Where the Crawdads Sing Spotlight

By now we’re sure you’ve all heard of this literary darling of Oprah’s and Reese Witherspoon’s recommendations. It has also been adapted into a feature film starring up-and-comer Daisy Edgar Jones, and is loved so hard by one Taylor Swift she wrote a song about it. Author Delia Owens should be over the moon, no? A successful story made all the more popular thanks to abundant movie publicity. Sounds great, no?

Eh, maybe not.

For those of you who live under a rock, or have recently emerged from a swamp, the book follows loner Kya, a young girl who is abandoned by her mother and siblings and largely ignored by her abusive father. As she struggles to grow up in the wild Carolina marshlands, she is met with both the wonder and horror of her coastland home. As an adult, she has learned resourcefulness in terms of survival in harsh, unforgiving conditions, but the follies and foibles that come with the human experience? Those are a bit harder to guard against. A murder occurs on the marsh Kya has come to regard as a surrogate mother- and she’s the prime suspect. Both lyrical coming of age and gripping whodunit, the book keeps you riveted to your headphones until the last moment. 

But, we’re sure you often wonder as do we…just how do authors manage to write about murders and all manner of dark subjects with such authority? To accurately portray such events with such believable accuracy is almost…unbelievable. Or? 

Delia Owens’s newfound literary prowess has brought fame, yes, but also an interest in a much darker area of her real life.

Decades prior Owens and her husband were advocates for conservation in the wilds of Africa. She has explained her protagonist, loner and nature-lover Kya is based on her own tendencies to isolate and retreat into the natural world. She and her husband were doing just that, as they lead conservation efforts and anti-poaching demonstrations in Botswana and Zambia. Unfortunately at one such demonstration, a suspected poacher was killed. 

ABC News, which was filming footage for an interview with Owens at the time, caught the event on camera. It’s not a clear visual, and the mayhem that ensues makes it difficult to see what actually happened (more importantly who caused such happenings) however, the reticence and reluctance of both Delia and her husband Mark to cooperate with Zambian authorities is…not a great look.

The victim has never been identified, and the assailant has never been caught. Call us paranoid, but if it looks like a cover-up and quacks like a cover-up?

We’d also venture to say that admitting a book is more or less inspired by the author’s own life experiences in the natural world, and then having a murder as a plot device when in fact homicide has featured in the author’s real-life as well, is also kind of in poor taste. Even if she didn’t kill anyone.

Regardless, we suppose we’ll never know for sure. Since dead men tell no tales. Neither do swamplands…or savannahs. 

Thanks for reading! What do you think of this crime being unearthed after such a popular book and film release? Have a listen, hear for yourself, and let us know what you think! Maybe you can solve this thing; happy listening and sleuthing! Where the Crawdads Sing is available now on AudiobookSTORE.com! And make sure to check out our FlexPass Membership for the ultimate roster of podcasts, savings on audiobooks, and more!