Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story

THE LANDMARK NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, NOW A MAJOR MUSICAL COMING SOON TO BROADWAY - An enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city: "Elegant and wicked.... [This] might be the first true-crime book that makes the reader want to book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime." --The New York Times Book Review - 30th Anniversary Edition with a New Afterword by the Author.

Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt's sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case.

It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman's Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the "soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproariously funny black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this true-crime book has become a modern classic.

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400 pages

Average rating: 6.91

244 RATINGS

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13 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

Very Lit
Aug 06, 2024
3/10 stars
I guess I didn't get it! Found the pace to be painfully slow and a somewhat redundant story line. I felt that the movie did not stand the test of time, do I know too much to be accepting of this dated cast ? It felt more creepy than homespun. 🥴
Andrew S.
May 21, 2024
8/10 stars
Super fun book with memorable characters, it had me laughing from start to finish. It took me a little bit to realize it wasn't a novel but a true story with maybe a couple artistic liberties, but it kept me intrigued wanting to find out what happened. Also very cool living close to Savannah and seeing it through new eyes, I'll have to check out the tour that they base off of this book next time I'm in town.
Shyshy34
Apr 29, 2024
7/10 stars
Very intriguing!!! Makes me want to visit Savannah Georgia! The author did a lot of research to create this book and make sure it represented the characters accurately! Just beautifully done!
Angel@bookslOve
Jan 20, 2024
Excellent 5⭐️
Anonymous
Dec 04, 2023
8/10 stars
This was a IRL book club pick, something I had heard of but was pretty sure I had no interest in reading. Oh dear, there are problems with high society people in Savannah? Let me rush right into that.

Well, now I want to visit Savannah. (Damn you, well written and delightful book!)

This really is non-fiction that you can't quite believe really happened. Are people really like this? I know there are eccentrics in the good ol' USA but to have that many living in Savannah is really quite astounding.

We're told of the saga of Jim Williams, rich, gay, eccentric, and simultaneously beloved and loathed by society. Oh, they will come to his mansion and to his parties but they will talk about him behind his back because he didn't rise up through the proper family ranks. In a nutshell, a very small nutshell, he kills the 21 year old who works for him in self-defense. Except no one really believes it and he ends up having FOUR trials to determine if he's guilty.

Add in a lawyer/conman, a transgender drag queen named Chablis, a voodoo queen and a bug guy willing to poison the water of Savannah and I'm not sure what exactly you get. You definitely get a great book to lose yourself in and I'm sure you'll get a road trip to Savannah because you want to see if people are really like this.


*starts planning road trip*

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