Authors to discuss a dead-end profession in Nahant

NAHANT – Former Nahanter T.J. Mitchell and his doctor wife are a couple of working stiffs, and they will be in town Tuesday to promote that with their new book, “Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and The Making of a Medical Examiner.”Speaking Tuesday at the Nahant Public Library, the pair will share stories about the rookie years of Dr. Judy Melinek, Mitchell’s wife, at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City.The book will take readers through real-life crime solving and the truth behind shows like “CSI” and “Law and Order,” as well as explore Melinek’s on-the-job training, the harrowing process of identifying the victims of 9/11, her role in grief support, the quest for a work/life balance when your work is essentially being an eyewitness to death, and the stranger-than-fiction-tales from the morgue.Mitchell grew up in Nahant, where he attended elementary school, before heading of to St. John’s Prep and Harvard, where he met Melinek. The pair work and live in San Francisco with their three children. After graduation, Mitchell worked in the film industry, but now he is a writer and stay-at-home dad. Melinek is a forensic pathologist and associate clinical professor at UCSF Medical Center.Author Kathy Reichs, who pens the Temperance Brennan “Bones” series, called the book a compelling and absorbing read and said it describes forensic pathology in the real world, not as seen on TV.