The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt

The story centers around the murder and the bizarre events following the shooting that led to Williams' four murder trials, a Georgia record. One morning, Berendt was informed that Jim Williams, an antique dealer and owner of the Mercer House, had shot his housemate Danny Hansford. The best selling novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is Berendt's account of living in Savannah with the mix of people ranging from well-bred socialites to outrageous black drag queens. After several return trips, he made Savannah his primary home. Berendt began traveling frequently experiencing his first trip to Savannah in 1982. Berendt was once the editor of New York Magazine, and he also made a living by writing and editing for several magazines, with a regular column in Esquire. He grew up in Syracuse, New York and majored in English at Harvard University. The fire and its aftermath serve as a leitmotif, adding elements of chaos, corruption, and crime and contributing to the ever-mounting suspense.John Berendt (born December 5, 1939) is an American author, known for writing the bestselling nonfiction book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which was a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction.

He introduces us to a rich cast of characters, Venetian and expatriate, in a tale full of atmosphere and surprise which reveals a world as finely drawn as a still-life painting. Arriving three days after the fire, Berendt becomes a kind of detectiveinquiring into the nature of life in this remarkable museum-citywhile gradually revealing the truth about the fire. This book opens in 1996, when a dramatic fire destroys the historic Fenice opera house, a catastrophe for Venetians.

Its architectural treasures crumblefoundations shift, marble ornaments falleven as efforts to preserve them are underway.

Venice, a city steeped in a thousand years of history, art and architecture, teeters in precarious balance between endurance and decay.

The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt