Ianthe Brautigan was nine years old when her father, the Californian Beat writer Richard Brautigan, first told her he wanted to commit suicide. She was twenty-four when he finally took his own life with a shotgun in the Montana countryside. This memoir is Ianthe’s attempt to make sense of her famous father’s suicide.

What emerges in the book is a moving account of a complex, witty, caring man. A hero of 50s and 60s counter-culture who had to endure watching fame and critical praise fade away as he drifted into relative obscurity. Written with a clarity of recall, an understanding wit and with real control and pace, You Can’t Catch Death is a fascinating insight into the legendary man, and the daughter left behind.