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

388 pp. 8vo. Author's first book. "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." CONTENTS: An Evening in Mercer House; Destination Unknown; The Sentimental Gentleman; Settling In; The Inventor; The Lady of Six Thousand Songs; The Grand Empress of Savannah; Sweet Georgia Brown's; A Walking Streak of Sex; It Ain't Braggin' If Y'Really Done It; News Flash; Gunplay; Checks and Balances; The Party of the Year; Civic Duty; Trial; A Hole in the Floor; Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil; Lafayette Square, We Are Here; Sonny; Notes on a Rerun; The Pod; Lunch; Black Minuet; Talk of the Town; Another Story; Lucky Number; Glory; And the Angels Sing; Afteward; Author's Note; Acknowledgments.