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386 pages, Paperback
First published January 13, 1994
”Now, you know how dead time works. Dead time lasts for one hour—from half an hour before midnight to half an hour after midnight. The half hour before midnight is for doin’ good. The half hour after midnight is for doin’ evil.”Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has always been a difficult book to describe. On one level, it’s a nonfiction crime story about a murder trial (well, four of them) in Savannah, Georgia. In the early morning of May 2, 1981, Jim Williams, a wealthy, self-made antiques dealer, shot and killed Danny Hansford, his young, hot-tempered handyman/assistant. Was it murder or self-defense? Though the book runs through the end of the trials and the appeals, you’ll never really, truly know for sure whether justice was done in the case.
“Right,” said Williams.
“Seems like we need a little of both tonight,” said Minerva, “so we best be on our way.”
…
For me, Savannah’s resistance to change was its saving grace. The city looked inward, sealed off from the noises and distractions of the world at large. It grew inward, too, and in such a way that its people flourished like hothouse plants tended by an indulgent gardener. The ordinary became extraordinary. Eccentrics thrived. Every nuance and quirk of personality achieved greater brilliance in that lush enclosure than would have been possible anywhere else in the world.