An embalmer goes rogue in horrific ways in the first crime novel written by K. M. Tarrant - someone who is very much at home in a mortuary. She's a qualified embalmer, she's fascinated by human psychology and reading crime fiction is her thing. Now based in Auckland's North Shore, the Temuka-born writer says she hopes her book Life and Death in Birkenhead will not only entertain people, but demystify the world of embalming. In it, Gerald the sociopathic embalmer is on a collision course with Maisie, a caring and bereaved young woman who also takes up the embalmer's tools. Life and Death in Birkenhead by K. M. Tarrant is a Mary Egan Publishing publication.