bNATIONAL BESTSELLER - An enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city Elegant and wicked.... This might be the first true-crime book that makes the reader want to book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime. --iThe New York Times Book ReviewibrbbrShots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt's sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case. pIt is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters the well-bred society l