The obituary writer

"Gordie Hatch is twenty-two, charmingly naive, and certain that his first job as a writer for the St. Louis Independent's obituary page will be a steppingstone to a crackerjack career in journalism. The year is 1989, and Gordie watches helplessly while dramatic events - the very events that could be his lucky break - infold in the world around him. His mother keeps badgering him about his high school sweetheart, who has just moved to St. Louis, and his last meaningful conversation with a woman his own age was with an overly kind telemarketer. But nothing can prepare Gordie for the call he gets from Alicia Whiting, a young widow with an accent he can't quite place. When Gordie agrees to meet Alicia, against his better judgment, his journalistic curiosity quickly turns into an obsessive search for the outrageous truth behind the Whiting family."--BOOK JACKET.