Books: Fun at a Funeral

EDNA'S FRUIT HAT AND OTHER STORIES (2 I I pp.) — John Pudney — Harper ($2.50).

Mother made a fine 15-stone* corpse. Even in her coffin, she dominated the dingy, chocolate-colored house which Edna, her spinster daughter, would now inherit along with other odds & ends of property and nondescript furnishings. Edna had devoted her life to Mother. Edna was fiftyish. "What a relief for Edna," whispered the family. "She must feel that she's starting life again—and at her age!"

A Snigger from Mother. About an hour before the mutes arrived, Mother's will was read. But Mother, "with her fondness for underdone beef...