Lawyer Games: After Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Name: Lawyer Games: After Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Author: Dep Kirkland
ISBN: 978-1-45-754199-5

by Dep Kirkland ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

A meticulous, intuitive, and riveting nonfiction work.

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In his true-crime debut, Kirkland uses firsthand experience and trial records to tell the story of a Savannah, Georgia, shooting death that spawned a best-selling book and movie.

In May 1981, James Williams shot and killed Danny Hansford, purportedly in self-defense. To the initial responders, though, the scene appeared staged. (One of them was Kirkland, who was chief assistant district attorney at the time.) For example, the Luger pistol that Hansford allegedly fired at Williams was under, not in, the deceased’s hand. The state’s case against Williams would go on for years, spawning multiple trials featuring some legal scheming, including surprise witnesses whose testimonies may not have been true. Kirkland pieces together his personal account—he was a part of the prosecution team for the first of four trials—with careful, comprehensive examinations of court documents. His stance is abundantly clear: he believes that Williams was guilty. He isn’t above sardonicism, though; at one point, he suggests that the circumstances of the defense’s new evidence spelled “F-A-B-R-I-C-A-T-I-O-N in large red letters.” That said, he doesn’t sour his book with constant derision or denunciation. In fact, he typically allows readers to make their own judgments based on the facts, making his points with legal transcripts or testimony summaries. Williams, for example, repeatedly changed his story regarding the night of Hansford’s death; by the third trial, Kirkland simply reminds readers what Williams previously claimed. This nonfiction book often resembles a torrid TV drama as potential witnesses for the prosecution abruptly decide not to testify and more than one conviction is reversed. Other events are outright eerie, such as missing autopsy photos and Williams’ response to Kirkland concerning his imminent arrest: “If I’d wanted to, I could have shot you.” The author rounds out his book with his own scenario of the shooting based on the evidence. He also offers his thoughts on John Berendt’s best-selling book on the crime, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and Clint Eastwood’s subsequent movie version.

A meticulous, intuitive, and riveting nonfiction work.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: 978-1-45-754199-5

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dog Ear

Review Posted Online: Oct. 29, 2015

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.