One of Canada's funniest writers makes his book-length debut with a witty and deeply moving meditation on family, love, and mortality.Memoir, biography, and outrageous comedy make for a perfect blend in the debut book from acclaimed writer Steve Burgess. Telling the tale of his mother's life and death, and along the way laying bare his own life and struggles, Burgess renders a memorable and deeply moving meditation on life and family.The author's mother, Joan, barely survived her thirteenth birthday: a rare disorder had made it almost impossible for her to swallow food. Her battle to survive this illness was the first in a lifelong sequence of courageous confrontations with her upbringin. As she raised her five children, Joan revealed herself to be a strong and remarkably complex woman. This is her story, but it's also the story of her husband, a charming United Church minister, and their children-including the alarmingly delinquent Steve, who spent much of his adolescence and beyond dropping acid, drinking to excess, and getting in trouble with the law. Which leads him to wonder: was he responsible for his mother's ills and perhaps even her death?Burgess is one of Canada's funniest writers, and Who Killed Mom? brims with uproarious anecdotes and one-liners.

Whether he's relating how an ice cream product saved him from a gruesome death on the Trans-Canada, or sizing up the rebranding efforts of a woeful Manitoba motel, or depicting daily life in a retirement community, Burgess infuses his tales with plenty of laughs. But wisdom is at the heart of his wit. Beneath the book's irresisitible hilarity is a penetrating examination of eternal themes: family, mortality, fate, and the enduring value of love. Who Killed Mom? is an unforgettable memoir as profound as it is entertaining.STEVE BURGESS is a Canadian writer/broadcaster whose honours include two Canadian National Magazine Awards. Burgess is the former host of @the end, a nationally-broadcast talk show on CBC Newsworld, and a frequent CBC Radio guest host. In addition to writing for most major Canadian magazines and newspapers he has been a contributing writer at Salon.com and AOL.

com. His stories have been featured in Reader's Digest editions around the world. Who Killed Mom?, which began as an acclaimed series in Swerve Magazine, is his first book.