Savannah Reaps Windfall From True-Crime Bestseller

John Berendt’s book, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” is no longer on the New York Times bestseller list.

But don’t cry for him, Savannah. His account of an infamous murder trial in that Georgia coastal city had an 89-week ride on the list and has sold more than 700,000 copies to date. He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the Southern Book Award. Tourism is going up, up, up in Savannah. And he is on a 13-city book tour, his second.

For the uninitiated, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” is the true story of Jim Williams, a Savannah antiques dealer tried for murder four times in the shooting death of his lover, Danny Hansford, “a walking streak of sex.” Finally acquitted, Williams died of an apparent heart attack five years ago.

Berendt, a longtime magazine writer and editor, had settled in Savannah in 1985. He knew about the murder and planned to make it the centerpiece of his story, but he also wanted to write more than a true crime book.

The result, written over seven years, was hailed by critics and embraced by readers. The New York Times Book Review noted it “may be the first true crime book that makes a reader want to call a travel agent.”

Williams and Hansford are only two of the many memorable figures in the book. With a leisurely pace that fits the locale, Berendt introduces readers to, among others, the always charming, always scamming Joe Odom; a man who walks an invisible dog; Luther Driggers, who likes to talk about poisoning the town’s water supply; and Lady Chablis, a transsexual drag queen who insists she’s going to play herself in the movie version.

Is she? “That is up to the casting director,” Berendt says. “However, she does have a book coming out, called ‘Hiding My Candy.”

“I really had tremendous luck, falling into those characters and that story and that city,” he says, a little wistfully. “The raw material was triple A, A-plus.”

Of course, there were quibbles. While the book always sold well in Savannah, some locals didn’t like the book at all. Lee Adler, a prominent Savannah resident, once refused to shake Berendt’s hand in front of a reporter; he later apologized, Berendt says.

Savannah is a boom town and everyone credits The Book. According to a recent report from Bloomberg Business News, “Midnight” boosted the city’s tourism industry, creating jobs and new businesses. Hotel room-tax collections were up 18.3 percent in one quarter, while 1994 convention bookings went up 40 percent.