# Remains of the Day (book)

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Remains of the Day (book)," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/remains-of-the-day-book/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's book, announced for publication by Simon and Schuster in March 2026, billed as a definitive guide to the historic cemeteries of Washington DC and the first in a planned series; the second installment will cover the Mafia graves of New York City.*

- **Author:** John Kiriakou
- **Publisher:** Simon and Schuster
- **Announced publication:** March 2026
- **Subject:** Historic cemeteries of Washington, DC
- **Planned sequel:** Mafia graves of New York City

**Remains of the Day** is a book by [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou), announced for publication by Simon and Schuster in March 2026 and described by Kiriakou as *"a definitive guide to the historic cemeteries of Washington DC"* — the first installment in a planned series.[1] Kiriakou produced a podcast series, *Grave Concerns*, as a companion to the book, profiling notable figures buried in the capital's cemeteries, including [Gore Vidal](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/gore-vidal).[1]

Kiriakou has said the planned second book in the series will cover the Mafia graves of New York City — subsequently titled [Whispers in the Dirt](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/whispers-in-the-dirt-book).[2]

He has since described the series as larger than one sequel: Simon & Schuster *"liked it so much they commissioned four more."*[3] The format changed with the reception. *Remains of the Day* was written as a field guide, eight inches by five, *"so that you can stick it in your back pocket"* — but the publisher liked it enough to make it a coffee-table book instead, with the practical consequence Kiriakou notes wryly: *"you're going to have to like lug it into the cemetery with you."*[4] He was taking his own photographs for the volumes, and gives his rate of cemetery visits as at least weekly at home and almost daily when abroad.[5][6]

## Origin: a childhood cemetery discovery

Kiriakou traces his fascination with cemeteries to age nine, when he went looking for salamanders in a cemetery near his childhood home and found one under a rock beside a small tombstone bearing a Congressional Medal of Honor medallion. He and his mother went to the library to learn the story: the grave belonged to a local farmer who had fought with the 4th Pennsylvania Infantry and captured a Confederate battle flag at the Battle of Petersburg.[7]

He says he decided to write the book during COVID, after searching online and finding nobody had ever written a book specifically about the cemeteries of Washington, D.C. — despite dozens of existing books about Arlington National Cemetery alone.[8]

## Writing and publication

His first seven books were about the CIA; *Remains of the Day* was his eighth, written in six weeks rather than the nine months a book normally takes him.[9][10] After months of research, he identified 250 fascinating, largely unknown people buried in Washington, D.C. cemeteries for the book.[11]

His publisher, Simon & Schuster, was impressed enough by the manuscript to commission four more cemetery books in the same vein: *Whispers in the Dirt*, covering the Mafia graves of New York City; and further volumes on the historic cemeteries of Chicago, the country-western graves of Nashville, and America's most notorious serial killers.[10][12][13][14] As of one 2025 interview he was 50% done with *Whispers in the Dirt*.[12]

## Postponed

In March 2026 [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) reported that the book, which had been due out within days, had been postponed by about two months *"for reasons that are inexplicable to me."*[15]

Asked about it later in the same programme, he gave the explanation he had been given by the publisher: the delay was not the publisher's doing but Amazon's, which had been *"slow in the uptake to order from the warehouse."* The date moved from late March to late June. His reaction: *"Makes me very angry."*[16]

It was one of several books in train that year; the others are listed at [the CIA Insider's Guide omnibus](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-cia-insiders-guide-omnibus).

## See also

- [Gore Vidal](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/gore-vidal)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Publication status and the ninth book (July 2026)

By mid-2026 Kiriakou described *Remains of the Day* as his eighth book and open for pre-order, with signed copies going out in February and general release in March — *"Barnes & Noble, Target, all over the place, Amazon"* — through rarebirdlit.com, and published by Simon & Schuster, an imprint he says he is *"very proud of."*[17][18]

He put the follow-up, *Whispers in the Dirt* — the guide to New York City's Mafia graves — at about 70% complete, and described a working session on it: thinking about the mid-century Mafia figure Tommy Costello, finding an angle, and writing roughly 600 words in an hour.[19]

See [Kiriakou's writing process](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-writing-process) for how the books get made.

## Sources

1. Mini Episode 4: Grave Concerns (2025-12-15), at 01:04. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/693edf68f817d7dbe8033bd9/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-15-dead-drop-mini-episode-4-grave-concerns/
2. Mini Episode 4: Grave Concerns (2025-12-15), at 24:45. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/693edf68f817d7dbe8033bd9/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-15-dead-drop-mini-episode-4-grave-concerns/
3. #356 — Nuclear War, Vault 7, Mossad in Iran (2025-11-18), at 1:17:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3MFGJFh4Ps&t=4625s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-18-nuclear-war-vault-7-mossad-in-iran/
4. #356 — Nuclear War, Vault 7, Mossad in Iran (2025-11-18), at 1:18:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3MFGJFh4Ps&t=4686s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-18-nuclear-war-vault-7-mossad-in-iran/
5. #356 — Nuclear War, Vault 7, Mossad in Iran (2025-11-18), at 1:17:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3MFGJFh4Ps&t=4655s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-18-nuclear-war-vault-7-mossad-in-iran/
6. #356 — Nuclear War, Vault 7, Mossad in Iran (2025-11-18), at 1:32:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3MFGJFh4Ps&t=5526s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-18-nuclear-war-vault-7-mossad-in-iran/
7. CIA Spy Breaks Silence On Elon Musk's Twitter Files — John (2023-04-12), at 1:56:12. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmPpOps1yeI&t=6972s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-04-12-danny-jones/
8. The Scandal the CIA Never Wants to Talk About Again (2026-05-12), at 27:59. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8NBiggPaTY&t=1679s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-12-covert-operations-insight/
9. CIA Spy Breaks Silence On Elon Musk's Twitter Files — John (2023-04-12), at 1:54:37. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmPpOps1yeI&t=6877s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-04-12-danny-jones/
10. CIA Spy Arrested For Exposing Secrets (2026-04-12), at 1:56:26. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3O2MpP7fzY&t=6986s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-12-matthew-cox-inside-true-crime/
11. CIA Spy Breaks Silence On Elon Musk's Twitter Files — John (2023-04-12), at 1:58:50. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmPpOps1yeI&t=7130s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-04-12-danny-jones/
12. CIA Whistleblower Exposes Black Sites, Epstein Secrets & Bin Laden (2025-07-25), at 1:14:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyQimLepfL0&t=4470s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-25-gold-shields/
13. More Than Rich: S3E33 - John Kiriakou Exposes The Cost o (2024-10-06), at 1:14:16. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NCqVjUN4zw&t=4456s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-10-06-joecat/
14. The Scandal the CIA Never Wants to Talk About Again (2026-05-12), at 28:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8NBiggPaTY&t=1711s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-12-covert-operations-insight/
15. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-03-20), at 25:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=145C1-XphQs&t=1506s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-20-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
16. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-03-20), at 53:46. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=145C1-XphQs&t=3226s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-20-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
17. John Kiriakou Podcast: Inside FBI Recruiting, CIA Secrets & Human Behavior (2026-07-03), at 00:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkAf70JgQBI&t=30s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-03-the-jk-report-john-kiriakou-podcast-inside-fbi-recruiting-cia/
18. John Kiriakou Podcast: Inside FBI Recruiting, CIA Secrets & Human Behavior (2026-07-03), at 01:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkAf70JgQBI&t=63s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-03-the-jk-report-john-kiriakou-podcast-inside-fbi-recruiting-cia/
19. John Kiriakou Podcast: Inside FBI Recruiting, CIA Secrets & Human Behavior (2026-07-03), at 01:33. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkAf70JgQBI&t=93s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-03-the-jk-report-john-kiriakou-podcast-inside-fbi-recruiting-cia/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/remains-of-the-day-book/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt