Jack Tagger is a frustrated journalist. His outspoken views have relegated him to the obituary page, with his byline never again to disgrace the front page. But Jack has stumbled across a whale of a story that might just resurrect his career ...James Stomarti, infamous frontman of rock band Jimmy and the Slut Puppies, has died in a diving accident and Jack harbours suspicions that the glamorous pop starlet widow may have had a vested interest in her...

Reporter Laura Walsh's KEY News colleagues jokingly call her the "Angel of Death" becasue of her uncanny ability to have celebrities' obituaries ready to roll-even for people who are not expected to die. It seems someone's been "whispering" in laura's ear, tipping her off to secrets about some of the rich and famous who don't have long to live.

Essie Myles, an 83-year-old widowed obituary writer for a small Nebraska newspaper stumbles onto the story of her life. The paper's printing press has been working double-time since a New York publisher contracted it to print part of the print run for the final installment of a wildly popular YA novel series-part of a plan to keep the book's contents under wraps-and Essie kicks into high gear as well when she gets a tip from a local that her daughter,...

A light-hearted look at the history and practice of "the ultimate human-interest story," the obituary. "What a wonderful surprise-a charming, lyrical book about the men and women who write obituaries. The Dead Beat is sly, droll, and completely winning."- David Halberstam Where can readers celebrate the life of the pharmacist who moonlighted as a spy, the genius behind Sea Monkeys, the school lunch lady who spent her evenings as a ballroom hostess?...

The Times obituaries have given readers throughout the world an instant picture of a life for over 150 years. The Times Great Lives is a selection of 124 of these pieces, each obituary has been updated and reproduced in their entirety, by Anna Temkin, The Times assistant obituaries editor. The Times register provides a rich store of information and opinion on the most influential characters of the twentieth and early twenty-first century - be they...