Crime authors competing for morgue honor in Scotland

LONDON - It will be the world's most literary mortuary.

Some of the world's leading crime writers are competing for the honor of having a morgue named after them. Scotland's University of Dundee said Monday it will name its new morgue and research facility after whichever writer gets the most votes in an online poll and fundraising effort.

Kathy Reichs, Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, Harlan Cobden, Mark Billingham and Val McDermid are among the 10 authors taking part in the "Million for a Morgue" campaign. Each person who votes donates 1 pound ($1.60) to a money-raising campaign.

The university says the morgue will be the first in Britain to use the Thiel embalming method, which advocates say better preserves cadavers so they can be studied by forensic scientists.