{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260414T102527Z","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679751521?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"0679751521","authors":["John Berendt"],"book_id":"9780679751526","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780679751526","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780679751526.jpg?v=20260414T102527Z%3A2026-04-14T10%3A25%3A27Z","description":"THE LANDMARK NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, NOW A MAJOR MUSICAL COMING SOON TO BROADWAY • 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.\" — The New York Times Book Review • 30th Anniversary Edition with a New Afterword by the Author. 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. It 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. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this true-crime book has become a modern classic.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780679751526","publication_date":"19990628","publisher":"Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group","slug":"midnight-in-the-garden-of-good-and-evil","subtitle":"","title":"Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"HIS036120","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Southern U.S. History","score":0.7509,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"FIC049050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Black Mystery","score":0.7414,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"FIC031020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Historical Thrillers","score":0.74,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"HIS036120","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Southern U.S. History","score":0.7509,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"FIC049050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Black 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