The Afterlife Confessional

by Bill Edgar

A private investigator with a haunting past, Bill Edgar’s life was never destined to be ordinary. Rising to international fame as the ‘Coffin Confessor’ – the man who crashes funerals on behalf of the deceased, giving voice to their last wishes – Bill dismantled many of the assumptions we hold about truth, dignity and the business of dying.

Swindlers, cheaters, vultures, liars and con-artists – there isn’t a musty corner of the human soul Bill hasn’t confronted. Loved and loathed in equal measure, his only concern is being the caretaker of the secrets and desires his clients have entrusted to him. Shame and outrage, healing and comfort are left up to those left behind.

But it’s a request from one woman to hand-deliver a bottle of wine to her husband on the anniversary of her death that raises deeper What do we make out of the handful of days we’re given? If hate and injustice are so hard to bury, why does love have a knack for triumphing? Are the most profound acts in life sometimes the most quiet ones?

The Afterlife Confessional follows Bill’s journey for answers as he looks through the dizzying kaleidoscope of his clients’ lives – the widower who escaped an aged-care trap to take her husband’s ashes on the road trip of a lifetime; the man who spent his life paying it forward to try to make up for one shameful act; the closet dominatrix who quietly confronts her husband’s infidelity by comforting those truly in need; the devoted couple who insist on going hand-in-hand into the afterlife.

Heartbreaking and hilarious, outrageous and wise, The Afterlife Confessional is Bill Edgar’s fascinating account of the things he’s witnessed and learned as the Coffin Confessor – the bizarre and beautiful ways we live and love, the finality of death and the power of legacy, and how letting go can sometimes be the first step to living on.

Genres: Nonfiction

216 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 2, 2024

About the author

Bill Edgar is the author of The Minimum Wage Millionaire: How a Part Time After School Job Can Change Your Financial Life. He is passionate about helping youth understand how to become wealthy. He lives in Elburn, Illinois, with his three nearly teenage daughters (who will all be required to read his book).

Reviews

[Tabitha - · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to libro.fm for an advance listening copy.... even though I certainly waited a month after release to listen. Lol my baaaaaad

Anyway, I loved this. Bill is funny and insightful. And honestly has a dream job. Crashing funerals to complete a dying wish? Even if it's to call out cheaters or stealers, or whatever have you. It was so interesting to hear about all these different lives going on around us!

Couldn't get enough.

[Chloesbookiewook · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed and cried through every chapter.
This book was so beautiful.

[Rebecca M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did I know what a “Coffin Confessor” was before reading this book? No.
Did this become one of my unexpected fav reads? YES!
highly recommend this book, such an interesting, funny, raw and real read.

[aikaterine]

I don't know if it's a soft or a hard DNF, but for now I'm not really drawn to this audiobook and narrator. Maybe one day...

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sorry to be that person but the Bill Edgar this book is attributed too is not in fact the author of this book. This book is written by the Australian Bill Edgar, the private investigator and coffin confessor and not this American author.

This is another wild ride from Edgar. Just like The Coffin Confessor, this is another great book about the wacky and wonderful clients who have hired Bill for crash their funeral. The stories are always so wild and Edgar is so great and keeping you guessing where each little vinaigrette will go.

[JessQueen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Afterlife Confessional - Last Call for Tell-All
by Bill Edgar

As a part of the ALC program by @librofm I came across with this unique piece! Written and narrated by the author. It was a pleasure getting to know Bill Edgar and his services to the ones who have a last piece to tell.

This book is divided in two major sections: the services provided as a coffin confessor, together with all the comings and goings of this particular service. And a second part where Edgar tells his own personal story to the reader, and here is where all the pieces fall into place.

This book is proof that every single human being who walked this earth had always something left undone, unsaid, said too much and would love to take it back. Had urges no one knew about and had a secret that wanted to keep that way. Maybe a letter, maybe a picture, maybe something nobody would ever understand.

Bill Edgar listens to everything, but that doesn’t mean that he is up for all the jobs offered. He’s got boundaries and is not willing to cross them. He’s not up to revenge or crimes that were committed in the past with no evidence whatsoever. He has the highest respect for every single person who chooses to hire him, but again, he does not break the rules.

As I was more and more into the story I started feeling the need of getting to know what kind of person chooses this job, it’s odd, let’s face it. And it turns out that after listening what he had to say oh I respect him even more.

Bill Edgar had to go through child abuse and everything that has to do with that it’s a burden one carries almost for life. It’s not a death sentence, it’s a different kind of sentence and it always depends on the each one of us.

I treasured his shared experiences when he had to serve time and he had an encounter with the sick man in charge of that job there. Edgar didn’t bail, he stood there, looked at him in the eyes and it was so much that his opponent answered him:
“You’re not my type you’ve got the devil in you” This one cut deep through.

Nowadays, Edgar has a loving family, an adored wife and grandchildren he mentioned several times throughout the narration. His pride and joy.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 I loved it!

[The Book Squirrel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This started off quite well and I enjoyed most the stories of the things people have hired the author to do after they die.
A lot of the stories have to do with sex, though. Why you'd feel the need to reveal to your loved ones after you've died that you've been in bisexual relationships is beyond me, though. Either they are your loved ones and they already know, or you've been lying to them and now you want to fess up for whatever selfish reason of your own and destroy their memories of you after you've died and don't need to live with the consequences?

The biggest downfall of this book is that the author has a tendency to go off on the longest of tangents. I thought this WASN'T supposed to be an autobiography (that already having been written), but he made it about himself, and repetitively so. I can't count the number of times he repeatedly told the listener that 1) he was abused as a child, 2) hated the church, and 3) was paid a small fortune for what he did. It's repeated over and over and over.

He went on and on and on about "the church" being full of abusers and cover-ups. Yet when talking about dirty cops, he insisted that you had to look at the individual cop and not judge one by another. It was hypocritical and his blind bias against "the church" got really tiresome.

I'd also want him to really think about what he says about God "allowing" abuse. It's not God who is the abuser, but the devil. The author repeats a line about insisting that his instructions for crashing a funeral and carrying out actions after a person's death come ONLY from the person who is dying, not a relative or friend. No one speaks for that dead person except that dead person, according to the author, so it was "off" that he so readily accepted his abusers apparently speaking for God instead of trying to search out what God would say for himself.

Overall, this was not what I expected, nor as good as I expected. Some of the stories were interesting, and the parts where he talks about other people and not himself get the 2 stars, but the whole thing was a bit of a modge podge.

[Phylicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Coffin Confessor

5⭐️This was such a great and surprising read. I didn’t really know what I was getting into reading it. I saw the cover and I saw the blurb and I thought all this sounds interesting. As I started reading it I became enthralled by the whole story as I’d never heard of the coffin confessor. I didn’t know he was Australian so just added this real cool element for me being Australian. I love the spooky vibes and I love that honour and respect of promising to fulfill a dying person's last wish. It seems like a really cool concept.

Like I said I didn’t know anything about this Author or person before I read this story and he’s had such a heartbreaking life but also such an interesting life. I’ve really found myself wanting to know more about his story. It feels like someone I might work with in my workspace so I had a lot of compassion and empathy and understanding for his experiences. It was a really nice read. I did the audiobook and the author narrated it and added it again, this extra layer of vulnerability to his words and realness, which was really nice.

[LianaReads blog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bill Edgar's The Afterlife Confessional is an unforgettable journey into the extraordinary world of the Coffin Confessor. This audiobook is a mix of humor, heartbreak, and thought-provoking stories that explore life, death, and everything in between. Edgar’s unique role of delivering the deceased’s final messages is both bizarre and fascinating, revealing the raw, unfiltered truths people leave behind.
The stories range from hilarious and outrageous to deeply moving, with moments that truly stick with you. Whether it's a touching act of love or an audacious confession, each tale offers something special. The audiobook balances the profound with the absurd, making it engaging from start to finish.
Bill Edgar’s narration adds authenticity, making the experience even more personal. If you’re looking for something thoughtful, surprising, and totally unique, this audiobook is a must-listen. Highly recommended for anyone who loves a mix of humor and heart.
Very grateful for my ALC @librofm

[Otis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting enough bloke, but I found the storytelling pretty repetitive and uninteresting after the first couple of stories. They essentially play out like this:

'I met this person, they had a wish, I did the thing they asked in a way that makes me look pretty cool, then I went on my way in a very unassuming way...by the way did I mention I'm a bit of a celebrity?'

I'm always put off by someone who goes out of the way to say how humble and down to earth they are in an autobiographical book...which is their second on the same topic. Look, I'm sure Edgar is a nice guy, but I couldn't hear anymore about his 'moral code', elite confidentiality practices (which loads of industries have), or how he just 'doesn't give a fuck' about what people think of him.

All in all, repetitive and pretty much done in the first 70 pages.

[kepz_lovesreading · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook of The Afterlife Confessional, which was an interesting way to listen to the stories of Bill Edgar, The Coffin Confessor. Having not read the first book, I went into this book completely blind without knowing anything about Bill Edgar. His stories really tell the weird things people decide to suddenly confess when knocking on deaths door. We also learn more about Bill's life.
It was a short listen but one that did take me a little bit to get through.

Thanks to Libro.fm for giving me a copy of this audiobook .

[Ash ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part, it's an interesting, quick read... but I was left feeling let down by the repetitive writing 😕

He writes:
"I won't go into too much detail here because I've already written a book about it- which you might have already bought and read - and I don't charge my clients twice for one service."

And ironically spends the rest of the book repeating what he's already said either in the first book, or in this one.

[Christina Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite confronting at time but brutally honest and soul baring. He tells it as it is, about his history of child abuse and crime and imprisonment. I wouldn't want to get on his wrong side! At the same time, he shares his love for his family and how he has come to a place of healing within himself.

[Jess Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t usually write reviews but I feel obliged to warn other reads who might think this book sounds like a good time.

The audio book was truly awful, having the author read it was a big mistake.

Rather than an interesting insight into a career you might not consider, it was just the author wanking himself off. Do not recommend.

[M Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most fascinating book I've listened to in a long time. What a unique career path and the stories are outrageous. Highly recommend this one and can't wait to read his other books.

Thanks to Librofm and PRH Audio for this complimentary audiobook. My thoughts are my own.

[Rae Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than the first book Coffin Confessor, only due to the telling of Bills younger years.

This next book is how he has grown up and realised the differences between religion, death, and how to handle things when you get older.

Still weaving in some deathbed...and some not...confessions.

[Sue-Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed. Especially that this was on the Gold Coast & my suburb of Ashmore was mentioned. But I was really hoping for more juicier stories and unfortunately, they felt a little short.

[Kate Christensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m afraid I kept wondering if this was real or some sort of novel I had got caught up in. At the end of the day I decided it was just marketing for himself. Because it’s Christmas at the moment all that comes to mind are Boxing Day sales and Harvey Norman adverts. He sits there with them.

[Elena Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed listening to this book. The author has a rough and gravelly voice and listening to his life's work was just amazing. The things he has done is truely fascinating and I enjoyed it very much

[Joni Meenagh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had heard of the Coffin Confessor but didn’t know much about him before reading this. I thought I’d be in for a bit of a salacious read and instead found an incredibly emotional and heartfelt story that brought me to tears more than once.

[EmG ReadsDaily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life-affirming tales shared by “The Coffin Confessor” about the many individuals he has worked with, as he gives voice (and action) to their final wishes.

I really enjoyed this audiobook, which is narrated well and authentically by the author.

[Kaitlan Sharpe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super interesting, but I definitely enjoyed his first book more! This one felt a little repetitive and went over some of the same stories so it didn’t hit as hard for me. Still super enjoyable though!

[Tamsin Ramone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Step aside Bill Nye the Science Guy it’s Bill Edgar the Coffin Confessor and he’s spinning an interesting yarn.

[Alma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fantastic read from Bill. I could listen to Bill’s stories forever.

[Katie Cherlet · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

More on his life and upbringing, the increasing numbers of people who engage his services, and a few life lessons. Again - no holds barred!

[Kate Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved his first book and this 2nd book doesn't disappoint either

[Jodi Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I pushed through this audiobook, there were highs and lows. Some parts I feel were irrelevant or just random. Anyway not awful, but not amazing.

[Kylah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good read. His stories are very unique and I hope we hear from him again in another book.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointed in this one. It held so much promise.