you, dude. The living. They are the worst. »
For Riley Peluso, a 28-year-old funeral director, death isn’t scary, gross, or annoying—it’s the living who are a problem. She loves her job at the century-old family-run Italian-American funeral home where she works, as she doesn’t have to talk to anyone and besides, she’s the best embalmer in quaint Dorchester, Connecticut. When she notices what someone else might have overlooked – something is amiss about a decedent she’s embalming which might indicate foul play – Riley finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation.
While her nosy, overbearing Italian family is constantly on her case about her introverted lifestyle, and the funeral home is so overbooked she’s working 70 hours a week, Riley finds herself mixed up with Flynn Gallagher, the obnoxiously competitive scion of the rival Irish-American funeral home, who is as dogged as the golden retriever he resembles. In the middle of this mess of the drama of the living, can Riley figure out the truth and restore her faith in her own profession?
Gloriously gory and laugh-out-loud funny, THE MOODY MORTICIAN is a delectable puzzle featuring one of the most endearing amateur sleuths to grace the pages of a mystery in years. This debut establishes Samantha Jay as one to watch.
Samantha Jay is the pen name of first-cousin writing duo Samantha Cusano and Juliet Grames. Samantha is a licensed funeral director in Connecticut. A graduate of the New England Institute of Applied Funeral Arts and Sciences at Mount Ida College, Samantha has earned certificates in specialized embalming and reconstruction and has served as a forensic autopsy tech, working high-profile crime cases and performing eviscerations under the direction of the Medical Examiner to help determine cause of death. Juliet is the international bestselling author of two novels, The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna and The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia. Her writing has appeared in Best American Mystery & Suspense, People, Real Simple, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Parade, and many other places. Juliet is Editorial Director at Soho Press, where she has curated the Soho Crime imprint since 2010. She’s the recipient of the Mystery Writers of America’s Ellery Queen Award as well as of Italy’s Premio Cetraro for Contributions to Southern Italian Literature. Both cousins live in New England, where they juggle the professional obligations they take very seriously with the social demands of their loving Italian family.