Just a good story--nothing more, but nothing less--more about the undertaker than his wife, despite the title. It follows his career, from his apprenticeship with his father in Monroe, Michigan, through Civil War service, a failed attempt to challenge the corruption in San Francisco as the transcontinental railroad is completed, then a partnership in Fort Hays, Kansas (again with a corrupt sheriff in control) as the railroad is arriving, another partnership briefly in Virginia City, Montana, a stint teaching mortuary science in Chicago, another brief venture in St. Louis before ending his career in Buffalo as a nationally known undertaker. ( )