If you like to stump people with obscure trivia, Morbid Curiosity: The Disturbing Demises of the Famous and Infamous is, with its sections about writer, actors, presidents and suicides, the perfect prescription to satisfy your, well, morbid curiosity.

One word of warning: the acerbic wit of Petrucelli may offend you, with lines like Jack Cassidy’s career “getting hot” as he burned to death from a fire he accidentally set when he fell asleep smoking. Adding insult to injury, Petrucelli concludes the entry with knowledge that, yes, Cassidy was cremated. Ouch.

Somehow, even though I am a trivia geek, I had never before heard that it is strongly rumored that President Warren G. Harding was poisoned by his wife, perhaps because he had a mistress with whom he had fathered an illegitimate child. First Lady Florence Harding would not let him be autopsied and cremated him an hour after his death. Hmmm.

Recommended if you seek giggles and groans while learning info almost no one knows, a pocket-sized, carry-anywhere guilty pleasure.