Love in the Time of Cholera is inspired by a murder

Love in the Time of Cholera is a novel by Gabriel García Márquez published in 1985. The writer was inspired by the true story of two Americans nearly 80 years old who met secretly every year in Acapulco while each being married to someone else. One day during a boat trip, they were killed with an oar by the boatman, thus revealing their affair to the public eye.