In fear of dropping dead in town (7)
I believe the answer is:
reading
'town' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'in fear of dropping dead' is the wordplay.
'in fear of' becomes 'dreading' (I've seen this in another clue).
'dropping' suggests deleting specific letters.
'dead' becomes 'd' (abbreviation in government records).
'dreading' with 'd' taken out is 'READING'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for reading that I've seen before include "Study of books etc" , "Ride nag (anag)" , "Recital" , "lesson" , "Very elementary subject" .)