Margaret, matriarch, widow of Edmund Rice O'Day of O'Day funerals, secretly surveys her family from the safety of her tapestry room in leafy Toorak. They are all oblivious to the secrets that lie hidden and are threatening to be uncovered by the keen eye of Doria Fogelsong, a distant relative from Florida.

With elegant wit and a sure-footed compassion, Family Skeleton mines the dark heart of family life in the context of a lucrative funeral business. It leads readers down the crooked paths of the shadowy past while engrossing then in the drama of strong competing characters, all documented with Carmel Bird's trademark audacity of design, sureness of touch, and unerringly musical use of language. Prepare to be shocked and delighted.