L.A. might have a corpse on its hands — the county coroner's gift shop, Skeletons in a Closet. It has been losing money, and its manager, Edna Pereyda, has what appears to be one of the loneliest jobs in retail.

One problem: It's located at the morgue, where the bereaved go to claim and identify the bodies of loved ones. “They're really not in the mood for this stuff,” chief coroner's investigator Craig Harvey tells the Washington Post.

What to do?

Market it better, of course. This is, after all, the home of Hollywood.

The shop opened with much fanfare in 1993. It was a rare place where you could by homicide chalk-outline t-shirts, souvenir toe tags, and coroner's trademarked coffee cups. Fun gags.

But the location, in Lincoln Heights, is off the beaten tourist path.

County auditors say the coroner's office should hire an outside marketing firm and get shop back among the living.

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