Morbid Curiosity: The Disturbing Demises of the Famous and Infamous

"It's shocking and sinful, and I couldn't put it down!" -Joan Rivers

The strange, startling, and utterly fascinating stories behind the world's most notorious celebrity deaths.

Was Jayne Mansfield really decapitated? Which manly appendage of Napoleon's was cut off during his autopsy? (And where did it go?) What went to the grave (literally) with River Phoenix, Frank Sinatra, and Princess Diana?

Death is fascinating. Just think about the last time you slowed down as you passed the scene of a car accident. When a public figure bites the dust, the curiosity only increases. From Attila the Hun to Marie Antoinette, from Heath Ledger to Anna Nicole Smith, the deaths of the rich and famous spark endless speculation and tabloid fodder. Their lives-and deaths-are grave matters.

Alan W. Petrucelli's writings have appeared in the New York Times, People, Us Weekly, Family Circle, Ladies' Home Journal, Cape Cod Times, The Desert Sun, Prevention, USA Weekend, New York Daily News, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Working Mother. He hosted The Entertainment Report on the CBS Radio Network. His biography Liza! Liza! was named "One of the Top 200 Books of the Year" by the New York Times.