Death & Other Inconveniences

National bestselling author Lesley Crewe's new novel explores widowhood, complicated family dynamics, and growing up at any age.

Well, Dick's dead. Now what?

Margo, his widow, is trying to dodge the tsunami of paperwork coming her way. She doesn't want to deal with the details―why do you think she was married in the first place? Dick always handled the drudgery.

Monty, Margo's ex-husband (the first one, not the dead one), is trying to support Margo―who seems to be finally entering adulthood at the tender age of sixty-two. Their daughter Julia knows Margo needs her, but between work complications, house complications, and genius-yet-useless son complications, Julia's gasping for air already. Dead Dick's ex-wife Carole and their daughter Velma consider a Margo a maneater thanks to a few long-ago indiscretions, so the funeral is a nightmare. Life in New Brunswick lately is a tornado of siblings, children, pets, marriages, health issues, and endless bureaucracies.

And at the centre of it all is Margo, living alone for the very first time, trying to endure everyone else's judgements about the woman she is when she doesn't even know herself. Maybe a cat will help. (The cat doesn't help.)

How old do you have to be to come of age?

....and has anyone seen Dick's will?

With humour and heart, national bestseller Lesley Crewe walks readers through the incredibly disruptive domino effects of the death of one unremarkable man.

Lesley Crewe is the Globe and Mail―bestselling author of thirteen novels, including Nosy Parker, which was named one of Indigo's Top 100 Books of 2022, The Spoon Stealer, longlisted for Canada Reads 2022, Beholden, Mary, Mary, Amazing Grace, Kin, and Relative Happiness, which was adapted into an award-winning feature film. She has also published two collections of essays, the Leacock―longlisted Are You Kidding Me?! and I Kid You Not! Lesley lives in Homeville, Nova Scotia. Visit her at lesleycrewe.com.