{"product_id":"9780679751526","title":"Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil","description":"\u003cb\u003eTHE LANDMARK \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e BESTSELLER • 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.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review \u003cb\u003e• \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e30th Anniversary Edition with a New Afterword by the Author.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShots 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt 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. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil\u003c\/i\u003e is a sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this true-crime book has become a modern classic.","brand":"John Berendt","offers":[{"title":"Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |  Paperback \/ softback | Trade paperback (US) |  1999-06-28","offer_id":46092797149439,"sku":"9780679751526","price":24.95,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0329\/9075\/7001\/files\/BNCImageAPI_dc4de534-2d83-44c9-bb4b-e5041f767d1b.jpg?v=1724802249","url":"https:\/\/riverbookshop.com\/products\/9780679751526","provider":"River Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}