The Undertaker's Wife by Loren D Estleman
The undertaker's wife waits, she weaves, she builds. The undertaker practices the dismal trade with consummate skill. He has raised it to an art through the high craft of the Connable Method. He has transformed the ugliness of death into a thing of dignity and beauty. Victims brutalized by war, street fights, tavern brawls, ambushes, fires, every hazard in a raw West - these, in his hands, become presentable. Everywhere on the frontier, which erupts with life and death, he offers his skill: to the rich of San Francisco, to the bawds and ruffians of the Barbary Coast, to Kansas cowboys, outlaws, soldiers, and sheriffs. He is devoted to dignifying the dead. She is devoted to making her marriage whole, in spite of the tragedy that surrounds it; and most especially in spite of the tragedy that, one terrible afternoon, strikes at its centre. Today the undertaker is called to disguise the suicide of a famous financier. It is high drama, for only his art can save America's financial markets. Her task on this day is secret, an act of understanding and dedication. In the end it is the undertaker's wife who, through love, is able to transcend death.
Loren D. Estleman was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a BA degree in English Literature and Journalism in 1974. In 2002, the university awarded him an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters for his contribution to American literature.
He is the author of more than fifty novels in the categories of mystery, historical western, and mainstream, and has received four Western Writers of American Golden Spur Awards, three Western Heritage Awards, and three Shamus Awards. He has been nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award, Britain's Silver Dagger, the National Book Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2003, the mammoth Encyclopedia of Detective Fiction named him the most critically acclaimed writer of U.S. detective fiction. Estleman lives in Michigan with his wife, author Deborah Morgan.
He is the author of more than fifty novels in the categories of mystery, historical western, and mainstream, and has received four Western Writers of American Golden Spur Awards, three Western Heritage Awards, and three Shamus Awards. He has been nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award, Britain's Silver Dagger, the National Book Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2003, the mammoth Encyclopedia of Detective Fiction named him the most critically acclaimed writer of U.S. detective fiction. Estleman lives in Michigan with his wife, author Deborah Morgan.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780765309136 |
| ISBN 10 | 0765309130 |
| Title | The Undertaker's Wife |
| Author | Loren D Estleman |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | St Martin's Press |
| Year published | 2005-08-01 |
| Number of pages | 304 |
| Prizes | Winner of Spur Awards (Western Novel) 2006 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |