This Book Will Bury Me

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, mental illness, and addiction.

The author notes in her acknowledgments that she modeled the fictional Delphine killings after the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students and the media storm that followed their deaths. The case was highly publicized, and the sensationalistic nature of much of the coverage garnered criticism from both insiders in the true-crime community and the general public. This Book Will Bury Me has generated controversy for writing about the case not only so soon after it happened but also before the accused killer had the opportunity to stand trial. At the time of the book’s publication, his case was still in process.

The victims, all living in Moscow, Idaho, were fatally stabbed in their off-campus residence during the early hours of the morning on November 13. After returning from a night out, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodie, Kaylee Goncalves, and Ethan Chapin were gathered in the home that Madison and Xana shared with roommates Dylan Mortenson and Bethany Funke. Like the fictional Larissa, Kaylee placed a series of unanswered phone calls to her longtime ex-boyfriend, a man whom the police investigated and ultimately cleared. Sometime before four o’clock in the morning, Dylan and Bethany, who both survived the attacks, went to sleep while the others stayed awake.