Charlie covers most of the neighborhoods of San Francisco in his quest to find souls, from Chinatown to Haight-Ashbury to the Castro. Moore describes specific neighborhoods, homes, paint colors and other parts of San Francisco, even specific bookstores clearly this book is a kind of homage to his city. The book is set in San Francisco, and as is often the case, the city is practically a character in the story. You wouldn’t think a book about death would be so funny. The story, the characters, the writing, and the humor are absolutely unique. But this book isn’t like anything you’ve read before. This is one of those stories (think Shaun of the Dead) where the shy, unassuming, feeling-sorry-for-himself guy is called on to save the universe. There are harpies attacking him in alleyways, two hellhounds have taken up residence guarding his daughter, and strange fourteen-inch creatures with squirrel bodies and alligator heads are invading his home. For one, his toddler daughter can kill people with a point of a finger and a single word. He receives a book that explains the whole system, but it becomes clear that the book is misinformed on a few things. At some point a person walks into the store, is strangely drawn to the item and buys it, and thus the soul finds its new home.Ĭharlie has to learn this new trade, which comes with quite a few rules, such as not telling anyone, not talking to any other Death Merchants, and never losing a soul. Charlie runs a second-hand store, which makes him a good collector of souls, because apparently when a person dies the soul leaps into a nearby item that has sentimental value. At first he attributes these incidents of death, mayhem, and radioactively-glowing objects to grief and sleeping pills, but he comes to discover he is now a Death Merchant, which is someone who collects souls from the dead. Strange things start happening to Charlie. She dies in the hospital, where Charlie finds a tall, think black man in a mint-green suit standing over her who no one else is able to see. Charlie Asher’s wife Rachel dies shortly after giving birth to their first daughter, Sophie. A Dirty Job, like the books of Jasper Fforde, is pretty hard to describe adequately, but I’ll do my best.

Moore writes a unique brand of what I’ll call supernatural humor, somewhat similar to Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett or A. My blogger-friend Alley at What Red Read often recommends Christopher Moore, with good reason.

A dirty job book