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The article profiles Bob Hope. The one subject Linda Hope can't remember her father ever joking about was his own mortality. "He was in Vietnam and had some close calls," she says. "He always said, 'When it happens, it happens.' On July 27, 2003, two months after his May 29 centennial, the ski-nosed, tart-tongued entertainer died of pneumonia, with Linda, 64, a TV producer, her sister, two brothers and their mother, Dolores, 94, at his bedside in his Toluca Lake, Calif., home. Till his final days, death was seldom on his mind, says Linda. "He was too busy living life and figuring out a joke for what was going on at the time." Indeed, for more than half a century, the irrepressible Hope was America's nonstop joke dispenser. Through 1,145 radio broadcasts, nearly 70 movies, some 500 TV specials, 18 Oscar-hosting gigs and performances before millions of U.S. troops from World War II to the Gulf War, Hope churned out more gags than anybody--"They once timed me at 44 jokes in four minutes," he boasted. INSETS: A COMIC SOLDIERS ON;CELEBS REMEMBER THEIR FAVORITE CLOWN.

Reports on the murder of David Coughlin in August 1999. How he and his friend Raffi Kodikian went on a two-day hike into the back country of New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns National Park; Kodikian's statement that Coughlin had begged to be killed; Reaction of Coughlin's family to Kodikian's version of events; Reasons why his story does not make sense.

Only days after fashion writer Christa Worthington was found stabbed to death in her home in Truro, Mass., in January 2002, a book editor phoned Maria Flook to see if she would be interested in writing about the case. An accomplished novelist, Flook, 50,who also lived in Truro, was immediately intrigued by the project. If nothing else, there was undeniable drama, from the fact that Worthington, 46, had been found with her unharmed 2-year-old daughter Ava clinging to her body to reports that as investigators began to examine the victim's life they discovered a complex tangle of romantic relationships and simmering jealousies. "It's not the murder that interested me," says Flook, "but the life of Christa Worthington and the people in it." Now Flook's new book, "Invisible Eden: A Story of Love and Murder on Cape Cod", out June 24, 2003, has a good many of those people connected to the case seething.

Susann Wyler hadn't answered the telephone for more than a day, so on the night of Oct. 2 her son Gregory stopped by her home in the wealthy Boston suburb of Winchester, Mass., to make sure everything was all right. It was a crime that shocked the community, given that Susann was the wife of Geoffrey Wyler, a highly successful attorney. With no sign of a break-in or a burglary, investigators concluded that Susann in all likelihood knew her attacker. Although a team of Massachusetts state and local police are actively investigating, authorities have declined to say if they have any suspects in the case. But ever since the murder a steady stream of disclosures has laid bare the Wyler family's privileged but also deeply dysfunctional life, including the ugly divorce proceedings that were unfolding between Geoffrey and Susann, a onetime schoolteacher who was known as a doting mother and caring friend. On several occasions over the years Susann or the boys had summoned police to the Winchester house to quell domestic disputes. In 1989 Geoffrey offered to incorporate a company, Airnew, that Geoffrey II had founded to specialize in assembling small aircraft. In January 1998, according to an affidavit later supplied by Geoffrey II, the older Geoffrey had his son barred from the company's premises and announced that he now controlled all the stock. He sold his company, Silent Systems, in 1998 and stood to reap approximately $11 million in profits from his patented invention. But around that time, according to an affidavit supplied by Susann, Greg accused his father of trying to swindle him out of shares in the company.

Discusses the investigation into the murder of fashion writer Christa Worthington at her home in Truro, Massachusetts. Account of the discovery of her body; Biographical and career details; Why she moved back to Massachusetts after a high-powered career, including her desire to have a child; Possible suspects; Issue of who will get custody of Worthington's two-year-old daughter Ava.

Examines the murder of Thomas Wales, a prosecutor and gun-control activist, who was shot to death execution-style.

Presents the findings of a study on the attitudes of people about death.

Actor Mark Wahlberg, 32, celebrated the birth of his first child, Ella Rae, with his girlfriend, model Rhea Durham, 25, in Los Angeles on Sept. 2--only to learn that his sister Deborah Donnelly Wahlberg, 43, had died that same day in a Plymouth, Mass., hospital after a weeklong battle with a septic infection. Deborah was one of nine Wahlberg children, including Donnie, 34, of the TV series Boomtown. The family attended her funeral Sept. 6 at St. Margaret Roman Catholic Church in the Dorchester section of Boston, where Deborah's six brothers acted as pallbearers and approximately 300 mourners paid their respects.

Reports on the reaction of Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst to the death of Jessica Michalik at the group's Sydney, Australia concert in January 2001.