‘You Did It, Baby.’ Patton Oswalt Commemorates Finishing His Late Wife’s Book With Touching Tribute

Nearly two years after his wife unexpectedly passed away, Patton Oswalt is honoring the completion of her final book, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark

True crime writer Michelle McNamara died suddenly in her sleep on April 21, 2016, leaving her years-long investigation into the Golden State Killer—a.k.a. the Original Night Stalker—unfinished. But in the wake of her death, Oswalt pledged to carry the novel to its close.

“I wish I could tell you some moment of epiphany when I realized that I was going to finish it, but I don’t have it,” the comedian told Entertainment Weekly of his decision. “That whole year is just this really painful blur.”

Oswalt commemorated the book’s publication on Tuesday by sharing a photo of a copy of I’ll Be Gone in the Dark sitting on McNamara’s grave. “You did it, baby,” he wrote. “The book is excellent, the writing brilliant. You tried to bring kindness to chaos, which was your way.”

Oswalt has since remarried, having tied the knot with actor Meredith Salenger on Nov. 4, 2017.