Author Guide · Lisanne Swart
Books Written by John Berendt
John Berendt has written exactly two adult nonfiction books in a career spanning three decades, and both do the same thing to a place: they move there, wait, and let the city’s own eccentrics and intrigues supply the plot. A former magazine editor, Berendt writes narrative nonfiction that reads like a novel — a real murder trial in Savannah, a real fire in Venice — without ever losing sight of the actual people at the center of it.
By Lisanne Swart · 2 books · Nonfiction · True Crime · Updated August 2026
Quick answer
John Berendt has written two major nonfiction books: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1994), about a real murder trial in Savannah, Georgia, and The City of Falling Angels (2005), about Venice after a devastating opera-house fire. Start with Midnight — it’s his defining, culture-shaping book.
Key facts
- Background: Editor, New York magazine (1977–1979); Esquire columnist (1982–1994)
- Books written: 2 major nonfiction books, published 1994 and 2005
- Records: Midnight spent 216 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, a record for a debut nonfiction book
- Adaptation: Midnight was adapted into a 1997 film directed by Clint Eastwood
- Awards: Both books were finalists for major nonfiction prizes; Midnight was a Pulitzer finalist
Why trust this list: Every book below is one I’ve read in full. Curated by Lisanne Swart.
In this guide
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Berendt moved to Savannah, Georgia, in the 1980s and stayed long enough to become embedded in its social world — antiques dealers, drag queens, a voodoo priestess — before a real shooting inside the city’s grandest mansion gave the book its spine: the trial of Jim Williams, accused of murdering his young companion. Berendt has since acknowledged compressing the book’s timeline and combining some events for narrative effect.
His first book, and the one that made the true-crime-as-place-portrait genre. It spent a record 216 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
The City of Falling Angels
Berendt arrived in Venice three days after a 1996 fire destroyed the historic La Fenice opera house, and stayed to chronicle the city’s tangled, gossip-fueled reaction — the arson investigation, the rivalries within Venetian society, and the bureaucratic fight over rebuilding. It applies his Savannah method — embed, wait, let the place’s own characters carry the story — to an entirely different world.
His long-awaited second book, eleven years after Midnight, and a #1 New York Times bestseller in its own right. Less plot-driven than his debut, more a portrait of a city’s collective psychology.
