Deadhouse: Life in a Coroner's Office
Sep 2009 · Univ. Press of Mississippi
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Deadhouse: Life in a Coroner's Office chronicles the exploits of a diverse team of investigators at a coroner's office in Pittsburgh. Ed Strimlan is a doctor who never got to practice medicine. Instead he discovers how people died. Mike Chichwak is a stolid ex-paramedic, respected around the office for his compassion and doggedness. Tiffani Hunt is twenty-one, a single mother who questions whether she wants to spend her nights around dead bodies.
All three deputy coroners share one trait: a compulsive curiosity. A good thing too because any observation at a death scene can prove meaningful. A bag of groceries standing on a kitchen counter, the milk turning sour. A broken lamp lying on the carpet of an otherwise tidy living room. When they approach a corpse, the investigators consider everything. Is the victim face-up or down? How stiff are the limbs? Are the hands dirty or clean? By the time they bag the body and load it into the coroner's wagon, Tiffani, Ed, and Mike have often unearthed intimate details that are unknown even to the victim's family and friends.
The intrigues of investigating death help make up for the bad parts of the job. There are plenty of burdens—grief-stricken families, decomposed bodies, tangled local politics, and gore. And maybe worst of all is the ever-present reminder of mortality and human frailness.
Deadhouse also chronicles the evolution of forensic medicine, from early rituals performed over corpses found dead to the controversial advent of modern forensic pathology. It explains how pathologists “read” bullet wounds and lacerations, how someone dies from a drug overdose or a motorcycle crash or a drowning, and how investigators uncover the clues that lead to the truth.
All three deputy coroners share one trait: a compulsive curiosity. A good thing too because any observation at a death scene can prove meaningful. A bag of groceries standing on a kitchen counter, the milk turning sour. A broken lamp lying on the carpet of an otherwise tidy living room. When they approach a corpse, the investigators consider everything. Is the victim face-up or down? How stiff are the limbs? Are the hands dirty or clean? By the time they bag the body and load it into the coroner's wagon, Tiffani, Ed, and Mike have often unearthed intimate details that are unknown even to the victim's family and friends.
The intrigues of investigating death help make up for the bad parts of the job. There are plenty of burdens—grief-stricken families, decomposed bodies, tangled local politics, and gore. And maybe worst of all is the ever-present reminder of mortality and human frailness.
Deadhouse also chronicles the evolution of forensic medicine, from early rituals performed over corpses found dead to the controversial advent of modern forensic pathology. It explains how pathologists “read” bullet wounds and lacerations, how someone dies from a drug overdose or a motorcycle crash or a drowning, and how investigators uncover the clues that lead to the truth.
Deadhouse: Life in a Coroner's Office chronicles the exploits of a diverse team of investigators at a coroner's office in Pittsburgh. Ed Strimlan is a doctor who never got to practice medicine. Instead he discovers how people died. Mike Chichwak is a stolid ex-paramedic, respected around the offi...
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2 reviews
Janice Tangen
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December 22, 2018
forensics, detective, politics Disclaimer : in my fifty years as a nurse in venues from birthing to hospice and more, I came to view death differently than most. And I did do some of them both in ER and jails. I was intrigued and riveted by the system used in Pittsburgh as well as the people who are tasked with caring for the dead before sending them to the morticians as well as finding the necessary details to present to the legal system to seek justice for the victim if the death is caused by another person. By following the deputy coroners, forensic pathologists, and interns for a year, we come to appreciate their work and give thanks for their dedication. Not for the squeamish, but a reality check for devotees of forensic tv shows. Highly recommend! Tim Lundeen performs the narration in a no nonsense manner that works very well. Bought this on sale at Audible.
1 person found this review helpful
Bella BooBoo
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October 3, 2017
Great book. Great writing could not put the book down I would recommend this book to anyone with this interest.
About the author
John Temple is author of The Last Lawyer: The Fight to Save Death Row Inmates, published by University Press of Mississippi. His book American Pain was named a "Best Book of 2015" in the True Crime category by Suspense Magazine. He is associate professor of journalism at the Reed College of Media at West Virginia University. Prior to teaching, Temple was a newspaper reporter in Pittsburgh, Greensboro, and Tampa. More information about Temple and his books can be found at www.johntemplebooks.com.
John Temple is author of The Last Lawyer: The Fight to Save Death Row Inmates, published by University Press of Mississippi. His book American Pain was named a "Best Book of 2015" in the True Crime category by Suspense Magazine. He is associate professor of journalism at the Reed College of Media...
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