This collection of essays on matters related to death and dying represents a wide array of interests. Sponsored by the Glasnevin Trust and published by the Four Courts Press, the collection ranges from medical histories and descriptions of commemorative displays to histories investigating the effects of pandemics on the fabric of Dublin society. The volume itself seems unsure whether its audience is solely academic or whether it wants to cater to the mainstream; nevertheless, its contributors are employed in an impressive array of careers, including established academics, postgraduate researchers, PhD candidates and archivists. Overall, the book covers what its title claims it will, providing interesting and understudied perspectives on Dublin's culture surrounding death and its causes.

The book includes fourteen essays, four appendices, twenty-six illustrations, a bibliography and an index. This leaves some essays wanting space and making the book's 252 pages seem too short. The essays are largely derived from presentations given at a symposium sponsored by the Glasnevin Trust, and thus vary in length. Some chapters seem to be disadvantaged by the shorter page limits, as many of their arguments could use a few extra pages for the construction and illustration of their points. Other contributions seem amateurish in that they require additional research if they are to make a real contribution to Dublin's mortiferous history. John McCafferty's essay, for example, seeks to establish a link between the public funerals of the Irish soldiers killed in Niemba and of Michael Collins to illustrate how the funerals were constructed to increase the reputation of and support for the Republic of Ireland's armed forces – in only eight pages. This is an interesting premise, but the chapter struggles to balance descriptive elements of the Niemba funeral with analysis of why certain details were chosen by the designers of the funeral, or how, exactly, they were influenced by or compare with the funeral of Michael Collins. McCafferty's reasoning is apparent throughout the piece but many thoughts are left only implied, a problem that perhaps would have been easily solved if there had been more illustrations within a longer piece.

On a more positive note, some essays in the book have interesting premises and good historiographical contextualisation: their authors have made good use of the space given to them. In his essay on Crimean War memorials, for example, Paul Huddie contextualises his argument within the broader sphere of the existing types of war memorials in 1850. He demonstrates how these memorials differed and changed war memorial design in general, and he analyses the thought behind some of the most popular designs, engaging with how these reflected the Crimean War experience or societal opinions brought on by the war. The only things that this chapter wants for are illustrations. However, the author has made such good use of descriptive language that these would be a benefit only, not a necessity.

Another contribution, by Brian Hughes, is an excellent foray into a new aspect of the well-studied 1916 Rising executions: the personal feelings of the families of the executed and their methods of mourning. As Hughes himself notes, it is the public reaction to the Rising executions that have always drawn scholarly and public attention, but ‘the consequences for those closest to the dead are rarely, if ever, explored’ (p. 197). Using the private letters of wives, mothers and siblings of the Rising's leaders, Hughes traces previously unknown familial traumas caused by the Rising, demonstrating how public executions were privately internalised and mourned by family members. The contributions by Huddie and Hughes make strong arguments in small spaces, and these and other essays merit more comprehensive treatment, and herald exciting future work by their authors.

Overall, it seems that this book would have benefited from including fewer but longer essays, and illustrations consistently interspersed throughout. That being said, the volume deals with engaging subjects, each essay presents appealing premises, and as a whole the collection highlights understudied, important and interesting facets of Dublin's history. The book has also been published to a high standard, from the well-designed cover to heavy glossy pages and high resolution colour illustrations. The essays in Grave matters make for interesting reading whether its audience is meant to be academic or the general public, though with the caveat that it seems, in general, to be a collection of works in progress.