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Restless in Peace
A deceased undertaker still carries out his life’s work. The spirit of a nun comforts mourners. Red carnations materialize from nowhere . . . Spooky Stories from the Dismal Trade Alternately hair-raising, creepy, and touching, Mariah de la Croix’s encounters with the supernatural during her tenure as a mortician are both chilling and unforgettable. Restless in Peace recounts her true experiences working in funeral homes―and the resident spirits’ frightening, bizarre, and sometimes amusing behaviors. From the angry spirit who follows her home after work to the deceased man who likes to communicate through a microphone, this book offers a rare glimpse of living and working among the spirited dead.
264 pages, Paperback
First published September 8, 2012
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77 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
May 29, 2012
A truly delightful story of humble mediumship, by a lady who spent five years working toward becoming a licensed funeral director, “Restless in Peace” relates some of the experiences of one woman who lives very close to the veil dividing the living and the not-so. Author de la Croix’s approach is stunningly lacking in arrogance and hubris; she endears herself to the reading audience by her modesty and by her acceptance of the Spirit World as a natural-if sometimes unseen-fact. Her story reads like a novel, though it is biography, and we see her as the kind of person we would be proud to befriend. Her encounters with the sometimes restless, sometimes roving, sometimes repetitive dead, range from the potentially chilly (and scary) to the gentle and the helpful (such as the female ghost who appeared only just in advance of phone calls relating the death of a loved one). I highly recommend this book-those readers who enjoy reading true accounts of mediumship will especially love it, but anyone can enjoy-and receive hope-from this book.
June 8, 2015
Book Review published here: http://www.iheartreading.net/reviews/...
Restless in Peace tells the life story of Mariah de la Croix, a mortician. Working at a funeral home, she’s seen more than her fair share of spirits during the past few years. In this book, she talks about her encounters with the deceased. Her ghosts pretty much remain the same person they were when they were still alive. A friendly old, grandmotherly person will still care for her family and sometimes be present at funerals of family members. A nasty, wicked person will transform into a more terrifying spirit. Our anger and love, the emotions we feel while being alvie, are transported on to the other side.
What I liked most about this book, is how humble Mariah de la Croix is about her experiences. She simply tells them, without engrossing them or making them more exciting than they really were. That makes the book more believable for me, even though some of the encounters may still be farfetched – I wanted to believe them. I want to believe in this kind of the spirit, the kind that remains the same person they were when still alive, caring and loving. It would be such a comfort to know people move on remaining just the same they were when alive.
The story range from encounters with deceased people awaiting their funeral, to little ghost children roaming down the hallway, and an old mortician still working his job even after he’s passed away. Some of these are delightfully scary – not in the overly bombastic way fictional horror stories sometimes are – but subtely, more naturaly. Others are touching and moving, heartwrenching even, and brought me to the verge of tears.
As far as true haunting books go, this is a gem. Restless In Peace is a well written, well constructed book about a humble medium and her encounters with the spirits of the deceased.
Restless in Peace tells the life story of Mariah de la Croix, a mortician. Working at a funeral home, she’s seen more than her fair share of spirits during the past few years. In this book, she talks about her encounters with the deceased. Her ghosts pretty much remain the same person they were when they were still alive. A friendly old, grandmotherly person will still care for her family and sometimes be present at funerals of family members. A nasty, wicked person will transform into a more terrifying spirit. Our anger and love, the emotions we feel while being alvie, are transported on to the other side.
What I liked most about this book, is how humble Mariah de la Croix is about her experiences. She simply tells them, without engrossing them or making them more exciting than they really were. That makes the book more believable for me, even though some of the encounters may still be farfetched – I wanted to believe them. I want to believe in this kind of the spirit, the kind that remains the same person they were when still alive, caring and loving. It would be such a comfort to know people move on remaining just the same they were when alive.
The story range from encounters with deceased people awaiting their funeral, to little ghost children roaming down the hallway, and an old mortician still working his job even after he’s passed away. Some of these are delightfully scary – not in the overly bombastic way fictional horror stories sometimes are – but subtely, more naturaly. Others are touching and moving, heartwrenching even, and brought me to the verge of tears.
As far as true haunting books go, this is a gem. Restless In Peace is a well written, well constructed book about a humble medium and her encounters with the spirits of the deceased.
June 15, 2012
True tales from a psychic mortician! How can you NOT read it and love it?! :) (Yes, I edited this book so I am biased, but this is truly an excellent book). When I read the proposal, I got freaked out, and believe me. It takes a LOT to freak me out these days. READ THIS BOOK! :)
February 18, 2013
I was actually more interested in the mortician job side of it than I was in some of the ghost stories
July 17, 2018
Mariah shares he encounters she had with spirits while she was working as a mortician.
I couldn't put this book down, I was enjoying it so much.
Mariah has had some scary, but mostly heartwarming, encounters with spirits throughout her years as a mortician. She tells of her experiences with humour and most importantly, with respect to the deceased. You can tell that she loved her job and genuinely cared for the deceased and their families. This shows in the way she interacts with the spirits and the way she talks about them.
All too often, books on spirits tend to portray them as scary, but this book contains many examples of kind spirits who want to help, or just to engage with the living.
I couldn't put this book down, I was enjoying it so much.
Mariah has had some scary, but mostly heartwarming, encounters with spirits throughout her years as a mortician. She tells of her experiences with humour and most importantly, with respect to the deceased. You can tell that she loved her job and genuinely cared for the deceased and their families. This shows in the way she interacts with the spirits and the way she talks about them.
All too often, books on spirits tend to portray them as scary, but this book contains many examples of kind spirits who want to help, or just to engage with the living.
June 18, 2025
Funeral homes have always felt...ominous...to me. I know they aren't intended to have a frat party atmosphere, but the feeling has always been a little "off"...maybe even electric.
So, it doesn't surprise me to read about spirits hanging about and making themselves known. I loved this book. It was sometimes heartwarming and a couple of times, downright scary.
So, it doesn't surprise me to read about spirits hanging about and making themselves known. I loved this book. It was sometimes heartwarming and a couple of times, downright scary.
December 28, 2025
Funeral homes often have a reputation for being haunted and having spirits roaming around. The author, a psychic mortician takes readers on a journey with her ghostly encounters. The stories range from terrifying to heartwarming as she helps some spirits move on to the other side. While some of the stories might seem far-fetched in the ghostly world, one never knows what to expect.
January 9, 2018
Spooky enough to get my heart racing and give me goosebumps. Touching enough to make my heart ache and tears roll down my cheeks.
July 19, 2018
de la Croix is a very talented FICTION writer. I don't believe a word of her over-the-top stories, but I enjoyed them nevertheless. I wish she could admit they were fiction, though.
September 14, 2019
Good ghost stories, some humorous, some spooky.
June 6, 2020
I love this book I didn’t want it to end it’s brilliant, Mariah please please write another, I worked in a funeral home so related to parts of this book, it was absolutely fantastic, 100 stars ⭐️
February 17, 2013
I had a lot of mixed feelings with this. On one hand, it’s an easy read with a personable style, on the other I had some problems with it. I’ll leave those to last. I did find the premise interesting, a former mortician/psychic telling tales about her time in a variety of haunted funeral homes.
And she definitely has a lot of stories, almost 250 pages worth. Many of the stories I enjoyed, others well, I’m getting to that. Let me preface it with I’m a believer in ghosts. I’ve been part of ghost hunting teams off and on for over twenty years and I’ve lived in a town made especially for psychics. The only thing new to me in the book were some of the funeral home inner workings and even there I have so many friends and family in the business that it wasn’t all that new to me. It was, however, interesting.
From doors closing, ghosts coming to her over the sound system, fiddling with the radios and music instruments, I had no trouble with those at all. I enjoyed those tales. The ones were things went missing only to turn up in very unlikely places, been there, done that, no trouble believing it. But after a while, there was something nagging in the back of my mine, something vaguely annoying about it all.
It wasn’t until she started in on her past lives that it hit me. She reminded me so much of a friend of mine who does make me want to eye roll a lot, mostly because HER psychic encounters with ghosts are always going to be more over the top than yours, her past lives more interesting. So I had to try to separate myself from that part of the narrative (and I’m betting when I send this to my friends to read, they’ll be thinking of the same person, they probably know just from reading this).
The real reason I felt this was a bit more of a 2.5 than a full on 3 star were some of those over the top encounters. Like I said, no problem with many of them but over the years I’ve known more psychic mediums and ghost hunters than I can easily count and all of them will tell you full body apparitions are the holy grail. You don’t see them all that often and to have so many appearing to not just De la Croix but pretty much everyone in these funeral homes so often and so many different spirits, it’s a bit hard to believe.
I’ll grant you, every psychic experiences the ghosts differently but I did have trouble believing in so many full body apparitions appearing, talking in full sentences and interacting with the living like they were still alive and in one case, starting the prep on a body for embalming. I just have a bit of trouble with this but that’s me. Overall it wasn’t a bad read.
And she definitely has a lot of stories, almost 250 pages worth. Many of the stories I enjoyed, others well, I’m getting to that. Let me preface it with I’m a believer in ghosts. I’ve been part of ghost hunting teams off and on for over twenty years and I’ve lived in a town made especially for psychics. The only thing new to me in the book were some of the funeral home inner workings and even there I have so many friends and family in the business that it wasn’t all that new to me. It was, however, interesting.
From doors closing, ghosts coming to her over the sound system, fiddling with the radios and music instruments, I had no trouble with those at all. I enjoyed those tales. The ones were things went missing only to turn up in very unlikely places, been there, done that, no trouble believing it. But after a while, there was something nagging in the back of my mine, something vaguely annoying about it all.
It wasn’t until she started in on her past lives that it hit me. She reminded me so much of a friend of mine who does make me want to eye roll a lot, mostly because HER psychic encounters with ghosts are always going to be more over the top than yours, her past lives more interesting. So I had to try to separate myself from that part of the narrative (and I’m betting when I send this to my friends to read, they’ll be thinking of the same person, they probably know just from reading this).
The real reason I felt this was a bit more of a 2.5 than a full on 3 star were some of those over the top encounters. Like I said, no problem with many of them but over the years I’ve known more psychic mediums and ghost hunters than I can easily count and all of them will tell you full body apparitions are the holy grail. You don’t see them all that often and to have so many appearing to not just De la Croix but pretty much everyone in these funeral homes so often and so many different spirits, it’s a bit hard to believe.
I’ll grant you, every psychic experiences the ghosts differently but I did have trouble believing in so many full body apparitions appearing, talking in full sentences and interacting with the living like they were still alive and in one case, starting the prep on a body for embalming. I just have a bit of trouble with this but that’s me. Overall it wasn’t a bad read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 14, 2013
Know what's more fun than a bunch of ghost stories? A bunch of ghost stories that take place in a funeral home! This book is completely about the often creepy, but sometimes touching, encounters with the spirits of the dead in the place where most of us will eventually wind up.
A part of me really wishes that this book had been written and marketed as fiction rather than as a true encounters kind of book. I love hearing the stories, but if somebody is trying to convince me that all of these things really happened to her, my inner skeptic is going to speak up. I've heard de la Croix interviewed a few times before, and she really does maintain that she is a psychic. It's the kind of thing you just can't argue, but I also have a really hard time believing. It seems too convenient to have ghostly encounter after ghostly encounter when so many of us have had no experiences. Granted, a funeral home might ratchet up the spook-factor.
De la Croix's writing voice didn't always work for me. It can be overly saccharine at times. I think this is a problem with the chemistry between my own personal tastes and her way of expressing herself, so others may not share this viewpoint. Subjectively, I would have preferred a bit less of calling people "dear" or the way she spoke to the spirits to get them to stop what they were doing.
What I enjoyed most about this read were the ins and outs of working in a funeral home. De la Croix shares some of the practicalities of embalming and cremation, but she also gives us an idea of the many little things that come with the job, like bringing in more tissues for mourners, or setting alarms and turning off lights at the end of the day. This provided a nice grounding and insight into this as an actual career, rather than simply a setting for the stories.
Restless in Peace is a fairly quick read full of plenty of ghostly encounters, and is a fair choice for those who are curious about funeral homes and want some creepy stories.
A part of me really wishes that this book had been written and marketed as fiction rather than as a true encounters kind of book. I love hearing the stories, but if somebody is trying to convince me that all of these things really happened to her, my inner skeptic is going to speak up. I've heard de la Croix interviewed a few times before, and she really does maintain that she is a psychic. It's the kind of thing you just can't argue, but I also have a really hard time believing. It seems too convenient to have ghostly encounter after ghostly encounter when so many of us have had no experiences. Granted, a funeral home might ratchet up the spook-factor.
De la Croix's writing voice didn't always work for me. It can be overly saccharine at times. I think this is a problem with the chemistry between my own personal tastes and her way of expressing herself, so others may not share this viewpoint. Subjectively, I would have preferred a bit less of calling people "dear" or the way she spoke to the spirits to get them to stop what they were doing.
What I enjoyed most about this read were the ins and outs of working in a funeral home. De la Croix shares some of the practicalities of embalming and cremation, but she also gives us an idea of the many little things that come with the job, like bringing in more tissues for mourners, or setting alarms and turning off lights at the end of the day. This provided a nice grounding and insight into this as an actual career, rather than simply a setting for the stories.
Restless in Peace is a fairly quick read full of plenty of ghostly encounters, and is a fair choice for those who are curious about funeral homes and want some creepy stories.
June 29, 2012
For those of you who are fans of true ghostly tales, this is an interesting book that will make you look at funeral homes a bit differently--maybe even peek around corners a bit, too. Mariah De La Croix writes about her experiences working in various funeral homes as a mortician, and the supernatural happenings she experienced at each place of employment. From ghostly children following her around, to the eerie black cloud that hangs out in the storeroom filled with the cremated remains of people who have been forgotten by family, to the handsome director who still goes about his work many years after his death--each tale will entertain you and give you a bit of the creeps!
Thank you to Net Galley for a review copy. This will be out in September from Llewelyn--just in time for the Halloween season.
Thank you to Net Galley for a review copy. This will be out in September from Llewelyn--just in time for the Halloween season.
June 26, 2014
Restless In Peace - Mariah de la Croix
Ms. De La Croix is a psychic who had worked at a funeral home. She writes about her experiences working in many of the Funeral Homes that she was assigned. She speaks fondly of the many families and the deceased that were in her care as well the many spectres that had also reside there.
The author writes of the many postive interactions she had with the spirits as well as the fearful ones she had. I myself, could not imagine what it would be like to work in a Funeral Home. I've always been curious but not one to act upon that as an occupation.
Ms. De La Croix is a psychic who had worked at a funeral home. She writes about her experiences working in many of the Funeral Homes that she was assigned. She speaks fondly of the many families and the deceased that were in her care as well the many spectres that had also reside there.
The author writes of the many postive interactions she had with the spirits as well as the fearful ones she had. I myself, could not imagine what it would be like to work in a Funeral Home. I've always been curious but not one to act upon that as an occupation.
October 21, 2013
This was a fun book to read. An enthusiast in the paranormal, I was excited when I saw this book at Barnes and Noble. And, based on some experiences I and other people I've known have had with the paranormal, there are things in this book that I found believable. Other things, such as the mortician who is still embalming people after his own death, were more difficult to grasp. Who knows?
June 18, 2016
I do love a good story about ghosts, mediums, and other spooky shit. The writing is pretty basic, and almost tedious at points, but she's a story teller and she tells her stories. I spent a lot of time wondering about what would ever possess someone (hee hee) to work in a funeral home. It was definitely a slice of life I don't often consider.
January 3, 2013
This was a great book. Creepy in some ways but really kept my attention. The author tells her stories with such flair you can almost place yourself in the scene. If you believe in life after death this book is a must read.
September 21, 2012
Spooky, yet filled with humanity. This one is well worth reading, from an author with an ability that is more than most.
December 13, 2012
This Book really kept me interested throughout. I can only hope she comes out with another one. I did not want to put this book down.
June 12, 2013
Always wondered about mortuaries....
September 28, 2013
Awesome book!! Awesome author!! :)
September 9, 2016
A very interesting and informative book!
April 22, 2017
Why would someone who was psychic work in the mortuary business? Why, if she were psychic, was she so surprised when strange things happened? Why did she go back to work the next day? More to the point, why did I read this book? Because periodically I think it would be nice to be psychic. Then I read something like this to remind myself why it wouldn't be.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews