Karma it seems was just an old wives tale maybe told by someone seeing that someone always was doing bad and never got his comeuppance till maybe one day then as a warning to others to be on there best behavior at all times if you act like **** then what happened to him will happen to as "What comes around goes around"
Don't get me wrong it would be lovely if life worked to a certain formula like that all nice and simple rules but we all know life is fluid unpredictable and confusing at the best of times.
Karma after you are dead ?!? Surely the whole point isn't to do with being dead or alive, it is to do with attraction, do bad things and bad things come to you, do good things and good things come to you. So it is all about getting it right in this life (or the next if you accept reincarnation).