A detective leaves the force to take over the family business as an undertaker at the same time as he is being investigated for murder. His close encounters with corpses and his earlier police training lead him to see things some of his ex-colleagues miss and he investigates the crimes he encounters in an unofficial capacity often to the dismay of the official police.

A nameless man receives phone calls intended for someone else and ends up pretending to be that person, while a female character rebels against her author.