Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

This book was on the best-seller list for a substantial portion of the 1990s, and I now wish I had picked it up then. For a book about a real-life murder, it shows remarkable charm. The first part of the book introduces a cast of characters any work of fiction would be lucky to have. The second part follows those characters in the wake of a shooting. Through it all, the city of Savannah, Ga., lurks in the background. Author John Berendt portrays the storied city as an almost magical place where appearance counts for at least as much as mundane reality.