The title relates to doing Voodoo magic. In the graveyard, the Voodoo to cause good is done before midnight and the part to cause bad is done after midnight. This book is part history of Savannah, GA, part about the people of Savannah, especially the upper class, and part true crime. John Berendt was living in NYC and starting traveling. He decided to start living in Savannah part-time which turned into most of the time. Most of the events in this book happened in the 1980s.
The people of Savannah like to drink and have their parties, are ok with their relative geographical isolation and like things the way they are. Some of the eccentric people include Mr. Glover, Emma Kelly, Luther Driggers, Joe Odom, and Lady Chablis. Mr. Glover "walks" a dog that died years ago. It turns out that after the owner died he was to be paid by the estate to walk the dog. The judge continues to pay him to "walk" the dog even though the dog has died. Emma Kelly is a woman in her 60s who is known as The Lady of 6,000, a title given to her by Johnny Mercer, travels around Georgia playing piano and singing. Luther Driggers glues filaments to his pets flies, attaches the filaments to his clothes and walks around town with them. It is well known around town that he has a poison he could put in the water supply to kill everyone. Joe Odom is a lawyer of questionable character who has parties on a nightly basis. He lives in a series of historic homes that he gives tours of (sometimes illegally), He also plays piano and sings. Lady Chablis is a transgender woman who had drag shows at a local club until she has a dispute with the owner and takes her show on the road.
Most of the book is about Jim Williams. He is not one of the blue bloods. He has made his own fortune through house restorations and as an antiques dealer. He restored and lives in the famous Mercer House. One night, he shoots and kills one of his employees, Danny Hansford. Danny was a troubled young man who lived with him. Was it premeditated, did events happy as Jim said they did or did he try to cover part of it up? There have been other cases of murder in Savannah that have not been prosecuted or the perpetrator has gotten off lightly but the new District Attorney decides to prosecute Jim on the charge of murder. In the end, Jim Williams is tried four times. To help win, Jim employs a Voodoo witch named Minerva.
I liked this book but the sections on the trials were not my favorite parts. I enjoyed reading about the city of Savannah - its culture, history and people. I would recommend this to people who like true crime or are interested in finding out more about these parts of Savannah.
This book was turned into a movie starring Kevin Spacey and John Cusack. If you have to read this book for a school assignment I would not recommend watching the movie instead. Too much is different.
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