A few months ago, I visited Savannah, Georgia, a fun city known for its open-container laws and the fact that it touts itself as the most haunted city in the United States (sorry sexist trolls, but Savannah’s spooky city squares would provide a great location for a sequel to this year’s Ghostbusters film). When I was there, I was struck by the ubiquity of the city’s most famous book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. Originally published in 1994, this “nonfiction novel” that is both a city travelogue and a true crime story was for sale in virtually every store I entered; bookstores carried so many copies that you would have thought that it was the spawn of Harry Potter and The Girl on the Train. Because a large chunk of the book revolves around four murder trials for the same alleged crime, I thought that it would make a perfect book for me to review, particularly because it has been ages since I have written about a non-contemporary work (this column contains light spoilers for the book).
As the novel opens, Berendt is a New York City-based writer and editor. After being appalled by the high prices of New York haute cuisine in the 1980s, Berendt decides to travel around the country to spend weekends in other cities, where he is able to spend an entire weekend, including airfare, for about the price of a fancy meal in New York (the 1980s, apparently…). Berendt is soon enchanted by Savannah, and decides to live there part-time.
The first portion of the book is essentially a travelogue, as Berendt describes Savannah’s history, its less than puritanical attitude towards sex, and some its most notorious personalities. But the core of the book revolves around the killing of Danny Hansford, by his lover Jim Williams, the extremely wealthy owner of Mercer House, one of the city’s most famous estates. Berendt first encounters Williams before the killing occurs. Williams is a talented raconteur, describing the history of his famous house and those that have wanted to purchase it from him. In one of his stories, Williams even describes how he attempted to ruin a period film shooting near Mercer House by displaying a giant Nazi flag (not the greatest guy, that Williams). But once Williams is accused of murder, he vehemently professes his innocence. Williams argues that he shot Hansford in self-defense after the volatile Hansford attempted to shoot him but missed.
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The book is entertaining enough as Berendt describes Williams’s first trial – in which he was found guilty – and the subsequent reversal of the conviction by the Georgia Supreme Court. But Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil really comes alive after the first trial when Williams replaces his original attorney with Sonny Seiler. Seiler is extremely confident in his abilities and has no qualms in describing his strategy to Berendt. One of the central issues in the case is Williams’s homosexuality; although Savannah is progressive, it is still home to many many prejudiced individuals. Seiler explains to Berendt the series of questions he will ask each juror (such as whether they would accept a gay man as their children’s teacher) in order to ascertain which potential jurors are homophobic.
Seiler is also apparently the world’s biggest University of Georgia football fan, and even owns the bulldog that serves as Georgia’s mascot. Seiler is such a fanatic that when court is in session during a Georgia football game, he stations an associate in the hall with a transistor radio in order to constantly monitor the score (as someone who has definitely checked a baseball score or two while working, I can get on board with this strategy).
As a lawyer of the 2010s, I also appreciated some of the descriptions of practicing law in the late 1980s and early 1980s. For example, after one of the trials, Seiler is unable to make any process on an appeal because the trial transcripts had to be typed by the court stenographer, a process that could take months to complete.
Berendt also describes some of the quirks of a murder trial in Savannah, such as Williams’s hiring of Minerva, a voodoo priestess who performs various acts to inflame or calm the spirits in order to gain a favorable result in the trial. I am definitely not used to this aspect of law in my practice; I think the ghosts of New York have better things to do than to get involved with legal research or document review.
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Overall, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is an easily readable, enjoyable novel that will entertain lawyers and non-lawyers alike. And if you ever see me in court with a transistor radio to my ear, you will know where I got the idea.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil [Amazon (affiliate link)]
Harry Graff is a litigation associate at a firm, but he spends days wishing that he was writing about film, television, literature, and pop culture instead of writing briefs. If there is a law-related movie, television show, book, or any other form of media that you would like Harry Graff to discuss, he can be reached at [email protected]. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.