Where do I put the body?

Oh, the thrill of being a writer and editor. Just walked into the local undertaker’s to ask where the nearest mortuary is. Asking for a friend, you understand.

Our local writers’ group, Lichfield Writers, is producing a crime novel, The Lichfield Jigsaw, with each member contributing a chapter. As you can imagine, this leads to some discontinuities, not only in style, but in plotting.

So I’ve got the job (which I enjoy, don’t get me wrong) of stitching the parts together and assembling the jigsaw.

One scene involves a body found by Stowe Pool which has been taken to a mortuary. But which mortuary? There isn’t one in the city. Would the body go up the A38 to Burton, the A51 to Stafford, or even up to Stoke?

And that’s where the undertaker’s came in. I walked into the shop and asked. Well, what would you have done?

The man was extremely helpful, and I discovered it actually goes to Cannock, just down the road. So now I (and you) know.