Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

This book is about Savannah, Georgia. The author moved part-time to Savannah when he first felt its lure. As he meets the characters of the city he describes the true stories of its eccentric inhabitants including a murder and subsequent court proceedings. There is love, late night piano playing, drag queens, antiques, Nazi fire arms - all set amid the beautiful architecture of Savannah, Georgia.

As the author is being introduced to Savannah culture an elderly woman takes him to their oldest cemetery and tries to describe a part of Savannah culture:

"We may be standoffish but we're not hostile. We're famously hospitable, in fact, even by southern standards. Savannah's called the 'Hostess City of the South,' you know. That's because we've always been a party town. We love company. We always have. . . . Parties became a way of life, and it's made a difference. We're not at all like the rest of Georgia. WE have a saying: If you go to Atlanta, the first question people ask you is, ' What's your business' In Macon they ask, 'Where do you go to church?' In Augusta they ask your grandmother's maiden name. But in Savannah the first question people ask you is 'What would you like to drink?'"

This story is but one small voice in the whole collection. Each new character opens up a new aspect to the city, widening the readers curiosity and interest in this small southern town. It reads kind of like watching Slackers (the movie) with one small story moving to the next, each a sort of stand alone story all on its own. This novel has a little more cohesive overall narrative as the town comes together in the murder and subsequent trial of one of their own.

http://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Garden-Good-Evil-Berendt/dp/0679751521