When it came to the forest, the residents of Mors were sure of one thing: Stay the hell away from it. And keep your children even further away. The Sheriff's Department talked about a child molester, but the hunters had a completely different opinion. One day, when Williams' daughter disappears, the deputy discovers a truth in the search for her that couldn't be any darker.

In the towering corridors of City Hospital, Dr. Alexander Mors—the Angel of Death—carries a somber secret. With his rare gift, he stands at the threshold of mortality, guiding the souls that pass through his care. Alongside him, his sister, Elizabeth Vita, serves as a beacon of hope in the chaos, an EMT with the power to shield the living from spectral harm. They are the guardians at the brink, where life's final breath meets the afterworld's embrace. But the city they protect is under siege by shadows. A chilling specter weaves a tapestry of disaster, its dark tendrils reaching for the vulnerable spirits caught in Elizabeth's domain. As the balance between realms shudders, the siblings face not just the trials of their duties, but a malevolent plot that threatens to unravel the fabric of existence. Enter Nurse Jenna Hargrove, whose keen eye for detail and tenacious curiosity unravel the mysteries that shroud Dr. Mors. Thrust into their hidden war against forces she once dismissed as superstition, Jenna discovers that reality is far more intricate—and fragile—than she ever imagined. Together, amidst the rubble of broken lives and the whispers of the departed, they must forge an alliance with ethereal beings. They will confront the encroaching darkness with light, hope, and determination. But can they mend the veil before the specter's malevolence consumes all?

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A people's lifestyle is one thing, their death-style another. The proximity or distance between such styles says much about a society, not least in Britain today. Mors Britannica takes up this style-issue in a society where cultural changes involve distinctions between traditional religion, secularisation, and emergent forms of spirituality, all of which involve emotions, where fear, longing, and a sense of loss rise in waves when death marks the root embodiment of our humanity. These world-orientations, evident in older and newer ritual practices, engage death in the hope and desire that love, relationships, community, and human identity be not rendered meaningless. Yet both emotions and ritual have an uneasiness to them because 'death' is a slippery topic as the twenty-first century gets under way in Britain. In this work, Douglas J. Davies draws from a largely anthropological-sociological perspective, with consideration of history, literature, philosophy, psychology, and theology, to provide a window into British life and insights into the foundation links between individuals and society, across the spectrum of traditionally religious views through to humanist and secular alternatives. He considers memorial sites (from churchyards to roadside memorials); forms of corporeal disposal (from cremation to composting); and death rites in a range of religious and secular traditions.