Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil

Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil is a fantastic book. This book is actually a nonfiction narrative book, but the events within it do not seem as if they could be within a nonfiction book.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (referred to by locals as, simply, "The Book") is atmospheric and Southern Gothic in tone, depicting a wide range of eccentric Savannah personalities.

The action that serves as a catalyst in the book is the murder of Danny Hansford, a local hustler (characterized as "a good time not yet had by all") by respected art dealer Jim Williams, an event that resulted in four murder trials, all documented in the book. Hansford and Williams were linked sexually, but the exact nature of their relationship was unclear. The murder took place in Williams' home, originally built by an ancestor of songwriter and Savannah native Johnny Mercer.

The book also highlights many other residents of Savannah, most notably The Lady Chablis, a local drag queen and entertainer. Chablis provides both a Greek chorus of sorts as well as a lighthearted contrast to the more serious action.

The book's plot is based on real-life events that occurred in the 1980s and is classified as nonfiction. (Booksellers generally feature the title in the "true crime" subsection.) It is among the most popular nonfiction releases of all time.

The title alludes to the voodoo notion of "midnight"; the period between the time for good magic and the time for evil magic; in "the garden of good and evil," which refers principally to Bonaventure Cemetery.