Non-fiction five challenge

I was a bit worried if I would get this done this month but a trip to Mom and Dad's in South Dakota with not much else to do but read let me finish this one. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was my first book for the Non-fiction Five Challenge...5 non-fiction selections in five months. I picked this one because I read a lot of murder/forensic fiction and thought delving into a true crime story would be fun.

The crime story in this isn't all that. Yes, a man is murdered in Savannah. Yes, a man is tried for his murder (4 times to be exact!). Yes, he's convicted. Yes, it's overturned. No, the crime story did not fascinate me. What did fascinate me were the people! Oh, the characters in this book!

The author is a Yankee who becomes fascinated with the little world Savannah is all on it's one. It's a city of pride, nostalgia, voo-doo, and hospitality. It's a city with a personality all it's own. The author tells the story of Savannah more than that of a murder and a messed up trial. Yes, the mistakes of the local prosecutors rival that of those in The Innocent Man. Yes, the defendant has money to rival that of OJ Simpson. But the people of the city are unique all to themselves without the crime.

I enjoyed the stories the author wove of the town and how if one looked hard enough every one was some how connected whether by blood, secrets, or prestige. The author's slow fall in love with the city reminded me of my own fall into love with Montana. I was an outsider but the people took me as one of their own...calling me a lost adopted Montanan. The people of Savannah took the author in and allowed him to weave a wonderful tale of their lives. That was the story worth reading.

I'm making a jump start on June's selection...The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin. Take the time to pick up a book or two this summer, it just might take you away!