John Kenney with Karen Joy Fowler

New York Times bestselling author John Kenney joins us with his darkly funny and yet heartfelt novel I See You’ve Called In Dead, now available in paperback.

About the Book

“Razor-sharp, darkly comedic, and emotionally piercing. With the satirical bite of Richard Russo’s Straight Man, the introspection of Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove, and the reinvention of Andrew Sean Greer's Less, Kenney’s vivid prose transforms the mundane into unexpected hilarity.”—Booklist, starred review

Obituary writer Bud Stanley isn’t really living his best life. He’s fallen into a funk after a divorce. He’s not doing his job well. He’s given up on dating. And he’s about to be fired for accidentally publishing his own obituary one mildly drunken night (though technically the company can’t legally fire a dead person).

As Bud awaits his fate at work, he does the only logical thing: He goes to the wakes and funerals of total strangers to learn how to live again. This darkly funny and yet heartfelt novel was one of NPR’s Books We Love of 2025, and is now available in a paperback edition.

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