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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

John Berendt

3.92 · Rating details · 207,528 ratings · 8,289 reviews

A sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city has become a modern classic.

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 ...more

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Paperback, 386 pages

Published June 28th 1999 by Vintage (first published January 13th 1994)

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Jan 03, 2020 Julie rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020, e-book, crime, true-crime, non-fiction, southern

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt is a 1994 Random House publication.

In 2019, I read a handful of books that were huge bestsellers in the past, but for some reason or another, I’d never gotten around to reading them. I had so much fun reading the ‘books everyone on the planet has read but me’, I decided to make that a part of my reading journey again this year.

This is one of those books everyone was reading back in the mid-nineties. I have been meaning to read it for ages Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt is a 1994 Random House publication.

In 2019, I read a handful of books that were huge bestsellers in the past, but for some reason or another, I’d never gotten around to reading them. I had so much fun reading the ‘books everyone on the planet has read but me’, I decided to make that a part of my reading journey again this year.

This is one of those books everyone was reading back in the mid-nineties. I have been meaning to read it for ages and ages. I saw the movie many years ago, never realizing until much later that it was based on true events. Once I discovered this was a work of ‘true crime’, I knew I had to read the book- because the book is always better!

The book is about the real- life murder of Danny Hansford, an ill -tempered, volatile 'handyman', who was shot to death by his lover, Jim Williams, in Savannah, Georgia in the early 1980s.

The author, a native New Yorker, who had fallen in love with Savannah, decided to write a book about the sensational murder. To help readers understand the climate, Berendt paints a unique portrait of Savannah, a city which preferred to keep to itself and relished its isolation. The city, however, is quite lively, steeped in beauty and history, and is the host to a slew of eccentric characters and goings on, blended with southern gentility, and although not advertised at that time, a thriving gay community.

Berendt writes the book in a first -person narrative, a unique approach for a book marketed as true crime. The book, as many others have pointed out, reads like a novel, a work of fiction- only it’s not. However, it should be noted that Berendt did fudge the timelines, and embellished some events, so in truth, the book isn’t one hundred percent factual- but it’s close enough.

As in the movie, Lady Chablis, steals the show, lock, stock and barrel. But she did occasionally distract from the crime, which was supposed to be the focal point of the book. Williams swore he shot Danny in self-defense. His claim, however, contradicted the forensics analysis, about gunshot residue, among other things. I won’t give anything away, just in case you haven’t read the book, but the case lingered on for years before a final judgement was made, once and for all. Justice may or may not have been served in the courtroom, but if one were to believe Minerva, the voodoo priestess, it very well may have prevailed in other ways- from outside of this earthly realm…

Despite any liberties the author may have taken, the book is very absorbing and, well- entertaining- which may seem like an odd choice of words, but if you’ve read this book, you’ll know what I mean. What a cast of characters!

Berendt did an amazing job in telling this incredible tale. It’s no wonder this book stayed on the NYT bestseller list for 216 weeks, after its debut!

4 stars ...more

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May 28, 2008 Annet rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, dark, beautiful-poetic, wow-impressive, crime, brilliant, wilderness-books-can-usa, weird, have-to-read-again

Extraordinary story and characters, slow read, some parts for me were a bit hard to get through, that's why four stars and not five. A classic though. Loved it. Now I want to go to Savannah too....

Another early review of mine coming up... how times flies.
Oh my, I loved this book!

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Feb 29, 2012 mark monday rated it it was ok

Shelves: he-said-she-said, murdertime

this book has a lot of fans. that makes some sense. magazines are certainly very popular, and this is magazine writing at its most polished. Berendt knows how to create an atmosphere. he knows how to describe things in a style that is careful, subtle, and enfused with a deadpan but rather mischievious irony. he can certainly describe the way a rich man's house looks - so well that you could then describe it to someone else as if you've been there. characters are sketched with an expert's hand - ...more

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Apr 24, 2007 Taylor rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: everyone.

Shelves: favorites, real-people, murders-and-mysteries, desert-island-picks, pop-pop-popular, country-mouse, recommended, non-fiction, signed, made-for-the-screen

Note, February 2014: I was just rereading this review, and FUNNY STORY, I moved to a small town. Not so much a big city person as I had originally thought...

Original review, circa 2007: I love this book to the point where I don't even really know what to say about it, because nothing I can say about it will be good enough to explain just how incredible this book really is.

After reading this book, I had to restrain myself from booking a flight to Savannah. It makes you want to be there, it makes ...more

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Mar 26, 2013 VictoriaNickers rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, to-be-re-read, favorites, crime

One of the best 'true crime' book I have ever read. Every inch of the story is fascinating. It reads like a novel. I actually had to keep reminding myself that it was, in fact, a true crime book. From the very first chapter I felt drawn in. I immediately wanted to go to Savannah and see it for myself.

So often in true crime books the characters are a little flat. Berendt was really able to make them come to life. His writing made the whole city come to life. His ability to infiltrate the seemly ...more

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Jan 27, 2012 Richard Derus rated it liked it

BkC7)Delicious, shimmering prose. Wonderful story. Savannah really should give Mr. Berendt a pension.

Well now, I have to dim my searchlight to a streetlight. Still think it's good but now, well, now I can't see past the one-hit-wonderness to the glories I once took for granted.

Rating: 3.75* of five

The Publisher Says: 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 ...more

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Jan 23, 2016 Brian rated it really liked it

I purchased this book while in Savannah for the first time. I had been promised that the text would capture the spirit of this reclusive and beautiful city. And it did, I have no complaints there. Mr. Brendt weaves this character driven travelogue into the true story of a sensational murder trial that dominated Savannah for nearly a decade. That is a nice device as it allows the author to "character hop" so to speak, while being able to bring the text back to a central incident, the murder ...more

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May 07, 2007 Adam rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Recommends it for: fans of the film

This was a decent book. There was a lot of mood, of which I'm a big fan. The characters all had the potential to be very interesting, but unfortuately, they weren't developed. That's not to say you don't spend a lot of time with them, or find out anything about them, it's just that you don't really give a damn.

The book is written by a magazine journalist who ends up living on and off in Savanah, GA for eight years to investigate and chronicle a murder and it's trials. This book is more or less ...more

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Mar 22, 2017 Jonathan Ashleigh rated it really liked it

Shelves: recent

The writing was great, the story was led into in an interesting way, but the trial was trivial and so were many characters that were introduced in the first half of the book. But, I liked reading about them anyway and, while the book came together well in the end, the whole thing wasn’t cohesive. That said, I feel like I should have more good things to say about a book I enjoyed reading so much.

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Oct 11, 2007 Lena rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

There was a lot of hype around this book a few years back, but in this case I think it is actually deserved. For one, Berendt is a skilled writer who understands how to tease a compelling story out of the material he’s working with. And, oh, what material! The true-crime mystery at the center of the book—whether the social-climbing, closeted gay antiques dealer shot his lover in cold blood or self-defense—is interesting enough, but Berendt decorates that story with outrageous character portraits ...more

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Apr 06, 2018 ALLEN rated it it was amazing

One advantage of bringing fresh eyes to an old town like Savannah, Georgia, is that the newcomer can cross social, racial, religious and economic lines with relative ease, and reporter John Berendt made the most of it in this bestseller. Midnight is a penetrating look at Coastal South culture that is zestily written and a hell of a lot of fun to read.

While I enjoyed the ensuing movie very much, I like the book even more because it can take more time doing its job -- basically following a very ...more

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Jul 11, 2008 Amanda rated it really liked it

Recommended to Amanda by: Chris Brewer

Shelves: blog, book-club-made-me-do-it

Murder, gullah, drag queens (these are a few of my favorite things . . .) There's probably not much I can say about this book that hasn't already been said, but that won't stop me. I saw the movie when it first came out and loved it, but just never got around to reading the book. I thought that the entire book would be about the murder trial of Jim Williams, the prominent Savannah antiques dealer accused of murdering Danny Hansford (with whom it was rumored he was having a sexual relationship). ...more

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Feb 26, 2015 Phrynne rated it it was ok

I found this one a struggle. Several times I stopped and looked the title up again on Goodreads to make sure it really is non fiction. Surely all those weird characters could not really have existed in one place. Surely there must have been a huge amount of artistic licence going on. The court cases themselves rang true but ended up not being a major part of the book. Two stars because the author writes well. My struggle to read it was based purely on disbelief and not at all on the quality of ...more

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Aug 18, 2019 Jennie Damron rated it really liked it

So this has been on my TBR pile for many years. I am glad I read it and enjoyed the read, but not like I thought I would. Parts of the book seemed unnecessary and disrupted the flow of the story. The writing was well done and I like that the author lived and mingled with the people of Savannah before, during and after the murder trial. I think that gave the book a deeper resonance and flavor than if he had just researched the trial and the people involved. This was unlike any true crime book I ...more

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Apr 03, 2017 Montzalee Wittmann rated it it was ok

Shelves: worst-books-tried

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story by John Berendt is a weird story about even weirder people! I would be gone from that town soooo fast. What creepy people! With the strange people you knew the murder mystery would be just as creepy, but not good. Easy to figure out that Jim and Danny were lovers right away. Why hide it in this town? You have a man that only puts make up on one eye, a man who walks an invisible dog, a man that hordes enough poison so he can at sometime ...more

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Nov 09, 2019 Diane in Australia rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction-crime

Due to all the hype, I went out of my way to get this book. I needn't have bothered. It didn't impress me. The author admits he mixes fact with fictional embellishments, which is sometimes 'okay', and sometimes not. In this instance, it was more of a 'not'.

If you love Savannah, or Georgia in general, you'd probably enjoy this book as he totally nails the ambience of that city, and its locals. If you're looking for a riveting true crime book, this one may not be very enthralling.

3 Stars = It was ...more

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Jul 26, 2015 Maxwell rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, i-own-it, 2015

The perfect mix of character study and courtroom drama, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil paints a fascinating picture of Savannah, Georgia. It's a moody, atmospheric novel that draws you in with its exquisite descriptions and eccentric cast. There are aristocratic snobs and drag queens, punk rock teens and possibly murderous millionaires. It all sounds a bit too good to be true--based on a series of real events from the 1980's-- and maybe it is. But nonetheless, it's wildly entertaining ...more

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Aug 24, 2011 Jake rated it liked it

Shelves: sociology, mystery, travel

"Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is ostensibly about the macabre truths that lie behind Savannah's gentile facade. As you might expect, these are of a distinctly Gothic nature. Imagine a travel guide written by Tennessee Williams. We are invited to marvel at some familiar grotesques: the homosexual in a smoking jacket, the socialite drunk at noon, the young hustler with a Red Camaro, the outrageous trannie, the witch doctor. All of this is presented with a light touch, even as the "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is ostensibly about the macabre truths that lie behind Savannah's gentile facade. As you might expect, these are of a distinctly Gothic nature. Imagine a travel guide written by Tennessee Williams. We are invited to marvel at some familiar grotesques: the homosexual in a smoking jacket, the socialite drunk at noon, the young hustler with a Red Camaro, the outrageous trannie, the witch doctor. All of this is presented with a light touch, even as the parade of anecdotes transitions to an expose of a celebrated murder case. It makes for a fun read, and it's easy to see why this book reinvented the Savannah tourist scene and stayed on the best seller list for five straight years.

But as with Capote's "In Cold Blood", it's interesting to explore exactly where this memoir diverges from the truth- what lies hidden behind the narrator's engaging facade? Berendt comes across as a good-natured everyman, a writer newly settled in town, just taking a look around. Of course, he was a good deal more than that: the famous ex-editor of New York Magazine, and more importantly, perhaps, a gay man. This background explains his easy entree into the life of Jim Williams, the anti-hero of the book. Rich, handsome, secretive, and gay- a man not too dissimilar from the narrator:

He was tall, about fifty, with darkly handsome, almost sinister features: a neatly trimmed mustache, hair turning sliver at the temples, and eyes so black they were like the tinted windows of a sleek limousine - he could see out, but you couldn't see in. We were sitting in the living room of his Victorian house. It was a mansion, really, with fifteen-foot ceilings and large, well-proportioned rooms. A graceful spiral stairway rose from the center hall toward a domed skylight. There was a ballroom on the second floor. It was Mercer House, one of the last of Savannah's great houses still in private hands. Together with the walled garden and the carriage house in back, it occupied an entire city block. If Mercer House was not quite the biggest private house in Savannah, it was certainly the most grandly furnished.

Much has been written about Berendt's many elisions and emendations of the strict truth: the way he rearranged the timeline of the murder at the center of the book to narrate it in the first person, the "degaying" of the murder victim, the changing of names and invention of composite characters. This is all worth thinking about, but I'm more interested in a different class of distortions: what hidden biases does a rich, gay northerner bring to a description of the South?

First, there is the previously mentioned delight in the grotesque. This is a tendency of all northern authors to reduce people in the South to types. Berendt does some of this, and while the reduction makes for good story-telling, you can't help but wonder what kind of truth it leaves out of the picture. Second, as a white northerner, the author has little access to the Black culture of the city- and apart from a short chapter about a Black cotillion, the only Black faces we see in the story are trannies, witch doctors, and servants. This probably misses some deeper truths about the city. Finally, as a wealthy gay man, Berendt's sympathies seem clearly biased towards Jim Williams, with whom he shares more than a little in common (Berendt currently lives in a mansion on the Upper West Side decked out not-too-different than Williams' house in Savannah.) How does this change his story? I'm not sure- but it would probably be better if he addressed it himself when he was writing it.

So what are we to make of all of this? Capote's "In Cold Blood", despite its flaws and half-truths, told a profound story of human nature and the depths to which people can sink. "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" tells an entertaining story about the degree to which you can beat a murder rap if you have a house filled with a couple of million dollars worth of antiques. That doesn't mean it's not worth your time: it's just not as important a book as its fame would suggest. ...more

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Mar 21, 2018 Jacob Overmark rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-owned, reviewed, crime-suspense-thriller, contemporary-international

We are going South, Deep South … and here we like to keep them things as they always were, when our fathers fathers fathers build Savannah. After all this are the 80-ties and we may have heard of the outside world, but were not gonna go there!

Yearh, there may be an alarmingly high murder rate, but its nothing to do with us decent people, we have our country clubs, our yacht clubs and our good ol money in the bank.
So, getting into the social life of Savannah is no easy job.
Either you are ol ...more

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Dec 06, 2011 Jess ❈Harbinger of Blood-Soaked Rainbows❈ rated it really liked it

Shelves: narrative-nonfiction, reviewed, popsugar-2015, a-z-challenge, 3-and-a-half-stars, saw-the-film, own-read

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

B is for Berendt

Read a book with antonyms in the title

So I just realized that I totally forgot to review this one.....idiot moment #85749

B is for Berendt

Read a book with antonyms in the title

So I just realized that I totally forgot to review this one.....idiot moment #85749

For me, Savannah's resistance to change was its saving grace. The city looked inward, sealed of 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 gardner. 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.

This is probably one of the best nonfiction tales I've read in quite awhile. In fact, many times I felt like I was reading a novel. Berendt's writing style is comfortable, approachable, and conversational; everything I want in a narrative nonfiction book. The characters were so interesting and dynamic, and the setting is SAVANNAH for crying out loud. Each idiosyncratic and vivid identity depicted within these pages seems like something out of a novel, so I loved loved loved that they all are, in fact, real, living, breathing human beings who lived in Savannah when this book was written.

From an eccentric gay antique dealer who may or may not have murdered his young, redneck, playboy lover in cold blood to a beautiful trash-talking drag queen (my personal favorite of the bunch) to a mysterious and slightly loony voodoo priestess to a penniless womanizing philanderer, these characters were all extremely memorable and were my favorite part of this book. The setting of Savannah, a character in itself, was perfect and made me want to plan a trip there soon.

Where this book lost me a bit was the long and detailed murder trial of Jim Williams. It was oddly thrown in halfway through, and while I enjoyed knowing what would happen, it was written as the principal story among all the other stories, and the one I found the least interesting. So I was a little disappointed that it took up the most real-estate. I needed more of Chablis and her fierce attitude, Joe Odom and his pretty but naive fiancee, Mandy, and Minerva's voodoo. I would have taken 300 more pages of their stories.

The real bits, the pieces of factual information I gained about Savannah's culture and history were an added bonus to the story, but the magic of this is in the characters. Read this book for them. They are better than most fictionalized people you will ever meet. ...more

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Mar 21, 2012 Madeline rated it really liked it

"An idea was beginning to take shape in my mind, a variation of my city-hopping weekends. I would make Savannah my second home. I would spend perhaps a month at a time in Savannah, long enough to become more than a tourist if not quite a full-fledged resident. I would inquire, observe, and poke around wherever my curiosity led me or wherever I was invited. I would presume nothing. I would take notes.
Over a period of eight years I did just that, except that my stays in Savannah became longer and "An idea was beginning to take shape in my mind, a variation of my city-hopping weekends. I would make Savannah my second home. I would spend perhaps a month at a time in Savannah, long enough to become more than a tourist if not quite a full-fledged resident. I would inquire, observe, and poke around wherever my curiosity led me or wherever I was invited. I would presume nothing. I would take notes.
Over a period of eight years I did just that, except that my stays in Savannah became longer and my return trips to New York shorter. At times, I came to think of myself as living in Savannah. I found myself involved in an adventure peopled by an unusual assortment of characters and enlivened by a series of strange events, up to and including murder. But first things first."

Man, it must be great being John Berendt. He can just decide, seemingly on the spur of the moment, to move to another state or country and spend years living there, apparently doing nothing except wandering around meeting all the weird locals and writing stories about them, which he then cobbles together into a loosely-connected narrative and publishes for lots of money. I am extremely jealous of this. (and, on the off chance that John Berendt is reading this review: Mr. Berendt, consider this my application to be your sassy young assistant. Can we go to Prague next?)

When I saw the movie version of this book, I had a hard time believing that it was based on a nonfiction book. Surely real life could never work out so perfectly: a big-city writer moves to a close-knit Southern town full of eccentric rich people, and then one of those eccentric rich people shoots his gay lover after an argument that no one witnesses, leaving a suspicious crime scene and even more suspicious circumstances. Also there's a Voodoo priestess and a drag queen, because why the hell not.

Even after finishing the book, I still have a hard time believing that Jim Williams actually existed, that he actually shot his lover, that he actually spent eight years in and out of court trying to prove that he didn't plan to murder anyone, and that at the end of his ordeal he died suddenly in the same room where he shot the man, in the same place he was standing when the original argument occurred. Surely you can only make this shit up, can't you?

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a fun read. The characters are endlessly quirky and odd, the events Berendt witnesses have to be read to be believed, and the murder mystery that the book revolves around will delight any detective novel fan. Even Berendt himself emerges as a minor character in the story - even though he refrains from giving his opinions of the events or people described, he's a constant presence in the story, describing his conversations and actions as if the book really is just a fictional account narrated in first-person. Many of the book's chapters, it should be said, don't relate at all to the murder mystery, but they were so interesting it didn't even bother me. (perhaps I should have read this book before trying Berendt's newest book, The City of Falling Angels, because I remember being frustrated that more chapters didn't relate to the Fenice fire - but then again, they weren't as good as the stories in Midnight)

And Now A Note on the Movie: I won't say it's better than the book, but it's a pretty good adaptation. Jude Law was a great choice for Danny, as he's a perfect mix of sexy and unstable, and Kevin Spacey was very well cast as Jim Williams. Two gripes only, and they relate: the character of Mandy in the book is a minor one, and although she's blonde in the book, mentions that she was Miss BBW Las Vegas - so not the skinny blond piece portrayed in the movie. Also, she and Berendt's character are never even close to romantically involved in the book because, as I learned from another review, John Berendt is gay. I really really wish they had kept this detail in the movie (or rather, added it, since Berendt makes no mention of his own sexuality in the book) because first it would have eliminated the stupid romance subplot, and also because it would have put John Cusack's interactions with Lady Chablis in a much more interesting light. But we can't have everything. ...more

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Dec 19, 2011 Ted rated it it was ok

Shelves: lit-american, americana

I know that this was an enormously popular book, but it just didn't grab me. Probably due to some personal defect, or something that was going on while I was reading it. I know that I will never consider reading it a second time (I don't even have it any more).

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Previous library review: The Unwinding An Inner History of the New America
Next library review: The Lost ...more

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Oct 05, 2016 Sandy *The world could end while I was reading and I would never notice* rated it it was amazing

I first read this book some 15 years ago, after being lent it by a friend.

I now have my own copy. It is a book I go to every few years for a visit. And I must be due for another visit sometime soon.

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Jun 12, 2010 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Bettie, Chrissie

Recommended to Laura by: Dawn

Shelves: bookmooch, travel, true-crime, america, read-2011

Just arrived from Finland through BM.

What a pity this book ended. I must find a way to visit this beautiful city of Savannah.

The story is about the trial of Jim Williams, a Savannah's socialite and an international antiques dealer, crazy by the famous Faberge eggs, which was accused of the murder of Danny Handsford.

After had discovered that a super-saver fare to Savannah cost the same as an entree in a Manhattan restaurant, the author spent eight years fitting between these two cities. In this ...more

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Oct 18, 2007 Karen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Although I enjoyed it, I think this book could have been much better. The first half is largely a series of character studies, and the second half is essentially a true-life crime novel. Unfortunately I grew dangerously bored with the first half, and as the mystery unfolds, I grew annoyed that many of the characters introduced in the first half really have little play or impact on the rest of the book. The murder mystery itself is an interesting story but is very anticlimactic. While the book is ...more

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Feb 17, 2019 Elvenn rated it really liked it

Many describe it as a "true crime" but I believe it to be more the account of a journalist that was living in Savannah- and writing a book about the experience and all the quirky characters he kept meeting- when a murder involving one of the most prominent citizens took place.

Recognising the oportunity, he embarked on a series of interviews designed to put all the pieces of the puzzle together that, after reaching a plausible conclusion, he included in the text he was already writing. The ...more

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Aug 11, 2010 aPriL does feral sometimes rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: illuminating, humor, chattering-class-favorite, black-gleeful-fun, nonfiction-cozy, best-if-read-cold

'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil' is actually non-fiction, but the book reads a little like a fictional 'Miss Marple' Agatha Christie mystery. However, 'Midnight...' has quite a dollop of thick Southern postbellum syrup spread on its infamous mix of greens-and-purple cabbage garden of a story, with a twist of Red Queen Wonderland tomatoes.

The book's real-life Savannah, Georgia characters and 'plot' are handled by the author John Berendt with an amused grin and a tolerance usually only ...more

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Apr 15, 2017 Petra rated it it was ok

Shelves: non-fiction

This book is chalk full of eccentric and sometimes amusing people. Savanah's architecture and lifestyle are introduced. In all, Savanah sounds like a lovely city. I really enjoyed the martini ritual when visiting the grave of Conrad Aiken and his tombstone.
After the descriptions of Savanah and it's loveliness, though, the rest of the book fell a bit flat. The people mentioned were eccentric.....but not all of them were part of the crime or the investigation. They were added purely for ...more

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Oct 16, 2015 Paul rated it liked it

Shelves: book-vipers-monthly-read, books-read-2016

Savannah, Georgia is the oldest city in the Deep South; beautiful and unique it is full of neat squares, shaded cobblestone streets, parks, and historic buildings. But in the 1980’s the city was gripped by the events that happened in Savannah's grandest mansion very late one night. Was the death of Danny Hansford, a male prostitute, murder or self-defence?

In this narrative, Berendt introduces us to the place that is Savannah, as well as the characters of the time that made this such an ...more

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Nov 05, 2018 Dan rated it it was amazing

MITGOGAE is a widely read book for good reason. I don’t think I have read many books (countable on my fingers) that have such a sense of place as this “mystery” novel set in Savannah Georgia in the mid 1900’s. I won’t review the plot here, just provide some observations.

Does the book go overboard ,at least a little, on describing the details of the city, right down to its record setting number of town squares? Yes it does.

Does the mystery central to the book lack the edge of your seat suspense? ...more

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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt	3	27	Mar 26, 2019 05:50PM
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About John Berendt

John Berendt

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The son of two writers, John Berendt grew up in Syracuse, New York. He earned a B.A. in English from Harvard University, where he worked on the staff of The Harvard Lampoon. After graduating in 1961, he moved to New York City to pursue a career in publishing. He was editor of New York magazine from 1977 to 1979, and wrote a monthly column for Esquire from 1982 to 1994.

Berendt first traveled to ...more

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“Rule number one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.” — 127 likes

“If you go to Atlanta, the first question people ask you is, "What's your business?" In Macon they ask, "Where do you go to church?" In Augusta they ask your grandmother's maiden name. But in Savannah the first question people ask you is "What would you like to drink?” — 58 likes

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