"I'd begun to dread the hours between midnight and 3:00 A.M. when Friday becomes Saturday and the city is unconscious." p. 2

"A violent death is a public event, and it was this facet of my profession that rudely grated against my sensibilities." p. 7

"The morgue had a distinctive odor, the stale stench of death no amount of air deodorizer could mask." p. 19

"I returned to my office and was so jumpy that when I heard the elevator doors opening across the hall I had a large pair of scissors in hand and was prepared to use them." p. 28

"And during my emptiest moments when I felt the worst about myself, damn if I wouldn't see one of those chinch bug shells that used to litter the lawn of my childhood home. Translucent, brittle, dried out. Dead." p. 38

"According to the computer, and there could be no mistake about...