Callie Parrish works at Middleton’s Mortuary in a small South Carolina town, where her job is to make the dead look presentable for their funerals. Her official title is mortuary cosmetologist. She is good at it, and she takes the work seriously — the families count on her.
Her full name is Calamine Lotion Parrish, courtesy of a father who named all his kids after drugstore products. She has a brother named Frankie (after Frankie Parrish, but also echoing Frank’s RedHot). Callie grew up in the rural South, knows everybody in town, and has the kind of personality that draws trouble whether she wants it or not.
The trouble usually takes the form of dead bodies that aren’t supposed to be dead yet. Callie’s proximity to the funeral business means she notices things — details about the deceased that don’t add up, connections between people that the police miss. Across eight books, she talks her way into crime scenes, argues with law enforcement, and solves murders while trying to keep her day job and her personal life from falling apart.
Reading Order
See the complete A Callie Parrish Mystery reading order for all books in the series.