Dr. Anny Sauvageau pose in front of her staff in the autopsy room at the Medical Examiner's Office in Edmonton, Alberta on May, 3 2012. PERRY MAH/QMI AGENCY

EDMONTON - When it comes to the topic of autoerotic deaths, Dr. Anny Sauvageau is a world expert.

Her research on the subject has been the most published in recent years, and now Alberta's chief medical examiner has a book coming out in May.

Autoerotic Deaths: Practical Forensic and Investigative Perspectives, is a collaboration with Sauvageau's long-time friend Vernon Geberth, a retired commander of the New York Police Department.

The book is meant to educate practitioners and investigators about autoerotic fatalities, which Sauvageau defines as an accidental death that occurs during an individual, solitary sexual activity.