Confessions of a Reluctant Embalmer

by Amita Murray

Anna Patel styles dead people. (And they probably know that they're dead.)

Trapped between her histrionic family, and her own troublesome desires, she tells people the truth on a strictly need-to-know basis. Now all she needs to do to get away from it all is marry her persistent boyfriend - and keep it all together till the wedding. It should be dead easy.

But then, during a memorial service held at her parents' (Ruth Worthing and Govind Patel) funeral home, a dead cat appears in a casket. There's a Pet Slasher on the loose, the Patel family’s livelihood is hanging by a thread, and on top of it all, their chief embalmer keeps telling her she's his soul-mate.

Her heart and happiness at stake, Anna must confront who she is, and ask herself if trying to be normal and dependable is all it is cracked up to be.

"Randy, Funny, Fascinating" - Publishers Weekly

If you like Six Feet Under, The Royal Tennenbaums, and all kinds of rom-com, then check out this book!

183 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 28, 2014

About the author

Amita is a writer, based in London. She writes in two genres: contemporary mystery and historical mystery romance. Her Arya Winters series of mysteries is published with Agora. The first came out in 2021. Her mystery novel Thirteenth Night won the Exeter Novel Prize in 2022. Her first novel The Trouble with Rose came out with Harper Collins in 2019. Get in touch @AmitaMurray and amitamurray.Wordpress.com

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is unexpectedly funny. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait until my memory fails and can read it anew

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firstly, for anyone that doesn't know, Embalming is '...the art and science of preserving human remains by treating them (in its modern form with chemicals) to forestall decomposition'. Yes, a little gory, but don't be fooled by the title, there is nothing gory about the book.

Confessions of a Reluctant Embalmer focuses around the lives of the Patel family and their funeral services. During a normally quiet funeral something dramatic happens which results in a representative from the council, Mr Tweaks, entering the premises. He watches their every move and tries to figure out if the family should be offering this type of service.

Now when I first read the title I was thinking 'oh no, what have I got myself into' because let's face it embalming doesn't sound the best. However, once I read a few chapters I knew I was expecting great things - the book is fantastic.

The Patel family are feisty, flirty and fun; they're definitely a family you'd love to be apart of. They are even a family full of secrets! Each one has their own problems to overcome and deal with. Sometimes it makes you feel happier knowing your family is normal and nobody is perfect.

What I liked most was how nothing was predictable because sometimes it's just obvious it's going to happen. I felt myself gasping aloud and wanting to read long into the night - some things will make you feel shocked, but in a good way.

[Bodicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is full of laugh out loud moments as Anna and her family cope with a house full of dead bodies (not all of them human), an investigator who thinks he is Holmes and a multitude of family secrets which should have stayed in the closet with the door firmly screwed shut. Amita Murray has created a very funny, multi-cultural family here which probably wouldn’t look out of place in a TV sitcom and is pure farce all the way through. With unlikely romances, dysfunctional behaviour and a bit of a whodunnit weaving through the plot this one had me turning the pages until the end. Fabulous.