A graveyard feast beneath the summer moon … The rural town of Old Hickory. Tennessee was a quiet, picturesque community … until the O'Sheas came to town. Becoming the new proprietors of the town's only funeral parlor, with the help of their charming patriarch, Square McManus, the Irish family was wholeheartedly accepted by the local townfolk. The thing began to happen. Strange things … horrible, unspeakable things … in the dead of night. The sighting of wolfish beasts congregating around an open grave in the town cemetery. Frightening changes in several of Old Hickory's less desirable residents. And the brutal murder and devouring of a varsity football player in the wooded wilderness outside of town. Soon, what was once concealed in shadow and secrecy was now starkly revealed, in all its ravenous fury, by the silvery light of the full moon. As the residents of Old Hickory, as well as the local police, begin to fall victim to an unknown evil, four individuals—the town nerd, a high school jock, a widowed gunsith, and a mysterious transient from a distant shore—find themselves facing what could possibly be a hellish lycanthrope from ancient Ireland … the legendary Arget Bethir … the Silver Beast.

Nicole Glover delivers the second book in her exciting Murder & Magic series of historical fantasy novels featuring Hetty Rhodes and her husband, Benjy, magic practitioners and detectives living in post-Civil War Philadelphia. Nothing bothers Hetty and Benjy Rhodes more than a case where the answers, motives, and the murder itself feel a bit too neat. Raimond Duval, a victim of one of the many fires that have erupted recently in Philadelphia, is officially declared dead after the accident, but Hetty and Benjy's investigation points to a powerful Fire Company known to let homes in the Black community burn to the ground. Before long, another death breathes new life into the Duval investigation: Raimond's son, Valentine, is also found dead. Finding themselves with the dubious honor of taking on Valentine Duval as their first major funeral, it becomes clear that his passing was intentional. Valentine and his father's deaths are connected, and the recent fires plaguing the city might be more linked to recent community events than Hetty and Benji originally thought. The Undertakers continues the adventures of murder and magic, where even the most powerful enchantments can't always protect you from the ghosts of the past . . .

Funerary practices have long been a classic topic of anthropological inquiry, which has tended to focus on death rituals as expressions and reinforcers of community ties and values. In this book, the author looks at funerals as an urban business, based on her fieldwork at a large Japanese funeral company. Her central theme is the progressive commercialization of what once were primarily religious rituals. The book depicts the process of contemporary Japanese funerals, the practices of those who provide commercial funeral services, and the motivations and behavior of the mourners who purchase those services. In so doing, it examines the role of funeral companies in shaping Japanese cultural practices and changing an important aspect of Japanese society. The author addresses several related questions: What cultural changes accompanied the shift from traditional community funeral rituals to commercial funeral services? How did the mass consumption of commercial funerals produce cultural homogeneity while allowing for differences in individual services? How does the marketing of professional funeral services mediate changing cultural values? How have commercial services served to objectify changing concepts of dying, death, and the deceased in contemporary Japan? The author demonstrates that the funeral industry, the purchasers of funeral services, and Japanese values surrounding death are mutually dependent and are responsible for supporting, representing, and transforming cultural practices. Throughout, the author relates vivid and often moving details and anecdotes to lend a personal element to her study of the commodification of death in Japan.

It's the summer of 1914 - the last peaceful summer Britain will see for four long years. Tilly Moon has long looked to her elder half-sister, Maddy, as a role model. Maddy's love of music inspired Tilly to follow in her footsteps, becoming an accomplished pianist. If there is one thing she loves more than playing the piano though, it is her twin brother's best friend Dominic. But, in the first tentative steps of romance, what they all feared has come to pass. The country is at war. Following the Moon family's triumphs and tragedies during the outbreak of the First World War, Margaret Thornton's heartfelt and highly evocative narrative brings those turbulent times to life, perfectly capturing the horror of war and the devastating sorrow it brought, but also the heroism it engendered in ordinary people.