Deer Creek Drive

A Reckoning of Memory and Murder in the Mississippi Delta

By: Beverly Lowry

Narrated by: Beverly Lowry

The stunning true story of a murder that rocked the Mississippi Delta and forever shaped one author’s life and perception of home.

In 1948, in the most stubbornly Dixiefied corner of the Jim Crow south, society matron Idella Thompson was viciously murdered in her own home: stabbed at least 150 times and left facedown in one of the bathrooms. Her daughter, Ruth Dickins, was the only other person in the house. She told authorities a Black man she didn’t recognize had fled the scene, but no evidence of the man's presence was uncovered. When Dickins herself was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, the community exploded. Petitions pleading for her release were drafted, signed, and circulated, and after only six years, the governor of Mississippi granted Ruth Dickins an indefinite suspension of her sentence and she was set free.

In Deer Creek Drive, Beverly Lowry—who was ten at the time of the murder and lived mere miles from the Thompsons’ home—tells a story of white privilege that still has ramifications today, and reflects on the brutal crime, its aftermath, and the ways it clarified her own upbringing in Mississippi.


Cover images: (pruning shears) Tragedy-of-the-Month, 1949, Triangle Publications, Inc.; (background) Special Collections, University of Mississippi Libraries

Captured the Deep South of the period near the end of segregation.

Narration was difficult to tolerate, and I say that as one who has and is accustomed to a slow Appalachian twang. If not for the option to increase the speed, I would not have made it through the first 20 pages. The story was interesting and suspenseful, but there was too much extraneous detail for my taste.

amazing history

excellent details and amazing history of the area- as my partner is from the area, I got a deep dive into certain areas I've wondered about!

Great book!

I grew up in Leland although I wasn’t born until 1960. I couldn’t stop listening it was fascinating!

Good story, weird narrator

If you set the speed to 1.2x it will greatly improve your listening experience. Enjoyed the book.

I found it to be fascinating

I loved this book. The author, Beverly Lowry, read it herself, and I appreciated her casual pace. She made her subjects very real, and her research was scrupulous. I might just read it a second time right away. This made me want to buy the print edition as well.