Writers offer chance to be famous corpse

DONORS to a university campaign are being offered the chance to appear in the work of a best-selling crime writer – as a corpse.

As part of the campaign to raise £1 million for a new state-of-the-art teaching mortuary at Dundee University, four leading authors are auctioning off the opportunity to appear as a character, or a corpse, in a forthcoming novel.

The writers are Stuart MacBride, Tess Gerritsen, Peter James and Jeffery Deaver, author of Carte Blanche, the latest book in the James Bond franchise.

Sue Black, professor of anatomy and forensic anthropology, said the winning bidder could name the corpse after anyone they wished – with the subject’s permission.

The online auction closes on 30 September.