The Osage murders were a series of connected killings of members of the Osage community that occurred in Oklahoma during the 1920s. The book’s depiction of these murders is relatively historically accurate, although it is set in the fictional town of Watona rather than the real-life community of Pawhuska, Oklahoma. The murders began after oil was discovered on lands that had been made available to the Osage after they were forced out of neighboring Kansas. This land was only offered to the Osage because the government thought it to be of little value for agriculture. Both local and national law enforcement agents and government officials were shown to be involved in the crimes.

The Osage Nation is an Indigenous American group that developed communities in the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys as long ago as 700 BCE. By the 19th century, the Osage were dominant throughout the region bordered by the Missouri and Red Rivers, the Ozark Mountains, and the Wichita Hills, but were forced out of the area by the United States government and resettled into what was then known as “Indian Territory,” present-day Oklahoma. Land that had been deemed unfit for agriculture and ranching was made available to the Osage by the US government, but the discovery of oil on that land changed the economic outlook for the Osage and created a development boom in the region.