Description

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 almost ten years, 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 such as for instance a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it's a function 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 just a spellbinding story peopled by way of 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 might kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who may be 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 behave 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 just a sublime and seductive reading experience.  Brilliantly designed and masterfully written, this enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city has turned into a contemporary classic.