Selling Dead People’s Things is a wry, behind-the-curtain peek into the world of antiques and their obsessive owners—while still alive and after their passing.

An amusing observer of the human condition, author Duane Scott Cerny entertains in twenty-five life illuminating, scary, sad, or frightfully funny resale tales and essays.

“You just can’t say to the bereaved, ‘I’m sorry for your loss, but are those crucifixes for sale?’ (Well, you can, but it’s how you say it.)”

Whether processing the estate of a hoarding beekeeper, disassembling the retro remains of an infamous haunted hospital, or conducting an impromptu appraisal during a shiva gone disturbingly wrong, every day is a twisted treasure hunt for this twenty-first century antiques dealer.

“Like it or knot the noose, but everyone is an estate sale waiting to happen.”

While digging deep into the basements, attics, and souls of the most interesting collectors imaginable, traveling from one odd house call to the curious next, resale predicaments will confound your every turn.

So be careful where you step, watch what you touch, and gird your heart—Antiques Roadshow, this ain’t!