[Disillusionist]

I guess I'm not directly answering the question, but I've often thought that something I read in a Neil Gaiman "Sandman" graphic novel was a concept really worthy of exploration, related to this topic.

In it, the main city was "Necropolis", and the highest calling was to the extremely elaborate mortuary sciences. The characters were not precisely necromancers, but they were far more than shrouded undertakers. Their knowledge of post-mortem burial customs for any and all cultures of their world was encyclopedic, and with only a tiny creative nudge, some of their philosophies, if applied to retro-mortality, would make for interesting necromancers.

Perhaps the most appealing aspect of these characters was that whatever culture's funerary customs they were performing, they were also susceptible to, or the beneficiaries thereof.
Example:
One form of burial for a certain culture was "Air Burial", in which the cadaver was dissected on a high cliff, and fed to the carrion birds. Custom held that the mortician's hands were not to be washed afterward, as it would be a dishonor to the dead, and in order to demonstrate the honor to the dead, the mortician was to prepare his next meal on the cliff with selfsame unwashed hands, which was then rumored to enhance the flavor of the meal. And for the morticians of that world, it was so. Death became not a revulsion, but ... well...a culinary element.

I recommend looking it over for ideas, although the title escapes me at the moment.