I discovered this series after stumbling across Vol. 5 at a local used book store, and promptly fell in love with it; I picked up the first couple of volumes and am on my way to collecting the whole set. The TV Tropes page calls it a black comedy horror manga, which certainly fits, but the actual mix of emotional, spiritual, mundane, funny, and gruesome elements is hard to describe...

I also like the unusual cover design. For one thing, the covers have a matte finish rather than the typical gloss; for another, each one includes a stylized illustration showing one or more of the subjects from one of the cases in the book. (This can include some spoilers, so purists may want to avoid examining the covers too closely!) The covers also include pictures of each of the team members, with that of the "corpse-whisperer" always staying the same, while the others are presented in a different style on each book.

This volume opens with a series of cases where our heroes detect a corpse only to find none there when they reach the scene - and the reader can see clues that the corpses are actually getting up and walking away on their own. Turns out there's a new corpse-guy in town, one who's able to revive the bodies temporarily so that they can seek their own vengeance on their killers. (The Kurosagi team can talk to the dead to learn what it is that they seek, and in some cases can cause the dead to revive, but in general they prefer to take the evidence to the cops.) The story takes some interesting twists regarding motives and vengeance, and leaves a thread or two dangling at the end.

Another story involves an assignment to deliver a (live) ex-police dog to a young officer in the country, where our heroes cross paths with an old legend. At first it seems the gang can have a nice, peaceful, corpse-free vacation - and then a boat drifts up and a figure shambles up the beach... Things get messy quite soon, and our heroes have to get their clues from another victim, one whose death hit quite hard! More twists here, as corrupt officials get involved - and there's a very welcome appearance from ghostly Yaichi.

And, in addition to the usual shock-panels of damaged bodies, we get a charming and much more warm-and-fuzzy surprise!

Another tale deals with an alleged psychic, a TV personality who claims to be able to dowse for corpses. A rival for our heroes? Nice imagery in this story too, and at the end Numata finds some amount of closure for his own personal loss...

As always, the elaborate translation-notes are a joy to read in themselves, including a lengthy chat about a yaoi panel at an anime convention, the film The Sky Crawlers, and more.

I plan to donate this book to the ongoing charity-sale shelves inside Hannaford's. [They sell donated books for low prices, with the proceeds going to various charities.] Hope the buyer enjoys the book!