Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

In this work of narrative nonfiction, John Berendt chronicles the 1981 shooting of Jim Williams in Savannah, Georgia, and the subsequent trial that captivated the nation. Rather than a straightforward legal account, the book functions as a vivid portrait of the city itself, weaving the murder mystery into a broader exploration of Savannah's eccentric social fabric. Berendt moves between the misty, moss-hung squares of the Old South and the gritty underbelly of its modern reality, presenting a cast of characters that includes society ladies, a voodoo priestess, a drag queen, and a con artist. The narrative voice is sharp, witty, and suspenseful, blending journalistic observation with the atmospheric richness of a novel to create a spellbinding account of a community where everyone knows everyone else.

Description adapted from Open Library ↗.