A new book coming out about Vicksburg funerals is co-written by a local mortician and a historian, but it’s not what you might think based on that description.

“It’s a fun book — it’s not one that’s going to have anyone weeping,” assured Charles Riles, owner of Riles Funeral Home and co-author of ‘…Just Passing Through… Funeral Stories from Vicksburg.’

“You know, there’s nothing funny about death,” Riles explained further. “But through all the years I’ve been doing funerals, at almost every one there’s been something humorous that’s happened. Most of the time it was something with the minister or myself, and they would tell me something or something would happen and I’d come back and write it down.”