They're dying for your business.

• Position: California - Skeletons in the Closet - Brief article

Body bags go for $20. Yellow crime scene tape is $6. Toe tags cost $5. The merchandise gets carried out in a shopping bag marked "The Los Angeles County Department of Coroner." Tucked in a corner of the coroner's office--whose official business is to investigate cases of death that are deemed suspicious--is the strangest of gift shops. Aptly called Skeletons in the Closet, the store sells a variety of death-themed items, like "undertaker" boxer shorts, business card holders shaped like skulls, and its best-seller: a $30 beach towel with a life-size body outline. Patrons include the occasional celebrity as well as busloads of European and Asian tourists. "Everyone who...